162-764: Henri Christophe ( French pronunciation: [ɑ̃ʁi kʁistɔf] ; 6 October 1767 – 8 October 1820) was a key leader in the Haitian Revolution and the only monarch of the Kingdom of Haiti . Born in the British Caribbean, Christophe was of Bambara West African origin. Beginning with the slave uprising of 1791, he rose to power in the ranks of the Haitian revolutionary military. The revolution succeeded in gaining independence from France in 1804. In 1805 he took part under Jean-Jacques Dessalines in
324-688: A College of Arms to provide armorial bearings for the newly ennobled. For his personal coat of arms, Christophe chose a crowned phoenix rising from flames, and the motto ‘ Je renais de mes cendres’ (‘I rise from my ashes’), presumably referring to the rebirth of Cap Henry after he burned it in 1802 to repel the invading French army. Some Europeans mocked his creation. The titles of the Duc de Limonade (Julien Prévost, Christophe's secretary of state) and Duc de Marmelade (Jean-Pierre Richard, governor of Cap Henry) were considered particularly comic by those unaware that they were actually derived from place names given by
486-563: A New Englander who was openly hostile to slavery was much more sympathetic to the Haitian cause than the Washington administration before and Jefferson after, both of whom came from Southern slave-owning planter backgrounds. The terms of the treaty were similar to those already established with the British, but Louverture continually rebuffed suggestions from either power that he should declare independence. As long as France maintained
648-639: A chief, sufficiently courageous, to lead them on to vengeance and slaughter." Raynal's Enlightenment philosophy went deeper than a prediction and reflected many similar philosophies, including those of Rousseau and Diderot . Raynal's admonition was written thirteen years before the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen , which highlighted freedom and liberty but did not abolish slavery. In addition to Raynal's influence, Toussaint Louverture ,
810-420: A commodity crop from cultivation of sugarcane , which required extensive labor. The colony of Saint-Domingue also had extensive coffee , cocoa , and indigo plantations, but these were smaller and less profitable than the sugar plantations. The commodity crops were traded for European goods. Starting in the 1730s, French engineers constructed complex irrigation systems to increase sugarcane production. By
972-460: A connection to Enlightenment scholars through the style, language, and accent of this text. Like Louverture, Jean-Baptiste Belley was an active participant in the insurrection. The portrait of Belley by Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson depicts a man who encompasses the French view of its colonies, creating a stark dichotomy between the refinement of Enlightenment thought and the reality of
1134-711: A degree of theological education from the Jesuit and Capuchin missionaries through his church attendance and devout Catholicism. His medical knowledge is attributed to a familiarity with the folk medicine of the African plantation slaves and Creole communities, as well as more formal techniques found in the hospitals founded by the Jesuits and the free people of color. Legal documents signed on Louverture's behalf between 1778 and 1781 suggest that he could not yet write at that time. Throughout his military and political career during
1296-474: A free black who was familiar with Enlightenment ideas within the context of European colonialism, would become a key "enlightened actor" in the Haitian Revolution. Enlightened thought divided the world into "enlightened leaders" and "ignorant masses." Louverture sought to bridge this divide between the popular masses and the enlightened few by striking a balance between Western Enlightened thought as
1458-488: A free man of color, after overthrowing French General Étienne Laveaux. In 1796 Villate drummed up popular support by accusing the French authorities of plotting a return to slavery. On 20 March, he succeeded in capturing the French Governor Laveaux, and appointed himself Governor. Louverture's troops soon arrived at Cap-Français to rescue the captured governor and to drive Villatte out of town. Louverture
1620-682: A general emancipation, but an offer of freedom to male slaves who agreed to fight for them) Louverture stated that "the blacks wanted to serve under a king and the Spanish king offered his protection." On 29 August 1793, he made his famous declaration of Camp Turel to the black population of St. Domingue: Brothers and friends, I am Toussaint Louverture; perhaps my name has made itself known to you. I have undertaken vengeance. I want Liberty and Equality to reign in St. Domingue. I am working to make that happen. Unite yourselves to us, brothers and fight with us for
1782-573: A landing of French troops if necessary. After Rigaud sent troops to seize the border towns of Petit-Goave and Grand-Goave in June 1799, Louverture persuaded Roume to declare Rigaud a traitor and attacked the southern state. The resulting civil war, known as the War of Knives , lasted more than a year, with the defeated Rigaud fleeing to Guadeloupe , then France, in August 1800. Louverture delegated most of
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#17327915538871944-639: A margin of almost eight to one. Two-thirds of the slaves were African born, and they tended to be less submissive than those born in the Americas and raised in slave societies. The death rate in the Caribbean exceeded the birth rate, so imports of enslaved Africans were necessary to maintain the numbers required to work the plantations. The slave population declined at an annual rate of two to five percent, due to overwork, inadequate food and shelter, insufficient clothing and medical care, and an imbalance between
2106-427: A massacre of the whites of the island. The accusation played on Sonthonax's political radicalism and known hatred of the aristocratic grands blancs , but historians have varied as to how credible they consider it. On reaching France, Sonthonax countered by accusing Louverture of royalist, counter-revolutionary, and pro-independence tendencies. Louverture knew that he had asserted his authority to such an extent that
2268-429: A move that drew criticism from abolitionists William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson . On the other hand, Louverture was able to pool his 4,000 men with Laveaux's troops in joint actions. By now his officers included men who were to remain important throughout the revolution: his brother Paul, his nephew Moïse Hyacinthe , Jean-Jacques Dessalines , and Henri Christophe . Before long, Louverture had put an end to
2430-706: A necessary means of winning liberation, and not propagating the notion that it was morally superior to the experiences and knowledge of people of color on Saint-Domingue. Louverture wrote a constitution for a new society in Saint-Domingue that abolished slavery . The existence of slavery in Enlightened society was an incongruity that had been left unaddressed by European scholars prior to the French Revolution . Louverture took on this inconsistency directly in his constitution. In addition, he exhibited
2592-429: A power-seeker and sincere abolitionist" who was working with Laveaux since January 1794 and switched sides on 6 May. Louverture claimed to have switched sides after emancipation was proclaimed and the commissioners Sonthonax and Polverel had returned to France in June 1794. However, a letter from Toussaint to General Laveaux confirms that he was already fighting officially on the behalf of the French by 18 May 1794. In
2754-430: A powerful defensive position. Louverture was determined to proceed anyway and coerced Roume into supplying the necessary permission. At the same time, in order to improve his political relationships with other European powers, Louverture tooks steps to stabilize the political landscape of the Caribbean, which included limiting his anti-slavery sentiments in the interest of realpolitik . When Isaac Yeshurun Sasportas,
2916-586: A rigid caste system was defined. Most historians classify the people of the era into three groups: The first group were white colonists, or les blancs . This group was generally subdivided into the plantation owners and a lower class of whites who often served as overseers or day laborers, as well as artisans and shopkeepers. The second group were free people of color , or gens de couleur libres , who were usually mixed-race (sometimes referred to as mulattoes ), being of both African and French descent. These gens de couleur tended to be educated and literate, and
3078-461: A school in mainland France for the children of colonial officials . This was done to provide them with a formal education in the French language and culture, one that Louverture highly desired for his children, but to also use them as political hostages against Louverture should he act against the will of the central French authority in Paris. In spite of this Placide and Isaac ran away enough times from
3240-481: A series of mistresses. In 1785, Louverture's eldest child, the 24-year-old Toussaint Jr., died from a fever and the family organized a formal Catholic funeral for him. This was officiated by a local priest as a favor for the devout Louverture. Gabrielle-Toussaint disappeared from the historical record at this time and is presumed to have also died, possibly from the same illness that took Toussaint Jr. Not all of Louverture's children can be identified with certainty, but
3402-616: A slave to the northern part of Saint-Domingue . In 1779 he may have served with the French forces as a drummer boy in the Chasseurs-Volontaires de Saint-Domingue , a regiment composed of gens de couleur libres ( mixed-race residents of Saint-Domingue), and fewer black residents. The regiment fought at the Siege of Savannah , a battle during the American Revolutionary War . It is claimed that Christophe
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#17327915538873564-500: A talent for handling the horses and oxen on the plantation. This allowed the siblings to work in the manor house and stables, away from the grueling physical labor and deadly corporal punishment meted out in the sugar-cane fields. In spite of this relative privilege, there is evidence that even in his youth Louverture's pride pushed him to engage in fights with members of the Petits-blancs (white commoner) community, who worked on
3726-460: A warning for other slaves. King Louis XIV of France passed the Code Noir in 1685 in an attempt to regulate such violence and the treatment of slaves in general in the colony, but masters openly and consistently broke the code. During the 18th century, local legislation reversed parts of it. In 1758, the planters began passing legislation restricting the rights of other groups of people until
3888-517: A young 22-year-old female slave and traded her to the Brédas to prevent Pelage from being sold to a new owner. By the start of the revolution, Louverture began to accumulate a moderate fortune and was able to buy a small plot of land adjacent to the Bréda property to build a house for his family. He was nearly 48 years old at this time. Louverture gained some education from his godfather Pierre-Baptiste on
4050-476: Is now Benin , and Kongo from the Kingdom of Kongo in what is now modern northern Angola and the western Congo . The Kongolese at 40% were the largest of the African ethnic groups represented amongst the slaves. The slaves developed their own religion, a syncretic mixture of Catholicism and West African religions known as Vodou , usually called "voodoo" in English. This belief system implicitly rejected
4212-554: The American and French governments over the issue of privateering . The two countries entered into the so-called "Quasi"-War , but trade between Saint-Domingue and the United States was desirable to both Louverture and the United States. With Hédouville gone, Louverture sent diplomat Joseph Bunel , a grand blanc former planter married to a Black Haitian wife, to negotiate with the administration of John Adams . Adams as
4374-592: The Catholic Church by the local Jesuit Order . Pierre-Baptiste Simon, a carpenter and gatekeeper on the Bréda plantation, is considered to have been Louverture's godfather and went on to become a parental figure to Louverture's family, along with his foster mother Pelage, after the death of Toussaint's parents. Growing up, Toussaint first learned to speak the African Fon language of the Allada slaves on
4536-547: The French National Assembly to expand voting rights and legal protections from the grands blancs to the wealthy slave-owning gens de couleur, such as themselves. Being of majority white descent and with Ogé having been educated in France, the two were incensed that their black African ancestry prevented them from having the same legal rights as their fathers, who were both grand blanc planters. Rebuffed by
4698-863: The Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the Slave Trade Act of 1807 to abolish the importation of slaves into the British Empire . Because of increased bilateral trade with Britain, Christophe's government earned an enormous sum of British pounds for his treasury. By contrast, Petion's southern Haiti became much poorer because the land-share system reduced agricultural productivity, and exports fell. As king, Christophe created an elaborate Haitian peerage (nobility), originally consisting of four princes, eight dukes, 22 counts, 40 barons, and 14 knights (" chevaliers "). Christophe founded
4860-541: The Thirteen Colonies to Great Britain. The livelihood of 1 million of the approximately 25 million people who lived in France in 1789 depended directly upon the agricultural imports from Saint-Domingue, and several million indirectly depended upon trade from the colony to maintain their standard of living. Saint-Domingue was the most profitable French colony in the world, indeed one of the most profitable of all
5022-483: The Vicomte de Rochambeau in an effort to regain control of the colony and re-establish slavery. Jean Jacques Dessalines led the fight to defeat the French forces. The French withdrew their 7,000 surviving troops in late 1803. As leader, Dessalines declared the independence of Saint-Domingue with its new name of Haïti in 1804. Christophe was in charge of the northern section of the country, where he notably supervised
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5184-714: The abolition of slavery in the former colony was followed by a successful defense of the freedoms the former slaves had won, and with the collaboration of already free people of color , of their independence from white Europeans. The revolution was the largest slave uprising since Spartacus ' unsuccessful revolt against the Roman Republic nearly 1,900 years earlier, and challenged long-held European beliefs about alleged black inferiority and about slaves' ability to achieve and maintain their own freedom. The rebels' organizational capacity and tenacity under pressure inspired stories that shocked and frightened slave owners in
5346-496: The grand blancs, as the wealthy white French planters were called. However, none of the hotel's sales records support this claim. He was said to have gained his freedom from slavery as a young man, before the slave uprising of 1791 . Sometime after he had settled in Haiti, he brought his sister Marie there; she married and had children. The political skills he learned as a hotelier also served him well when he later became an officer in
5508-478: The 1740s, Saint-Domingue, together with the British colony of Jamaica , had become the main suppliers of the world's sugar. Production of sugar depended on extensive manual labor provided by enslaved Africans . An average of 600 ships engaged every year in shipping products from Saint-Domingue to Bordeaux , and the value of the colony's crops and goods was almost equal in value to all of the products shipped from
5670-609: The 1780s. Raimond used the French Revolution to make this the major colonial issue before the National Assembly. In October 1790, another wealthy free man of color, Vincent Ogé , demanded the right to vote under the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. When the colonial governor refused, Ogé led a brief 300-man insurgency in the area around Le Cap, fighting to end racial discrimination in
5832-476: The 1791 War for Freedom in Saint-Domingue. Initially allied with the Spaniards of neighboring Santo Domingo , Louverture switched his allegiance to the French when the new Republican government abolished slavery . Louverture gradually established control over the whole island and used his political and military influence to gain dominance over his rivals. Throughout his years in power, he worked to balance
5994-469: The Africans' status as slaves. Saint-Domingue was a society seething with hatred, with white colonists and black slaves frequently coming into violent conflict. The French historian Paul Fregosi wrote: "Whites, mulattos and blacks loathed each other. The poor whites couldn't stand the rich whites, the rich whites despised the poor whites, the middle-class whites were jealous of the aristocratic whites,
6156-832: The Artibonite in the West in addition to capturing the port town of Gonaïves in December 1793. However, tensions had emerged between Louverture and the Spanish higher-ups. His superior with whom he enjoyed good relations, Matías de Armona, was replaced with Juan de Lleonart – who was disliked by the black auxiliaries. Lleonart failed to support Louverture in March 1794 during his feud with Biassou, who had been stealing supplies for Louverture's men and selling their families as slaves. Unlike Jean-François and Bissaou, Louverture refused to round up enslaved women and children to sell to
6318-420: The British presence, but was unable to oust them from Saint-Marc . He contained them by resorting to guerilla tactics . Throughout 1795 and 1796, Louverture was also concerned with re-establishing agriculture and exports, and keeping the peace in areas under his control. In speeches and policy he revealed his belief that the long-term freedom of the people of Saint-Domingue depended on the economic viability of
6480-544: The Bréda plantation. His extant letters demonstrate a moderate familiarity with Epictetus , the Stoic philosopher who had lived as a slave, while his public speeches showed a familiarity with Machiavelli . Some cite Enlightenment thinker Abbé Raynal , a French critic of slavery, and his publication Histoire des deux Indes predicting a slave revolt in the West Indies as a possible influence. Louverture received
6642-507: The European colonies in the 18th century. Slavery sustained sugar production under harsh conditions; diseases such as malaria (brought from Africa) and yellow fever caused high mortality, thriving in the tropical Caribbean climate. In 1787 alone, the French imported about 20,000 slaves from Africa into Saint-Domingue, while the British imported about 38,000 slaves total to all of their Caribbean colonies. The death rate from yellow fever
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6804-556: The French government might well suspect him of seeking independence. At the same time, the French Directoire government was considerably less revolutionary than it had been. Suspicions began to brew that it might reconsider the abolition of slavery. In November 1797, Louverture wrote again to the Directoire, assuring them of his loyalty, but reminding them firmly that abolition must be maintained. For months, Louverture
6966-541: The Gonaïves attack was thought to be feigned and Lleonart suspected him of treachery. Remaining distrustful of the black commander, Lleonart housed his wife and children whilst Louverture led an attack on Dondon in early May, an act which Lleonart later believed confirmed Louverture's decision to turn against the Spanish. The timing of and motivation behind Louverture's volte-face against Spain remains debated among historians. C. L. R. James claimed that upon learning of
7128-411: The Haitian Revolution. Between 1761 and 1777, Louverture met and married his first wife, Cécile, in a Catholic ceremony . The couple went on to have two sons, Toussaint Jr. and Gabrielle-Toussaint, and a daughter, Marie-Marthe. During this time, Louverture bought several slaves; although this was a means to grow a greater pool of exploitable labor, this was one of the few legal methods available to free
7290-517: The Kingdom earned revenues from agricultural production, primarily sugar, but the Haitian people resented the system. He reached an agreement with the United Kingdom to respect its Caribbean colonies in exchange for their warnings to his government of any French naval activity threatening Haiti. In 1820, unpopular, ill and fearing a coup, he committed suicide. Jacques-Victor, his son and heir,
7452-557: The Moca's church, and the bodies found at the presbytery, which is the space that encircles the church's altar..." This event was one of several documented accounts of atrocities perpetrated by General Christophe under the orders of Dessalines; they retreated from the Spanish-speaking side of the island after their failed invasion attempt. On 6 April 1805, having gathered all his troops, General Christophe took all male prisoners to
7614-497: The Spanish in May 1793; Louverture likely did so in early June. He had made covert overtures to General Laveaux prior but was rebuffed as Louverture's conditions for alliance were deemed unacceptable. At this time the republicans were yet to make any formal offer to the slaves in arms and conditions for the blacks under the Spanish looked better than that of the French. In response to the civil commissioners' radical 20 June proclamation (not
7776-455: The Spanish threat to French Saint-Domingue. In any case, the Treaty of Basel of July 1795 marked a formal end to hostilities between the two countries. Black leaders Jean-François and Biassou continued to fight against Louverture until November, when they left for Spain and Florida, respectively. At that point, most of their men joined Louverture's forces. Louverture also made inroads against
7938-480: The Spanish, Louverture ran the fortified post of La Tannerie and maintained the Cordon de l'Ouest , a line of posts between rebel and colonial territory. He gained a reputation for his discipline, training his men in guerrilla tactics and "the European style of war". Louverture emphasized brotherhood and fraternity among his troops and aimed to unify individuals of many populations. He used republican rhetoric to rally
8100-536: The Spanish. This feud also emphasized Louverture's inferior position in the trio of black generals in the minds of the Spanish ;– a check upon any ambitions for further promotion. On 29 April 1794, the Spanish garrison at Gonaïves was suddenly attacked by black troops fighting in the name of "the King of the French", who demanded that the garrison surrender. Approximately 150 men were killed and much of
8262-878: The State of Haïti). Pétion became President of the "Republic of Haïti" in the south, where he was backed by General Jean-Pierre Boyer , a personne de couleur who controlled the southern armies. In 1811, Christophe declared the northern state of Haïti a kingdom and had himself crowned by Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Brelle , the archbishop of Milot . The 1 April 1811 edict gave his full title as Henry, par la grâce de Dieu et la Loi constitutionelle de l'État Roi d'Haïti, Souverain des Îles de la Tortue, Gonâve, et autres îles adjacentes, Destructeur de la tyrannie, Régénérateur et bienfaiteur de la nation haïtienne, Créateur de ses institutions morales, politiques et guerrières, Premier monarque couronné du Nouveau-Monde, Défenseur de la foi, Fondateur de l'ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Henri. Henry, by
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#17327915538878424-554: The US, who feared that the success of the revolution would inspire slave revolts across the Caribbean, the South American colonies, and the southern United States. On 30 April 1798, Louverture signed a treaty with British Army officer Thomas Maitland , exchanging the withdrawal of British troops from western Saint-Domingue in return for a general amnesty for the French counter-revolutionaries in those areas. In May, Port-au-Prince
8586-510: The Villate insurrection, France's representatives of the third commission arrived in Saint-Domingue. Among them was Sonthonax , the commissioner who had previously declared abolition of slavery on the same day as Louverture's proclamation of Camp Turel. At first the relationship between the two men was positive. Sonthonax promoted Louverture to general and arranged for his sons, Placide and Isaac, who were eleven and fourteen respectively to attend
8748-478: The abolition of slavery . For months, Louverture had been in diplomatic contact with the French general Étienne Maynaud de Bizefranc de Laveaux. During this time, his competition with the other rebel leaders was growing, and the Spanish had started to look with disfavor on his near-autonomous control of a large and strategically important region. Louverture's auxiliary force was employed to great success, with his army responsible for half of all Spanish gains north of
8910-572: The abolition of slavery, he appeared to be content to have the colony remain French, at least in name. In 1799, the tensions between Louverture and Rigaud came to a head. Louverture accused Rigaud of trying to assassinate him to gain power over Saint-Domingue. Rigaud claimed Louverture was conspiring with the British to restore slavery. The conflict was complicated by racial overtones that escalated tensions between full blacks and mulattoes. Louverture had other political reasons for eliminating Rigaud; only by controlling every port could he hope to prevent
9072-443: The area. He was captured in early 1791, and brutally executed by being "broken on the wheel " before being beheaded. While Ogé was not fighting against slavery, his treatment was cited by later slave rebels as one of the factors in their decision to rise up in August 1791 and resist treaties with the colonists. The conflict up to this point was between factions of whites, and between whites and free blacks. Enslaved blacks watched from
9234-527: The assembly they returned to the colony where Ogé met up with Jean-Baptiste Chavannes , a wealthy mixed-race veteran of the American Revolution and an abolitionist. Here the two organized a small scale revolt in 1790 composed of a few hundred gens de couleur, who engaged in several battles against the colonial militias on the island. However, after the movement failed to gain traction Ogé and Chavannes were quickly captured and publicly broken on
9396-485: The black and mixed-race population made up of slave foremen, Creoles , and freed slaves gathered in secret at a plantation in Morne-Rouge in the north of Saint-Domingue to plan their revolt. Here prominent early figures of the revolution such as Dutty François Boukman , Jean-François Papillon , Georges Biassou, Jeannot Bullet , and Toussaint gathered to nominate a single leader to guide the revolt. Toussaint, wary of
9558-489: The black and mulatto population of Saint-Domingue became inspired by a multitude of factors that converged on the island in the late 1780s and early 1790s leading them to organize a series of rebellions against the central white colonial assembly in Le Cap . In 1789 two mix-race Creole merchants, Vincent Ogé and Julien Raimond , happened to be in France during the early stages of the French Revolution. Here they began lobbying
9720-420: The campaign to his lieutenant, Jean-Jacques Dessalines , who became infamous, during and after the war, for massacring mulatto captives and civilians. The number of deaths is contested: the contemporary French general François Joseph Pamphile de Lacroix suggested 10,000 deaths, while the 20th-century Trinidadian historian C. L. R. James claimed there were only a few hundred deaths. In November 1799, during
9882-592: The capture of Santo Domingo (now Dominican Republic), against French forces who acquired the colony from Spain in the Treaty of Basel . After Dessalines was assassinated, Christophe retreated to the Plaine-du-Nord and created a separate government. On 17 February 1807, he was elected president of the State of Haiti , as he named that area. Alexandre Pétion was elected president of the Republic of Haiti in
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#173279155388710044-459: The civil war, Napoleon Bonaparte gained power in France and passed a new constitution declaring that French colonies would be subject to special laws. Although many Black people in the colonies suspected this meant the re-introduction of slavery, Napoleon began by confirming Louverture's position and promising to maintain existing anti-slavery laws. But he also forbade Louverture to invade Spanish Santo Domingo, an action that would put Louverture in
10206-736: The colony by the high mountain range known as the Massif du Nord . The Western province, however, grew significantly after the colonial capital was moved to Port-au-Prince in 1751, becoming increasingly wealthy in the second half of the 18th century. The Southern province lagged in population and wealth because it was geographically separated from the rest of the colony. However, this isolation allowed freed slaves to find profit in trade with Jamaica, and they gained power and wealth here. In addition to these interregional tensions, there were conflicts between proponents of independence, those loyal to France, and allies of Britain and Spain —who coveted control of
10368-403: The colony), who already had kin networks and often had more prestigious roles on plantations and more opportunities for emancipation. Most slaves spoke a patois of the French language known as Haitian Creole , which was also used by island-born mulattoes and whites for communication with the workers. The majority of the slaves were Yoruba from what is now modern Nigeria , Fon from what
10530-456: The colony. He was held in general respect, and resorted to a mixture of diplomacy and force to return the field hands to the plantations as emancipated and paid workers. Workers regularly staged small rebellions, protesting poor working conditions, their lack of real freedom, or their fear of a return to slavery. They wanted to establish their own small holdings and work for themselves, rather than on plantations. Another of Louverture's concerns
10692-450: The colony. The planters political and familial connections to Metropolitan France could also foster better diplomatic and economic ties to Europe. In summer 1797, Louverture authorized the return of Bayon de Libertat, the former overseer of the Bréda plantation, with whom he had shared a close relationship with ever since he was enslaved. Sonthonax wrote to Louverture threatening him with prosecution and ordering him to get de Libertat off
10854-497: The couple and sold them to the crew of the French slave ship Hermione , which then sailed to the French West Indies . The original names of Toussaint's parents are unknown, since the Code Noir mandated that slaves brought to their colonies be made into Catholics, stripped of their African names, and be given more European names in order to assimilate them into the French plantation system. Toussaint's father received
11016-484: The daily functions of the plantation. He took up his old responsibilities of looking after the livestock and care of the horses. By 1789, his responsibilities expanded to include acting as a muleteer , master miller, and possibly a slave-driver, charged with organizing the workforce. During this time the Bréda family attempted to divide the plantation and the slaves on it among a new series of four heirs. In an attempt to protect his foster mother, Pelage, Louverture bought
11178-472: The dangers of taking on such a public role, especially after hearing about what happened to Ogé and Chavannes, went on to nominate Georges Biassou as leader. He would later join his forces as a secretary and lieutenant, and be in command of a small detachment of soldiers. During this time Toussaint took up the name of Monsieur Toussaint, a title that was once been reserved for the white population of Saint-Domingue. Surviving documents show him participating in
11340-451: The desire to undermine the colony's attempts at independent legitimacy, as citizens of the colonies were not able to access the elite class of French Revolutionaries because of their race. In 1789, Saint-Domingue produced 60% of the world's coffee and 40% of the sugar imported by France and Britain. The colony was not only the most profitable possession of the French colonial empire , but it
11502-657: The dreaded yellow fever, which regularly swept the colony. The lower-class whites, petits blancs (literally "small whites"), included artisans, shopkeepers, slave dealers, overseers, and day laborers. Saint-Domingue's free people of color, or gens de couleur libres , numbered more than 28,000. Around that time, colonial legislations, concerned with this growing and strengthening population, passed discriminatory laws that required these freedmen to wear distinctive clothing and limited where they could live. These laws also barred them from occupying many public offices. Many freedmen were also artisans and overseers, or domestic servants in
11664-582: The economy and security of Saint-Domingue. Worried about the economy, which had stalled, he restored the plantation system using paid labor; negotiated trade agreements with the United Kingdom and the United States and maintained a large and well-trained army. Louverture seized power in Saint-Domingue, established his own system of government, and promulgated his own colonial constitution in 1801 that named him as Governor-General for Life, which challenged Napoleon Bonaparte's authority. In 1802, he
11826-511: The eldest son of Hyppolite, an Allada slave from the slave coast of West Africa , and his second wife Pauline, a slave from the Aja ethnic group, and given the name Toussaint at birth. Louverture's son Issac would later name his great-grandfather, Hyppolite's father, as Gaou Guinou and a son of the King of Allada , although there is little extant evidence of this. The name Gaou possibly originated in
11988-419: The emancipation decree in May 1794, Louverture decided to join the French in June. It is argued by Beaubrun Ardouin that Toussaint was indifferent toward black freedom, concerned primarily for his own safety and resentful over his treatment by the Spanish – leading him to officially join the French on 4 May 1794 when he raised the republican flag over Gonaïves. Thomas Ott sees Louverture as "both
12150-521: The end of Christophe's reign, public sentiment opposed what many considered his feudal policies of forced labor, which he intended to use to develop the country. Ill and infirm at age fifty-three, King Henry died by suicide by shooting himself with a silver bullet rather than risk a coup and assassination. His son and heir was assassinated 10 days later. He was buried within the Citadelle Laferrière . His descendants continued to be among
12312-403: The end of the revolution Louverture grew substantially wealthy; owning numerous slaves at Ennery , obtaining thirty-one properties, and earning almost 300,000 colonial livre per year from these properties. As leader of the revolution, this accumulated wealth made Louverture the richest person on Saint-Domingue. Louverture's actions evoked a collective sense of worry among the European powers and
12474-720: The evacuation of all remaining British troops in Saint-Dominigue. On 31 August, they signed a secret treaty that lifted the British Royal Navy 's blockade on Saint-Domingue in exchange for a promise that Louverture would not attempt to cause unrest in the British West Indies . As Louverture's relationship with Hédouville reached the breaking point, an uprising began among the troops of his adopted nephew, Hyacinthe Moïse. Attempts by Hédouville to manage
12636-418: The expensive and damaging wars. The United States had only recently ended its arms and goods embargo against Haiti, and began war with United Kingdom in the War of 1812 . Christophe had to choose whether to enforce a version of the slave plantation system to increase agricultural production, or to subdivide the land into parcels for peasants' subsistence farming. The latter was the policy of President Pétion in
12798-483: The extent that, until recent documents uncovered the marriage, few researchers were aware of the existence of Cécile and her children with Louverture. In 1782, Louverture married his second wife, Suzanne Simone-Baptiste , who is thought to have been his cousin or the daughter of his godfather Pierre-Baptiste. Toward the end of his life, Louverture told General Caffarelli that he had fathered at least 16 children, of whom 11 had predeceased him, between his two wives and
12960-479: The first steps of the construction of Citadelle Laferrière . In 1805, General Nicolas Geffrard, commander in the south, approached Christophe with a plot to kill Dessalines , the self-proclaimed emperor of Haiti; Christophe did not warn Dessalines. Christophe's influence and power in the north was such that Dessalines, though aware of opposition brewing against him in the highest circles of power, found himself unable to strike against his general. The conspiracy involved
13122-460: The first weeks, Louverture eradicated all Spanish supporters from the Cordon de l'Ouest , which he had held on their behalf. He faced attack from multiple sides. His former colleagues in the slave rebellion were now fighting against him for the Spanish. As a French commander, he was faced with British troops who had landed on Saint-Domingue in September, as the British hoped to take advantage of
13284-410: The fledgling slave rebellion into a revolutionary movement . Along with Jean-Jacques Dessalines , Louverture is now known as one of the "Fathers of Haiti". Toussaint Louverture was born as a slave in the French colony of Saint-Domingue , now known as Haiti . He was a devout Catholic, and was manumitted as an affranchi (ex-slave) before the French Revolution , identifying as a Creole for
13446-701: The form of letters carried by French agents captured on the island. In the ensuing uproar, the nation mobilized for the expected French invasion and began an international public relations campaign. From November on, reprints of Haitian pamphlets, newspapers and open letters appeared in print media across the Atlantic world. Such broadsides and editorial interventions were accompanied by critical theoretical texts on race and colonialism such as Pompée Valentin Vastey 's The Colonial System Unveiled ( Le Système colonial dévoilé ). Simultaneously, Henry opened up communication with
13608-470: The former colony's independence. It involved black, biracial, French, Spanish, British, and Polish participants—with the ex-slave Toussaint Louverture emerging as Haiti's most prominent general. The successful revolution was a defining moment in the history of the Atlantic World and the revolution's effects on the institution of slavery were felt throughout the Americas. The end of French rule and
13770-669: The grace of God and constitutional law of the state, King of Haiti, Sovereign of Tortuga , Gonâve , and other adjacent islands, Destroyer of tyranny, Regenerator and Benefactor of the Haitian nation, Creator of her moral, political, and martial institutions, First crowned monarch of the New World , Defender of the faith , Founder of the Royal Military Order of Saint Henry. He renamed Cap-Français as Cap-Henry (later renamed as Cap-Haïtien ). Christophe named his legitimate son Jacques-Victor Henry heir apparent, giving him
13932-448: The greater part of his life. During his time as an affranchi , he became a salaried employee, an overseer of his former master's plantation, and later became a wealthy slave owner himself; Toussaint Louverture owned several coffee plantations at Petit Cormier, Grande Rivière, and Ennery. At the start of the Haitian revolution he was nearly 50 years old and began his military career as a lieutenant to Georges Biassou , an early leader of
14094-407: The hands of the British and Haitian armies and losing thousands of men to yellow fever , the French capitulated and withdrew permanently from Saint-Domingue the very same year. The Haitian Revolution continued under Louverture's lieutenant, Jean-Jacques Dessalines , who declared independence on 1 January 1804, thereby establishing the sovereign state of Haiti. Louverture was born into slavery ,
14256-450: The hemisphere. Compared to other Atlantic revolutions , the events in Haiti have received comparatively little public attention in retrospect: historian Michel-Rolph Trouillot characterizes the historiography of the Haitian Revolution as being "silenced" by that of the French Revolution . Much of Caribbean economic development in the 18th century was contingent on Europeans' demand for sugar . Plantation owners produced sugar as
14418-476: The hillside woods away from white control often conducted violent raids on the island's sugar and coffee plantations. Although the numbers in these bands grew large (sometimes into the thousands), they generally lacked the leadership and strategy to accomplish large-scale objectives. The first effective maroon leader to emerge was the charismatic Haitian Vodou priest François Mackandal , who inspired his people by drawing on African traditions and religions. He united
14580-436: The island and create trade regulations that would further their own wealth and power. However, the Haitian Revolution quickly became a test of the new French republic, as it radicalized the slavery question and forced French leaders to recognize the full meaning of their stated ideology. The African population on the island began to hear of the agitation for independence by the planters, who had resented France's limitations on
14742-487: The island and in the coming years supported them financially as they resettled in the United States and mainland France. In 1791, Louverture was involved in negotiations between rebel leaders and the French Governor, Blanchelande , for the release of their white prisoners and a return to work, in exchange for a ban on the use of whips, an extra non-working day per week, and the freedom of imprisoned leaders. When
14904-568: The island's foreign trade. The Africans mostly allied with the royalists and the British, as they understood that if Saint-Domingue's independence were to be led by white slave masters, it would probably mean even harsher treatment and increased injustice for the African population. The planters would be free to operate slavery as they pleased without the existing minimal accountability to their French peers. Saint-Domingue's free people of color, most notably Julien Raimond , had been actively appealing to France for full civil equality with whites since
15066-469: The island. Louverture went over his head and wrote to the French Directoire directly for permission for de Libertat to stay. Only a few weeks later, he began arranging for Sonthonax's return to France that summer. Louverture had several reasons to want to get rid of Sonthonax; officially he said that Sonthonax had tried to involve him in a plot to make Saint-Domingue independent, starting with
15228-399: The leadership of the rebellion, discussing strategy, and negotiating with the Spanish supporters of the rebellion for supplies. Wanting to identify with the royalist cause Louverture and other rebels wore white cockades upon their sleeves and crosses of St. Louis . A few days after this gathering, a Vodou ceremony at Bois Caïman marked the public start of the major slave rebellion in
15390-556: The local cemetery and proceeded to slit their throats, among them Presbyter Vásquez and 20 more priests. Later he set on fire the whole town along with its five churches. On his way out he took along, fashioned like a herd, 249 women, 430 girls and 318 boys, a steep figure considering the relatively low population of the town at that time. Alejandro Llenas wrote that Christophe took 997 from Santiago alone, and " Monte Plata , San Pedro and Cotuí were reduced to ashes, and their residents either had their throats slit or were taken captives by
15552-413: The majority of Dessalines's senior officers, including his minister of war and navy Étienne Élie Gerin , General Alexandre Pétion , commander-in-chief of the second division in the west, General Nicolas Geffrard and many others. On 16 October 1806, they signed a proclamation entitled "Resistance to Oppression", declaring the necessity to overthrow Dessalines's government, and proclaimed Christophe head of
15714-422: The maroon bands and established a network of secret organizations among plantation slaves, leading a rebellion from 1751 through 1757. Although Mackandal was captured by the French and burned at the stake in 1758, large armed maroon bands persisted in raids and harassment after his death. French writer Guillaume Raynal attacked slavery in his history of European colonization. He warned, "the Africans only want
15876-498: The men often served in the army or as administrators on plantations. Many were children of white planters and enslaved mothers, or free women of color. Others had purchased their freedom from their owners through the sale of their own produce or artistic works. They often received education or artisan training, and sometimes inherited freedom or property from their fathers. Some gens de couleur owned and operated their own plantations and became slave owners. The third group, outnumbering
16038-569: The military and leader in the country. Beginning with the slave uprising of 1791, Christophe distinguished himself as a soldier in the Haitian Revolution and quickly rose to be a colonel during the revolutionary years. He fought for years with Toussaint Louverture in the north, participating in numerous battles during the revolution, and eventually rising to the rank of commander-in-chief at Cap-Français. By 1802, Louverture had promoted him to general. The French deported Toussaint Louverture to France, and brought in more than 20,000 new troops under
16200-401: The model of the grands blancs and rich gens de couleur libres by becoming a planter. He began by renting a small coffee plantation, along with its 13 slaves, from his future son-in-law. One of the slaves Louverture owned at this time is believed to have been Jean-Jacques Dessalines , who would go onto become one of Louverture's most loyal lieutenants and a member of his personal guard during
16362-510: The most prominent English abolitionists: his letter to William Wilberforce arrived on 5 January 1815, and began a new level of engagement between the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Haiti. Despite promoting education and establishing a legal system called the Code Henry , King Henry was an unpopular, autocratic monarch . His realm was constantly challenged by Petion's government of the south, in which gens de couleur held power. Toward
16524-669: The name Hyppolite upon his baptism on Saint-Domingue , as Latin and Greek names were the most fashionable for slaves at this time, followed by French, and Biblical Christian names . Louverture is thought to have been born on the plantation of Bréda at Haut-du-Cap in Saint-Domingue, where his parents were enslaved and where he would spend the majority of his life before the revolution. His parents would go on to have several children after him, with five surviving infancy; Marie-Jean, Paul, Pierre, Jean, and Gaou, named for his grandfather. Louverture would grow closest to his younger brother Paul, who along with his other siblings were baptized into
16686-470: The name referred to a gap between his front teeth. Despite adhering to royalist views, Louverture began to use the language of freedom and equality associated with the French Revolution. From being willing to bargain for better conditions of slavery late in 1791, he had become committed to its complete abolition. After an offer of land, privileges, and recognizing the freedom of slave soldiers and their families, Jean-François and Biassou formally allied with
16848-423: The newly freed Cécile left Louverture for a wealthy Creole planter, while Louverture had begun a relationship with a woman named Suzanne, who is believed to have gone on to become his second wife. There is little evidence that any formal divorce occurred, as that was illegal at the time. Louverture, in fact, would go on to completely excise his first marriage from his recollections of his pre-revolutionary life, to
17010-490: The north, which had the largest plantations and enslaved population. Louverture did not openly take part in the earliest stages of the rebellion, as he spent the next few weeks sending his family to safety in Santo Domingo and helping his old overseer Bayon de Libertat. Louverture hid him and his family in a nearby wood, and brought them food from a nearby rebel camp. He eventually helped Bayon de Libertat's family escape
17172-411: The offer was rejected, he was instrumental in preventing the massacre of Biassou's white prisoners. The prisoners were released after further negotiations and escorted to Le Cap by Louverture. He hoped to use the occasion to present the rebellion's demands to the colonial assembly, but they refused to meet. Throughout 1792, as a leader in an increasingly formal alliance between the black rebellion and
17334-481: The ongoing instability to capture the prosperous island. Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville , who was Secretary of State for War for British prime minister William Pitt the Younger , instructed Sir Adam Williamson, the lieutenant-governor of Jamaica, to sign an agreement with representatives of the French colonists that promised to restore the ancien regime , slavery and discrimination against mixed-race colonists,
17496-535: The others by a ratio of ten to one, was made up of mostly African-born slaves. A high rate of mortality among them meant that planters continually had to import new slaves. This kept their culture more African and separate from other people on the island. Many plantations had large concentrations of slaves from a particular region of Africa, and it was therefore somewhat easier for these groups to maintain elements of their culture, religion, and language. This also separated new slaves from Africa from creoles (slaves born in
17658-587: The plantation as hired help. There is a record that Louverture beat a young petit blanc named Ferere, but was able to escape punishment after being protected by the new plantation overseer, François Antoine Bayon de Libertat. De Libertat had become steward of the Bréda property after it was inherited by Pantaléon de Bréda Jr., a grand blanc (white nobleman), and managed by Bréda's nephew the Count of Noah. In spite or perhaps because of this protection, Louverture went on to engage in other fights. On one occasion, he threw
17820-413: The plantation attorney Bergé off a horse belonging to the Bréda plantation, when he attempted to take it outside the bounds of the property without permission. Until 1938, historians believed that Louverture had been a slave until the start of the revolution. In the later 20th century, discovery of a personal marriage certificate and baptismal record dated between 1776 and 1777 documented that Louverture
17982-417: The plantation houses. Le Cap Français (Le Cap), a northern port, had a large population of free people of color, including freed slaves. These men would become important leaders in the slave rebellion and later revolution. Saint-Domingue's Northern province was the center of shipping and trading, and had the largest population of grands blancs . The Plaine-du-Nord on the northern shore of Saint-Domingue
18144-501: The plantation where he grew up. Toussaint went from being a slave of the Bréda plantation to becoming a member of the greater community of gens de couleur libres ( free people of color ). This was a diverse group of Affranchis (freed slaves), free blacks of full or majority African ancestry, and Mulattos (mixed-race peoples), which included the children of French planters and their African slaves, as well as distinct multiracial families who had multi-generational mixed ancestries from
18306-623: The plantation, then the Creole French of the greater colony, and eventually the Standard French of the elite class ( grands blancs ) during the revolution. Although he would later become known for his stamina and riding prowess, Louverture earned the nickname Fatras-Bâton ("sickly stick"), in reference to his small thin stature in his youth. Toussaint and his siblings were trained to be domestic servants with Louverture being trained as an equestrian and coachmen after showing
18468-538: The plantations. Many runaway slaves—called maroons—hid on the margins of large plantations, living off the land and what they could steal from their former masters. Others fled to towns, to blend in with urban slaves and freed blacks who often migrated to those areas for work. If caught, these runaway slaves would be severely and violently punished. However, some masters tolerated petit marronages, or short-term absences from plantations, knowing these allowed release of tensions. The larger groups of runaway slaves who lived in
18630-404: The populace forced to flee. White guardsmen in the surrounding area had been murdered, and Spanish patrols sent into the area never returned. Louverture is suspected to have been behind this attack, although was not present. He wrote to the Spanish 5 May protesting his innocence – supported by the Spanish commander of the Gonaïves garrison, who noted that his signature was absent from
18792-487: The powerful of Haiti. Pierre Nord Alexis , President of Haiti from 1902 to 1908, was Christophe's grandson. Michèle Bennett , who married Jean-Claude Duvalier and was First Lady of Haiti during his administration (1980 to 1986), is Christophe's great-great-great-granddaughter. Haitian Revolution The Haitian Revolution ( French : Révolution haïtienne [ʁevɔlysjɔ̃ a.isjɛn] or Guerre de l'indépendance ; Haitian Creole : Lagè d Lendependans )
18954-492: The previous French colonists. After Napoleon abdicated in April 1814, King Louis XVIII attempted to take back St Domingue. The Treaty of Paris , ratified on 30 May, gave neighboring Santo Domingo back to Spain, and granted an extra five years of slave trade in which to recoup losses entailed by abolition of slavery. In October 1814, Henry I's ministers made public evidence of French schemes to try and recover its former colony, in
19116-490: The provisional Haitian government. Dessalines was assassinated on 17 October 1806. In 1805, French troops were still posted on the eastern part of the island (mainly in Santo Domingo), where they were led by the French officer Marie-Louis Ferrand. He mobilized his troops and ordered them to seize all black children of both sexes below the age of 14 years to be sold as slaves. Learning of this action, Dessalines said he
19278-641: The rebels' ultimatum. It was not until 18 May that Louverture would claim responsibility for the attack, when he was fighting under the banner of the French. The events at Gonaïves made Lleonart increasingly suspicious of Louverture. When they had met at his camp 23 April, the black general had shown up with 150 armed and mounted men, as opposed to the usual 25, choosing not to announce his arrival or waiting for permission to enter. Lleonart found him lacking his usual modesty or submission, and after accepting an invitation to dinner 29 April, Louverture afterward failed to show. The limp that had confined him to his bed during
19440-425: The remaining members of a former slave's extended family and social circle. Louverture eventually bought the freedom of Cécile, their children, his sister Marie-Jean, his wife's siblings, and a slave named Jean-Baptist, freeing him so that he could legally marry. Louverture's own marriage, however, soon became strained and eventually broke down, as his coffee plantation failed to make adequate returns. A few years later,
19602-411: The return of the white planters who had fled Saint-Domingue at the start of the revolution. To the ideologically motivated Sonthonax, they were potential counter-revolutionaries who had fled the liberating force of the French Revolution and were forbidden from returning to the colony under pain of death. Louverture on the other hand saw them as wealth generators who could restore the commercial viability of
19764-462: The revolution, he was known to have verbally dictated his letters to his secretaries, who prepared most of his correspondences. A few surviving documents from the end of his life in his own hand confirm that he eventually learned to write, although his Standard French spelling was "strictly phonetic " and closer to the Creole French he spoke for the majority of his life. Beginning in 1789,
19926-475: The rights to all men, inspired a series of revolts across several neighboring French possessions in the Caribbean, which upset much of the established trade between the colonies. Many of the devout Catholic slaves and freedmen, including Toussaint, identified as free Frenchmen and royalists, who desired to protect a series of progressive legal protections afforded to the black citizenry by King Louis XVI and his predecessors. On 14 August 1791, two hundred members of
20088-502: The same cause. On the same day, the beleaguered French commissioner, Léger-Félicité Sonthonax , proclaimed emancipation for all slaves in French Saint-Domingue, hoping to bring the black troops over to his side. Initially, this failed, perhaps because Louverture and the other leaders knew that Sonthonax was exceeding his authority. However, on 4 February 1794, the French revolutionary government in France proclaimed
20250-573: The school that they were moved to the Collège de la Marche , a division of the old University of Paris . Here in Paris they would regularly dine with members of the French nobility such as Joséphine de Beauharnais , who would go on to become Empress of France as the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. In September 1796, elections were held to choose colonial representatives for the French national assembly. Louverture's letters show that he encouraged Laveaux to stand, and historians have speculated as to whether he
20412-676: The sexes, with more men than women. Some slaves were of a creole elite class of urban slaves and domestics, who worked as cooks, personal servants and artisans around the plantation house. This relatively privileged class was chiefly born in the Americas, while the under-class born in Africa labored hard, and often under abusive and brutal conditions. Among Saint-Domingue's 40,000 white colonists, European-born Frenchmen monopolized administrative posts. The sugar planters, or grands blancs (literally, "big whites"), were chiefly minor aristocrats. Most returned to France as soon as possible, hoping to avoid
20574-1230: The sidelines. Leading 18th-century French writer Count Mirabeau had once said the Saint-Domingue whites "slept at the foot of Vesuvius ", suggesting the grave threat they faced should the majority of slaves launch a sustained major uprising. ( Santo Domingo ) ( Spanish Florida , victorious) ( Real Audiencia of Panama , New Spain , suppressed) ( Veracruz , New Spain , victorious) ( New Spain , suppressed) ( New Spain , suppressed) ( British Province of New York , suppressed) (British Jamaica , victorious) (British Chesapeake Colonies , suppressed) ( Louisiana , New France , suppressed) ( Danish Saint John , suppressed) (British Province of South Carolina , suppressed) (British Province of New York , suppressed) (British Jamaica , suppressed) (British Montserrat , suppressed) (British Bahamas , suppressed) ( Louisiana , New Spain , suppressed) ( Louisiana , New Spain , suppressed) Toussaint Louverture François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture ( French: [fʁɑ̃swa dɔminik tusɛ̃ luvɛʁtyʁ] , English: / ˌ l uː v ər ˈ tj ʊər / ) also known as Toussaint L'Ouverture or Toussaint Bréda (20 May 1743 – 7 April 1803),
20736-415: The situation in Saint-Domingue, through the bust of Raynal and the figure of Belley, respectively. While distinguished, the portrait still portrays a man trapped by the confines of race. Girodet's portrayal of the former National Convention deputy is telling of the French opinion of colonial citizens by emphasizing the subject's sexuality and including an earring. Both of these racially charged symbols reveal
20898-458: The situation made matters worse and Louverture declined to help him. As the rebellion grew to a full-scale insurrection, Hédouville prepared to leave the island, while Louverture and Dessalines threatened to arrest him as a troublemaker. Hédouville sailed for France in October 1798, nominally transferring his authority to Rigaud. Louverture decided instead to work with Phillipe Roume , a member of
21060-412: The south, Christophe retreated with his followers to the Plaine-du-Nord of Haiti, the stronghold of former slaves, and created a separate government there. Christophe suspected he was also at risk of assassination in the south. In 1807, he declared himself " président et généralissime des forces de terre et de mer de l'État d'Haïti '" (English: President and Generalissimo of the armies of land and sea of
21222-522: The south. King Henry chose to enforce corvée plantation work, a system of forced labor, in lieu of taxes, but also began his massive building projects. During his reign, Northern Haiti was despotic , but the sugar cane economy generated revenue for government and officials. He made an agreement with Britain that Haiti would not threaten its Caribbean colonies; in return, the Royal Navy would warn Haiti of imminent attacks from French troops. In 1807,
21384-609: The south. On 26 March 1811, Christophe created a kingdom in the north and was later proclaimed Henry I, King of Haïti. He also created a nobility and named his legitimate son Jacques-Victor Henry as prince and heir. He is known for constructing Citadel Henry, now known as Citadelle Laferrière , the Sans-Souci Palace , the royal chapel of Milot, the Palais de la Belle Rivière and numerous other palaces. Under his policies of corvée , or forced labor bordering on slavery ,
21546-411: The standards of the Caribbean, French slave masters were extremely cruel in their treatment of slaves. They used the threat and acts of physical violence to maintain control and suppress efforts at rebellion. When slaves left the plantations or disobeyed their masters, they were subject to whipping or to more extreme torture such as castration or burning, the punishment being both a personal lesson and
21708-411: The start of the revolution, as Louverture spent the 1780s attempting to regain the wealth he had lost with the failure of his coffee plantation in the 1770s. It appears that during this time Louverture returned to play an important role on the Bréda plantation to remain closer to old friends and his family. He remained there until the outbreak of the revolution as a salaried employee and contributed to
21870-430: The surname Louverture, from the French word for "opening" or "the one who opened the way". Although some modern writers spell his adopted surname with an apostrophe, as in "L'Ouverture", he did not. The most common explanation is that it refers to his ability to create openings in battle. The name is sometimes attributed to French commissioner Polverel's exclamation: "That man makes an opening everywhere". Some writers think
22032-412: The third commission who had been posted to the Spanish parts of the colony. Although Louverture continued to protest his loyalty to the French government, he had expelled a second government representative from the territory and was about to negotiate another autonomous agreement with one of France's enemies. The United States had suspended trade with France in 1798 because of increasing tensions between
22194-416: The thousands, like farm animals, tied up and getting beaten on their way to Haiti." Before leaving Santo Domingo, Dessalines "gave the order to... commanders posted in conquered communities, to round up all dwellers and subdue them to prison, and thus, at first command, have them stomped by mules and other beasts upon arriving to the Haitian side." Following a power struggle with Pétion and his supporters in
22356-438: The three children from his first marriage and his three sons from his second marriage are well known. Suzanne's eldest child, Placide, is generally thought to have been fathered by Seraphim Le Clerc, a Creole planter. In spite of this, Placide was adopted by Louverture and raised as his own. Louverture went on to have at least two sons with Suzanne: Isaac, born in 1784, and Saint-Jean, born in 1791. They would remain enslaved until
22518-538: The title Deguenon, meaning "old man" or "wise man" in the Allada kingdom, making Gaou Guinou and his son Hyppolite members of the bureaucracy or nobility, but not members of the royal family. In Africa, Hyppolite and his first wife, Catherine, were forced into enslavement due to a series of imperialist wars of expansion by the Kingdom of Dahomey into the Allada territory. In order to remove their political rivals and obtain European trade goods , Dahomean slavers separated
22680-567: The title of Prince Royal of Haïti. His second son was a colonel in his army. Christophe built six châteaux, eight palaces and the massive Citadelle Laferrière, on a mountain near Milot. With the remains of the Sans-Souci Palace, it has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Nine years later, at the end of his monarchy, Henry increased the number of designated nobility from the original 87 to 134. The two parts of Haiti struggled to increase agricultural production to recover from
22842-708: The valuable colony. After the establishment of the French First Republic , the National Assembly made radical changes to French laws and, on 26 August 1789, published the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen , declaring all men free and equal. The Declaration was ambiguous as to whether this equality applied to women, slaves, or citizens of the colonies, and thus influenced the desire for freedom and equality in Saint-Domingue. White planters saw it as an opportunity to gain independence from France, which would allow them to take control of
23004-420: The varying different populations on the island. The gens de couleur libres strongly identified with Saint-Domingue, with a popular slogan being that while the French felt at home in France, and the slaves felt at home in Africa, they felt at home on the island. Now enjoying a greater degree of relative freedom, Louverture dedicated himself to building wealth and gaining further social mobility through emulating
23166-543: The varying groups within Saint-Dominigue and was successful in this effort. His favor of fraternity and strict discipline defined the kind of leader he was. After hard fighting, he lost La Tannerie in January 1793 to the French General Étienne Maynaud de Bizefranc de Laveaux , but it was in these battles that the French first recognized him as a significant military leader. Some time in 1792–1793, Toussaint adopted
23328-518: The wheel in the public square in Le Cap in February 1791. For the slaves on the island worsening conditions due to the neglect of legal protections afforded them by the Code Noir stirred animosities and made a revolt more attractive compared to the continued exploitation by the grands and petits blancs . Then the political and social disability caused by the French Revolution 's attempt to expand
23490-413: The whites born in France looked down upon the locally born whites, mulattoes envied the whites, despised the blacks and were despised by the whites; free Negroes brutalized those who were still slaves, Haitian born blacks regarded those from Africa as savages. Everyone—quite rightly—lived in terror of everyone else. Haiti was hell, but Haiti was rich." Many of these conflicts involved slaves who had escaped
23652-447: Was a Haitian general and the most prominent leader of the Haitian Revolution . During his life, Louverture first fought and allied with Spanish forces against Saint-Domingue Royalists , then joined with Republican France , becoming Governor-General-for-life of Saint-Domingue , and lastly fought against Bonaparte 's republican troops. As a revolutionary leader, Louverture displayed military and political acumen that helped transform
23814-447: Was a freeman , meaning that he had been manumitted sometime between 1772 and 1776, the time de Libertat had become overseer. This finding retrospectively clarified a private letter that Louverture sent to the French government in 1797, in which he mentioned he had been free for more than twenty years. Upon being freed, Toussaint took up the name of Toussaint de Bréda (Toussaint of Bréda), or more simply Toussaint Bréda, in reference to
23976-492: Was a successful insurrection by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue , now the sovereign state of Haiti . The revolution was the only known slave uprising in human history that led to the founding of a state which was both free from slavery (though not from forced labour ) and ruled by non-whites and former captives. The revolt began on 22 August 1791, and ended in 1804 with
24138-457: Was assassinated 10 days later. Afterwards, General Jean-Pierre Boyer came to power and reunited the two parts of Haiti. Claims about Henri Christophe's place of birth and life before coming to prominence have been contested since the early nineteenth century. Born Christophe Henry, probably in Grenada but perhaps St Kitts the son of a slave mother and Christophe, a freeman, he was brought as
24300-451: Was in sole command of French Saint-Domingue, except for a semi-autonomous state in the south, where general André Rigaud had rejected the authority of the third commission. Both generals continued harassing the British, whose position on Saint-Domingue was increasingly weak. Louverture was negotiating their withdrawal when France's latest commissioner, Gabriel Hédouville , arrived in March 1798, with orders to undermine his authority. Nearing
24462-451: Was invited to a parley by French Divisional General Jean-Baptiste Brunet , but was arrested upon his arrival. He was deported to France and jailed at the Fort de Joux . He died in 1803. Although Louverture died before the final and most violent stage of the Haitian Revolution, his achievements set the grounds for the Haitian army's final victory. Suffering massive losses in multiple battles at
24624-596: Was noted for opening the warehouses to the public, proving that they were empty of the chains that residents feared had been imported to prepare for a return to slavery. He was promoted to commander of the West Province two months later, and in 1797 was appointed as Saint-Domingue's top-ranking officer. Laveaux proclaimed Louverture as Lieutenant Governor, announcing at the same time that he would do nothing without his approval, to which Louverture replied: "After God, Laveaux." A few weeks after Louverture's triumph over
24786-534: Was outraged, and decided to use this a pretext to invade Santo Domingo, with his forces looting several towns, such as Azua and Moca , and finally laying siege to the city of Santo Domingo , the stronghold of the French. Henry Christophe (referred to as Enrique Cristóbal in Spanish-language accounts), under Dessalines, attacked the towns of Moca and Santiago . The barrister Gaspar de Arredondo y Pichardo wrote, "40 children had their throats cut at
24948-421: Was quoted as saying that " I am black, but I have the soul of a white man " in reference to his self-identification as a Frenchman, loyalty to the French nation, and Catholicism. Sonthonax, who had married a free black woman by this time, countered with " I am white, but I have the soul of a black man " in reference to his strong abolitionist and secular republican sentiments. They strongly disagreed about accepting
25110-481: Was returned to French rule in an atmosphere of order and celebration. In July, Louverture and Rigaud met commissioner Hédouville together. Hoping to create a rivalry that would diminish Louverture's power, Hédouville displayed a strong preference for Rigaud, and an aversion to Louverture. However, General Maitland was also playing on French rivalries and evaded Hédouville's authority to deal with Louverture directly. In August, Louverture and Maitland signed treaties for
25272-441: Was seeking to place a firm supporter in France or to remove a rival in power. Sonthonax was also elected, either at Louverture's instigation or on his own initiative. While Laveaux left Saint-Domingue in October, Sonthonax remained. Sonthonax, a fervent revolutionary and fierce supporter of racial equality, soon rivaled Louverture in popularity. Although their goals were similar, they had several points of conflict. While Louverture
25434-425: Was so high that polyandry —one woman being married to several men at the same time—developed as a common form of marriage among the slaves. As slaves had no legal rights, rape by planters, their unmarried sons, or overseers was a common occurrence on the plantations. The largest sugar plantations and concentrations of slaves were in the north of the island, and whites lived in fear of slave rebellion . Even by
25596-410: Was such that at least 50% of the slaves from Africa died within a year of arriving, so while the white planters preferred to work their slaves as hard as possible, providing them only the bare minimum of food and shelter, they calculated that it was better to get the most work out of their slaves with the lowest expense possible, since they were probably going to die of yellow fever anyway. The death rate
25758-406: Was the most fertile area, having the largest sugar plantations and therefore the most slaves. It was the area of greatest economic importance, especially as most of the colony's trade went through these ports. The largest and busiest port was Le Cap, the former capital of Saint-Domingue. Enslaved Africans in this region lived in large groups of workers in relative isolation, separated from the rest of
25920-406: Was the wealthiest and most prosperous colony in the Caribbean. The colony's white population numbered 40,000; mulattoes and free blacks, 28,000; and black slaves, an estimated 452,000. This was almost half the total slave population in the Caribbean, estimated at one million that year. Enslaved blacks, regarded as the lowest class of colonial society, outnumbered whites and free people of color by
26082-467: Was to manage potential rivals for power within the French part of the colony. The most serious of these was the mulatto commander Jean-Louis Villatte, based in Cap-Français . Louverture and Villate had competed over the command of some sections of troops and territory since 1794. Villatte was thought to be somewhat racist toward black soldiers such as Louverture and planned to ally with André Rigaud ,
26244-435: Was wounded in this battle. As an adult, Christophe may have worked as a mason, sailor, stable hand, waiter, or billiard marker; if so, most of his pay would have gone to his master. One popular story claims that he worked in and managed La Couronne , a hotel restaurant in Cap-Français , the first capital of the French colony of Saint-Domingue and a major colonial city. There, the legend goes, he became skilled at dealing with
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