Léopardins

On 25 March 1790 and 15 April 1790, the elected deputies of the three provinces of North, West and South Saint-Domingue, were summoned to Saint-Marc (Haiti), under the chairmanship of Thomas Millet, to create a new "General Assembly of the French part of Saint-Dominge".

The new "General Assembly of the French part of Saint-Domingue", known as "Saint-Marc", quickly made its main mission, in the minds of its electors, of preventing application of the decree of 15 May 1790, which had been prepared in France by the National Constituent Assembly, to grant people of color (mulattoes) equal political rights with whites.

Thomas Millet, successively president then vice-president, proposed a motion that would force all whites who were married to a woman of color to take an African name.

Several bloody clashes then took place between supporters of this assembly, called "Red pompons", and the king's representatives, led by Governor Antoine de Thomassin de Peynier and Colonel Mauduit and named "White pompons",[2] because of the white pins, which they attached to the pockets of their shirts.

A group of 85 elected members of the assembly seized the government ship Le Léopard on 7 August 1790, after having persuaded the crew to mutiny".