After the abolition of slavery in the French Caribbean (1848), the uses that enfranchised slaves, also named “new freed” or “new citizens,” made of their very first new rights as citizens showed that citizenship had for them a social, but also an ethical content. First and foremost at the foundations of the social link, citizenship was a status providing protection to the indivi­duals and their descendants so that the identity of all members of the family was sustainably grounded in the social body. In this sense, citizenship stood as a support for the recognition of the social and civil existence of the individuals, who were considered by essence as holders of substantial rights. In other words, citizenship implied that human dignity was to be protected by the law.