Answer:
Rational management refers to the brutal and deadly violence inflicted on slaves in Saint Domingue as a means of control by plantation owners and French authorities. By resorting to extreme violence, plantation owners compelled slaves to continue their backbreaking labor in the sugar cane and coffee fields. Violent acts such as killing a combative or resistant slave and mutilating the corpse were commonplace. Public displays such as placing heads placed on spikes outside of slave camps deterred escape, dissuaded rebellion, instilled terror, and compelled others to follow rules. Furthermore, rational management existed as part of the Code Noir, or the Black Codes, which was ratified in 1685 and defined how plantation owners were expected to treat their slaves. Perhaps the most famous example of rational management involved a free person of color, Vincent Oge, who attempted to incite an uprising in 1790 after the ratification of the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen in 1789. Oge demanded civil and political rights for Saint Domingue's free people of color but was summarily dismissed by the planters. In response, Oge resorted to violent revolt through the creation of a small and ill-equipped militia of free people of color that was quickly defeated by the planters and colonial authorities. Oge and an accomplice were brutally beaten before being placed on the wheel and left to die. Their heads were then removed and placed on stakes along the main road to set an example.
