Haitian Revolution

Haiti or Saint Domingue as it was known at the time had become the most important of all France’s colonies.  The colony produced vast quantities of coffee, indigo, cotton and most importantly sugar.  Saint Domingue was producing somewhere in the region of 40% of Europe’s demand for sugar.  The island’s produce helped stimulate economic growth in France’s great Atlantic ports.  Saint Domingue itself was reliant on slavery.  The island was split between white slave owners, poor whites, free blacks (who often were the offspring of white plantation owners and slave mothers) the vast proportion of the island’s population was made up of black African slaves.  Fear of revolt was ever present in Saint Domingue which resulted in truly barbaric treatment of the slaves.

In 1789 and the outbreak of the French Revolution led to a dramatic change in Saint Domingue.  When the Declaration of the Rights of Man was printed on the island.  Many poor whites (petit blancs) saw this as an opportunity for more of a say in politics on the island.  Some of the plantation owners saw this as an opportunity to become more independent of France and develop their own trade deals.  The free blacks who had limited political freedom and the enslaved population of Saint Domingue could not help but note that the Declaration stated that all men were created free and equal.

Vincent Ogé a French a mixed race rich individual member of the Society of the Friends of the Blacks would go to Saint Domingue and instigate a revolt against the ruling white plantation owners.  He sought voting rights for the free blacks of Saint Domingue.   Eventually his revolt would be suppressed and he was broken on the wheel in 1791.

In August 1791 a general slave revolt broke out after Dutty Boukman an escaped slave launched a voodoo ceremony at Bois Caïman.   The slaves swept across the island burning the plantations and slaughtering white owners.  In March 1792 the Legislative Assembly decided to try to ease some of the concerns of the freed blacks by granting them full political rights.  With the outbreak of war between France and their continental rivals Spain and Britain the white plantation owners of Saint Domingue were further isolated.  The Spanish (who occupied some of the island known as Hispaniola) and British sided with the rebellious slaves against the white plantation owners and French soldiers.  Toussaint L'Ouverture, a freed slave rose to prominence at this time leading much of the rebellion.

On the 4th of February 1794 the National Convention abolished slavery in all parts of the French Empire.  Saint Domingue was still a target for other European powers and L’Ouverture would lead his forces in the defeat of a British expedition in 1798. L’Ouverture would lead the Saint Domingue forces against the Spanish side of the island conquering it and abolishing slavery in the area.  The island would suffer internal strife and civil war but L’Ouverture sought to instigate trade with other and sought to reinstate agriculture.

When Napoleon Bonaparte became First Consul of France he sought to reinstate some form of control over the French colonies.  He proposed the creation of a constitution. L’Ouverture sensed that Napoleon’s plan was to erode their rights and bring back slavery.  L’Ouverture via a National Assembly in Saint Domingue created a constitution for the island.  He was made Governor General for Life.  General Charles Emmanuel Leclerc (Napoleon's brother in law) was sent to the island with troops. Soon fighting broke out between the soldiers and the islanders.  The fighting was savage and only ended when L’Ouverture brokered a peace deal.  L’Ouverture would be betrayed and arrested and taken to France.  He would die some months later in Fort-De-Joux prison denied trial.

It seemed as if peace would reign in Saint Domingue. However it soon became apparent with the reinstatement of slavery in nearby colony Guadeloupe what Napoleon’s plan was.  Revolt once again flared up.  The fighting was once again savage and many of the French soldiers including Leclerc were killed by yellow fever.  With the dominance of the British Royal Navy the French troops could not be resupplied.  In late 1803 the French finally surrendered.  In 1804 Saint Domingue declared its official independence and renamed itself Haiti.  

Toussaint L’Ouverture to the Colonial Assembly in Haiti.  Taken from  The Haitian Revolution (Revolutions series) [selected letters & other writings by Toussaint L'Ouverture], Verso, London (2008) p6-8

July 1792 letter to the colonial assembly in St Domingue and the national commissioner Roume.

For too long, gentlemen, by way of abuses that one can never too strongly accuse of having taken place because of our lack of understanding and our ignorance – for a very long time, I say- we have been victims of your greed and your avarice.  Under the blows of your barbarous whip we have accumulated for you the treasures you enjoy in this colony; the human race has suffered to see what barbarity you have treated men like yourself – yes, men – over whom you have no other right except that you are stronger and more barbaric than we; for you have engaged in (slave) traffic, you have sold men for horses, and even that is the least of your shortcomings in the eyes of humanity; our lives depend on your caprice, and when it’s a question of amusing yourselves, the burden falls on men like us, who most often are guilty of no other crime than to be under your orders.

We are black, it is true, but tell us, gentlemen, you who are so judicious, what is the law that says that the black man must belong to and be the property of the white man?  Certainly you will not be able to make us see where that exists, if it is not  in your imaginations…..We are your equals then, by natural right, and if nature pleases itself to diversify colours within the human race, it is not a crime to be born black nor an advantage to be white.  If the abuses in the colony have gone on for several years, that was before the fortunate revolution that has taken place in the motherland, which has opened for us the road which our courage and labour will enable us to ascend, to arrive at the temple of liberty, like those brave Frenchmen who are our models and whom all the universe is contemplating.

For too long we have borne your chains without thinking of shaking them off, but any authority which is not founded on virtue and humanity, and which only tends to subject one’s fellow man to slavery, must come to an end, and that end is yours.  You gentlemen, who pretend to subject us to slavery- have you not sworn to uphold the French Constitution? What does it say, this respectable constitution? What is the fundamental law?  Have you forgotten that you have formally vowed the Declaration of the Rights of Man, which says that men are born free, equal in their rights; that their natural rights include liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression?

……Here, gentleman, is the request of men who are like you, and here is their final resolution: they are resolved to live free or die.

Toussaint L’Ouverture pens a bulletin to the nation.  Taken from  The Haitian Revolution (Revolutions series) [selected letters & other writings by Toussaint L'Ouverture], Verso, London (2008) p28

Let the sacred flame of liberty that we have won lead all our acts.  Let us go forth to plant the tree of liberty, breaking the chains of those of our brothers still held captive under the shameful yoke of slavery.  Let us bring them under the compass of our rights, the imprescriptible and inalienable rights of free men.  (Let us overcome) the barriers that separate nations, and unite the human species into a single brotherhood.  We seek only to bring men the liberty that (God) has given them, and that other men have taken from them only by transgressing His immutable will.

Toussaint L’Ouverture writes to Laveaux.  Taken from  The Haitian Revolution (Revolutions series) [selected letters & other writings by Toussaint L'Ouverture], Verso, London (2008) p30

Letter to Laveaux the representative of St Domingue in the French Assembly May 1797

The perfect harmony, tranquillity and union that reign among us portend happy success in our future endeavours, and I can only believe that with the help of God we shall soon purge the French territory of the tyrannical hordes who have infested the colony for too long, and that soon we will form a single, unified family of friends and brothers.

It would be in vain for the enemies of France still to seek to undermine the cause that the republicans who live here defend.  The colony’s survival is guaranteed.  Please convey to the Legislature the nature of my efforts and my sincere attachment, describing to them how such an important portion of France as this colony must no longer be deprived of the aid she owes it, and that the enemies of France and general liberty have kept from it by distorting the true position of Saint Domingue.  Its preservation, let me repeat, is assured, and France can count upon my irrevocable zeal as its true defender.

Toussaint L’Ouverture writes to the Directory in November 1797.  Taken from  The Haitian Revolution (Revolutions series) [selected letters & other writings by Toussaint L'Ouverture], Verso, London (2008) p34

Could men who have once enjoyed the benefits of liberty look on calmly while it is taken from them! They bore their chains when they knew no condition of life better than that of slavery.  But today when they have left it, if they had a thousand lives, they would sacrifice them all rather than be subjected again to slavery.  But no, the hand that has broken our chains will not subject us to them again.  She shall not permit the perversion of her sublime morality and the destruction of the principles that honour her the most, and the degradation of her most beautiful accomplishment, by rescinding the decree of 16 Pluviôse (4th February 1794, the abolishment of slavery in the French colonies) that honours so well all of humanity.  But if, in order to re-establish servitude in St Domingue this were to be done, I declare to you that this would be to attempt the impossible.  We have known how to confront danger to obtain our liberty, and we will know how to confront death to preserve it.  This Citizens and Directors, is the morality of the people of St Domingue, these are the principles I transmit to you on their behalf.

Bonaparte at this point First Consul writes to Toussaint L’Ouverture writes to the Directory on the 25th December 1799.  Taken from  The Haitian Revolution (Revolutions series) [selected letters & other writings by Toussaint L'Ouverture], Verso, London (2008) p37

The Consuls of the Republic, in announcing to you the new social pact, declare to you the new social pact, declare to you that the SACRED principles of the freedom and equality of blacks will NEVER SUFFER among you the least attack or modification.

If there are ill-intentioned men in the colony, if there are those who still have relations with enemy powers, remember BRAVE BLACKS, that the French people alone recognise your freedom and the equality of your rights.

The First Consul BONAPARTE

Bonaparte at this point First Consul writes to Toussaint L’Ouverture writes to the Directory on the18th November 1801.  Taken from  The Haitian Revolution (Revolutions series) [selected letters & other writings by Toussaint L'Ouverture), Verso, London (2008) p63-64

Assist the General with your counsels, your influence and your talents.  What could you wish for?  Freedom for blacks?  You know that in all countries we’ve been we have given it to people who didn’t have it.  Consideration, honour, fortune?  After the services you have rendered us, that you can yet render us, and the particular sentiments that we have for you, can you possibly be unsure about your fortune and the honours that await you?

And, General, think that if you are the first of your colour to have arrived at such a great power, and to have so distinguished himself for his bravery and military talents, you are also before God and ourselves principally responsible for the conduct of the people of St-Domingue.

If there are evil ones who say to the individuals of St Domingue that we arrive to investigate what they did during the time of anarchy, assure them that we are informing ourselves only of their conduct in those circumstances, and that we are only investigating the past in order to learn of the traits that distinguished them in the war they carried out against the English and the Spanish, who were our enemies.

Count without any reservation on our esteem, and conduct yourself as should one of the principal citizens of the greatest nation in the world.

The First Consul Bonaparte.

Toussaint L’Ouverture writes to his ally and Commander of the armies in the West General Dessalines.  Taken from  The Haitian Revolution (Revolutions series) [selected letters & other writings by Toussaint L'Ouverture], Verso, London (2008) p76

Letter to Dessalines 8th Feb 1802

Do not forget, while waiting for the rainy season which will rid us of our foes, that we have no other resource than destruction and flames.  Bear in mind that the soil bathed with our sweat must not furnish our enemies with the smallest aliment.  Tear up the roads with shot; throw corpses and horses into all the fountains; burn and annihilate everything, in order that those who have come to reduce us to slavery may have before their eyes the image of that hell which they deserve.

Salutation and Friendship,

Toussaint L’Ouverture

Toussaint L’Ouverture writes to Napoleon having been captured and taken to a French prison Fort De Joux. Taken from  The Haitian Revolution (Revolutions series) [selected letters & other writings by Toussaint L'Ouverture], Verso, London (2008) p79

17th September 1802

From Fort De Joux

I have had the misfortune to incur your wrath, but as to fidelity and probity, I am strong in my conscience, and I dare affirm that among all the servants of the state no one is more honest than myself.  I was one of your soldiers, and the first servant of the Republic in St Domingue; but now I am wretched, ruined, dishonoured, a victim of my own services; let your sensibility be moved at my position.  You are too great in feeling and too just not to pronounce a judgement as to my destiny.