François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture
'François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture' , also 'Toussaint Bréda', 'Toussaint-Louverture' (1743 - April 7, 1803) was an important leader of the
Haïtian Revolution and the first leader of a free
Haiti. By establishing dominance over the majority of blacks, he led them to victory over the whites and free coloreds and established his control over the
colony in 1797, calling himself a dictator. He expelled the French commissioner,
Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, as well as the British armies, invaded
Santo Domingo to free the slaves there, and wrote a constitution naming himself governor for life that established a new
polity for the colony. Between the years 1800 and 1802 he tried to rebuild the collapsed economy of Haiti and reestablish commercial contacts with the
United States and
Great Britain. Although he was deceived by
Napoleon and exiled to France and an early death, he had given the colony a taste of freedom that could not be retracted. He had destroyed the colony as it had been.
[1]
History
Toussaint Louverture was a
slave from
Plaine du Nord who reportedly was a fervent
Catholic.
[2][3] He joined the Spanish army where he
was able to organize 4,000 blacks into a band of loyal
guerrilla troops, as he was was a naturally brilliant, although untrained, general. When the French Legislative Assembly decreed full equality to all Haitians on April 4, 1792, he switched his loyalty to the French, and fought the Spanish. He was also effective against the British and by 1795, he was in control of most of two provinces. Two of his lieutenants,
Jean-Jacques Dessalines and
Henry Christophe were extremely effective. However,
André Rigaud, who controlled a force of black troops in the South, was driven to renew his attacks by Toussaint's success and continued to control the South.
[4]
By June of 1795, the English had been driven back to the coast and in July the Spanish officially withdrew and ceded the island of
Santo Domingo to the French. Although the English continued to fight, Toussaint maintained his control over the North and West. In 1798, the British made a last ditch attempt to oust Toussant from the South, sending General
Thomas Maitland. Maitland failed in this attempt and signed a secret treaty making Toussaint an indepedndent ruler. The British left Sanit-Domingue completely in October of 1798, leaving Rigaud and
Alexander Petion in the south and Toussaint to fight against each other for control.
Tousaint appointed
Jean-Jacques Dessalines to govern the South Province to dismantle the remaining colored forces. Dessalines killed thousands and crushed the the resistance. His brutality left bitterness among people of color.
By 1799, Toussaint had subordinated all remaining colored forces.
Rebellions and negotiations
News of the
French Revolution of 1789, and the message of ''
Liberté, égalité, fraternité'' had reached
Saint-Domingue by 1790, and had a powerful impact on the island;
French soldiers landing at
Port-au-Prince had joined all Negroes and Mulattoes in brotherly union, and announced that the
National Assembly in France had declared all men free and equal. It did not take long for the ideas of
Enlightenment philosophy to spread gradually through the island; and when the promises made by
Declaration of the Rights of Man were denied to the coloured population of
Saint-Domingue by the white
plantation owners, it served to instigate widespread slave uprisings. Toussaint did not participate in the ill-fated campaign organized by
Vincent Ogé (a wealthy and free coloured man) in October 1790 to claim voting rights for coloured people—a campaign which was brutally crushed. But once slave revolt broke out in the Northern Province in August 1791, Toussaint found himself wavering.
Initially, Toussaint was against the destruction and bloodshed that was being unleashed by the rebels. Though it seems certain that he was in touch with the rebel leaders, Toussaint spent many months keeping his master’s slaves in order and the revolutionary labourers from setting fire to the plantation. However, once it became clear that the lives of all white people were under threat, and the insurrection kept growing, Toussaint helped his master’s family to escape, sent his own family away to a safe spot in
Spanish Santo Domingo, and made his way to the camp of the rebel slaves who were burning plantations and killing many whites and mulattoes. Soon, he discerned the ineptitude and inefficiency of the rebel leaders, and their willingness to compromise with white radicals. Scorning these, and using his ample experience in administration and implementation of authority, he soon managed to gather a following of his own, and trained these in the tactics of guerilla warfare. In 1793, he became an aide to
Georges Biassou. He rose rapidly in rank and the black army proved to be surprisingly successful against the fever-ravaged and poorly-led
European troops.
After the outbreak of the
French Revolutionary Wars, when
France and
Spain went to war in 1793, the black commanders joined the
Spaniards of
Santo Domingo, the eastern two-thirds of
Hispaniola. Knighted and recognized as a general, Toussaint demonstrated extraordinary military ability and attracted such renowned warriors as his nephew Moïse and two future monarchs of
Haiti,
Jean-Jacques Dessalines and
Henry Christophe. It was then that he gained the
moniker ''L'Ouverture'' ("opening") because he exploited openings in the defenses of the opposition; this he adopted as his surname. Later that year, the
British had occupation of most of the coastal settlements of Haiti, including
Port-au-Prince.
Toussaint's victories in the north, together with mulatto successes in the south and British occupation of the coasts, brought the French close to disaster. In 1793
Léger-Félicité Sonthonax and
Étienne Polverel, representatives of the French revolutionary government in
Paris, offered freedom to slaves who would join them as they struggled to defeat counter-revolutionaries and fight the foreign invaders. On
February 4 1794, the largely
Jacobin National Convention in
Paris confirmed these freeing orders, that abolished slavery throughout all territories of the
French Republic. In May 1794, Toussaint went over to the French, giving as his reasons that
Spain and Britain had refused to free the slaves, unlike the French, and that he had become a republican. The deiceitfulness of his dealings with his former allies has come in for heavy criticism, as has his slaughter of Spaniards at a mass. Toussaint’s switch was decisive; the governor of
Saint-Domingue,
Étienne Laveaux, made Toussaint
Général de Brigade, the British suffered severe reverses, and the Spaniards were expelled. Under Toussaint's increasingly influential leadership, his French army of black, mulatto, and white soldiers defeated the British and Spanish forces. Toussaint's army won seven battles in one week against the British forces in January 1794. He also fought against the uprising of the mulatto leader
Pinchinat.
Campaign in support of the French Revolution
By 1795 Toussaint Louverture was widely renowned. He was revered by the blacks, and appreciated by most whites and mulattoes for helping to restore the economy of Saint-Domingue. Disregarding French revolutionary laws, he allowed many émigré planters to return, and used military discipline to force the former slaves to work. He believed that people were naturally corrupt, and felt that compulsion was needed to prevent idleness. The labourers, however, were no longer whipped; they were legally free and equal, and they shared the profits of the restored plantations. Racial tensions eased because Toussaint preached reconciliation and believed that for the blacks, a majority of whom were
African born, there were lessons to be learnt from whites and Europeanized mulattoes.
Laveaux left Saint-Domingue in 1796. He was succeeded by
Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, an extremist French commissioner, who also allowed Toussaint to rule and promoted him to
Général de Division. But Toussaint was repelled by the proposals of this white radical to exterminate the Europeans, and found
Sonthonax's atheism, coarseness, and immorality offensive. After some manoeuvring, Toussaint forced Sonthonax out in
1797.
Next to go were the British, whose losses caused them to negotiate secretly with Toussaint, notwithstanding the war with France. Treaties in 1798 and 1799 secured their complete withdrawal. Lucrative trade was begun with Britain and also with the
United States. In return for arms and goods, Toussaint sold sugar and promised not to invade
Jamaica and the
American South. The British offered to recognize him as king of an independent Haiti, but distrustful of the British because they maintained slavery, he refused. The British withdrew from Haiti in 1798.
Toussaint soon rid himself of another nominal French superior,
Gabriel Hédouville, who arrived in 1798 as representative of the Directory. Aware that France had no chance of restoring colonialism as long as the war with England continued, Hédouville tried pitting Toussaint against the mulatto leader
André Rigaud, who ruled a semi-independent state in the south. Toussaint, however, figured out his purpose and forced Hédouville to flee. Hédouville was succeeded by
Philippe Roume, who deferred to the black governor. A bloody campaign in October 1799 eliminated Rigaud who was driven out and forced to flee to France,and his mulatto state destroyed. A purge that was carried out by
Jean-Jacques Dessalines in the south was so brutal that reconciliation with the mulattoes was impossible.
On
May 22 1799 Toussaint signed a trading treaty with the British and the Americans. In the United States,
Alexander Hamilton was a strong supporter. However, after
Thomas Jefferson became President in 1801, he reversed the friendly American policy.
Once he had control over all of Saint-Domingue, Toussaint turned to Spanish Santo Domingo, where slavery persisted. Ignoring the commands of
Napoleon Bonaparte, who had become first consul of France, Toussaint overran it in January 1801, officially taking control on the 24th, and freed the slaves. Toussaint drafted a committee to write a constitution for the colony, which went into effect on
July 7 1801, establishing his own authority across the whole island of Hispaniola.
Leclerc's campaign and Toussaint's captivity
In command of the entire island, Toussaint dictated a constitution that made him governor general for life with near absolute powers.
Catholicism was the state religion, and many revolutionary principles received ostensible sanction. There was no provision for a French official, however, because Toussaint professed himself a Frenchman and strove to convince Bonaparte of his loyalty. Bonaparte confirmed Toussaint’s position but saw him as an obstacle to the restoration of Saint-Domingue as a profitable colony. Denying that he was trying to reinstate slavery, Napoleon's brother-in-law
Charles Leclerc attempted to regain French control of the island in 1802. He landed on the island on January 20 and moved against Toussaint. Over the following months, Toussaint's troops fought against the French but some of his officers defected to join Leclerc, as well as chief black leaders like Dessalines and
Christophe. On
May 7,
1802, Toussaint signed a treaty with the French in
Cap-Haïtien, with the condition that there would be no return to slavery, and retired to his farm in
Ennery. However, after three weeks, Leclerc sent troops to seize Toussaint and his family, shipping them to France on board a warship, since he was suspected of plotting an uprising. They reached France on July 2. On
August 25,
1802, Toussaint was sent to the castle
Fort-de-Joux in
Doubs, where he was confined and interrogated repeatedly, and where he died of
pneumonia in April 1803.
Cultural references
★ English poet
William Wordsworth published his sonnet
To Toussaint L'Ouverture in January 1803.
★ Alphonse de Lamartine, a preeminent French poet and statesman of the early 19th century, wrote a verse play about Toussaint entitled ''Toussaint Louverture: un poeme dramatique en cinq actes'' (1850).
★ In 1936, Trinidadian historian
C. L. R. James wrote a play entitled 'Toussaint Louverture' which was performed at the Westminster Theatre in London and starred actors including
Paul Robeson (in the title role),
Robert Adams and
Orlando Martins.
★ In 1938, American artist
Jacob Lawrence created a series of paintings about the life of Toussaint L'Ouverture, which he later adapted into a series of
prints.
★ A film adapation of Toussaint's life, starring
Don Cheadle, began production as of July 2007.
[1]
Footnotes
1. The Caribbean: The Genesis of a Fragmented Nationalism, , Franklin W., Knight, Oxford University Press, 1990, ISBN 0-19-505441-5
2. p. 55, David Brion Davis, "He changed the New World," Review of M.S. Bell's "Toussaint Louverture: A Biography", ''The New York Review of Books'', May 31, 2007, p. 55
3. Toussaint L'Ouverture: A Biography and Autobiography: Electronic Edition.
4. A Brief History of the Caribbean, , Jan, Rogozinski, Facts on File, Inc., 1999, ISBN 0-8160-3811-2
References
★ Madison Smartt Bell. "Toussaint Louverture: A Biography" (New York: Pantheon, 2007).
★ David Brion Davis. "He changed the New World" Review of M.S. Bell's "Toussaint Louverture: A Biography", ''The New York Review of Books'', May 31, 2007, pp. 54-58.
★ Laurent Dubois and John D. Garrigus. ''Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, 1789-1804: A Brief History with Documents'' (2006)
★ Junius P. Rodriguez, ed. ''Encyclopedia of Slave Resistance and Rebellion''. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2006.
★ Graham Gendall Norton - ''Toussaint Louverture'', in ''History Today'', April 2003.
★ Arthur L. Stinchcombe. ''Sugar Island Slavery in the Age of Enlightenment: The Political Economy of the Caribbean World'' (1995).
★ Ian Thomson. 'Bonjour Blanc: A Journey Through Haiti' (London, 1992). A colourful, picaresque, historically- and politically-engaged travelogue; regular asides on L'Ouverture's career.
★ Martin Ros - ''The Night of Fire: The Black Napoleon and the Battle for Haiti'' (1991).
★ DuPuy, Alex. ''Haiti in the World Economy: Class, Race, and Underdevelopment since 1700'' (1989).
★ Alfred N. Hunt. ''Haiti's Influence on Antebellum America: Slumbering Volcano in the Caribbean'' (1988).
★ Aimé Cesaire - ''Toussaint Louverture'' (Paris, 1981). Written by a prominent French thinker, this book is well written, well argued, and well researched.
★ Robert Heinl and Nancy Heinl - ''Written in Blood: The story of the Haitian people, 1492-1971'' (1978). A bit awkward, but studded with quotations from original sources.
★ Thomas Ott - ''The Haitian Revolution: 1789-1804'' (1973). Brief, but well-researched.
★ George F. Tyson, ed. - ''Great Lives Considered: Toussaint L'Ouverture'' (1973). A compilation, includes some of Toussaint's writings.
★ Ralph Korngold - ''Citizen Toussaint'' (1944, reissued 1979).
★ J. R. Beard - ''The Life of Toussaint L'Ouverture: The Negro Patriot of Hayti'' (1853). Still in print. A pro-Toussaint history written by an Englishman. ISBN 1587420104
★ J. R. Beard - ''Toussaint L'Ouverture: A Biography and Autobiography'' (1863). Out of print, but
published online. Consists of the earlier "Life", supplemented by an autobiography of Toussaint written by himself.
★ Victor Schoelcher - ''Vie de Toussaint-Louverture'' (1889). A sympathetic biography by a French abolitionist, with good scholarship (for the time), and generous quotation from original sources, but entertaining and readable nonetheless. Important as a source for many other biographers (e.g. C.L.R. James).
★ F. J. Pamphile de Lacroix - ''La révolution d'Haïti'' (1819, reprinted 1995). Memoirs of one of the French generals involved in fighting Toussaint. Surprizingly, he esteemed his rival and wrote a long, well-documented, and generally highly regarded history of the conflict.
External links
★
Toussaint L'Ouverture: A Biography and Autobiography by J. R. Beard, 1863
★
A section of Bob Corbett's on-line course on the history of Haïti that deals with Toussaint's rise to power.
★
The Louverture Project
★
Toussaint Louverture
★
Memoir of Toussaint Louverture, Written by Himself
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