By Lynne Ann Hartnett, Villanova University
In 1795, France’s National Convention and its Committee of Public Safety gave way to a five-man directory and a bicameral legislature. The revolution had exacted an enormous toll. As members of the National Convention purged the body of its most radical members, power passed to the five man directory. This move was intended to restore political stability.
Louverture: An Absolute Authority
The directory championed representative democracy and the rule of law, but it had a less-than inclusive notion of citizenship. This aroused the concerns of Toussaint Louverture, the French appointed governor of Saint-Domingue, and other free people of color in Saint-Domingue that the gains of emancipation might be eroded. And those fears proved to be justified after Napoleon Bonaparte seized power in France in 1799.
Still, Louverture persistently ignored France in his administration of the island even while publicly acknowledging that Saint-Domingue was a French colony.
Ruling as an absolute authority in his own right, Louverture declared himself governor-for-life in 1801 while issuing a constitution that same year that formally abolished slavery and declared Catholicism as the official religion. Louverture also signed treaties with Britain and the United States, further challenging French sovereignty. And his forces invaded the Spanish part of the island, and emancipated the slaves there, as well.
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Napoleonic Regime
At last, Napoleon was provoked into action. France’s First Consul ordered his brother-in-law, General Charles Leclerc, to take 50,000 French troops to Saint-Domingue to bring the problematic colony back under French control.
Vicious fighting ensued. The French sustained major casualties. But within a few months, Louverture—along with his generals Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henri Christophe—was forced to back off. By the summer of 1802, they had surrendered to the French.
General Leclerc, fearing Louverture’s continued influence, had him arrested and imprisoned in France, where the revolutionary leader died the following year. The Napoleonic regime announced soon after that slavery was being reinstated in its colonies and the equal rights previously given to people of color were also eroded.
This prompted a new round of insurgency from Saint-Domingue’s African-born former slaves. French forces reacted again with horrifying brutality. Leclerc’s men engaged in mass murder against the native population. Leclerc himself succumbed to yellow fever. But colonial repression continued until November 1803, when the French finally acknowledged defeat.
New Caribbean Country: Haiti
On January 1, 1804, insurgents proclaimed the independence of a small new Caribbean country to be henceforth known by the indigenous name of Haiti. Former slaves led the world’s first Black republic.
Louverture’s second-in-command, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, became independent Haiti’s first leader, and he exacted revenge for a century of slavery by unleashing reprisals against the island’s white plantation owners and Frenchmen, many of whom were brutally killed.
Dessalines ruled autocratically, even declaring himself emperor. But he didn’t enjoy power for very long. In October 1806, Dessalines was killed by his own troops in a coup d’état.
Continued Racial Tensions
Racial tension continued to divide the new nation afterward, as Blacks and mixed-race persons each vied for influence. The two sides elected their own leaders and retreated to different parts of the country.
One of Louverture’s chief lieutenants, Henri Christophe, a Black man, ruled the state of Haiti in the north. The mixed-race Alexandre Pétion served as president of the Republic of Haiti in the south and west. The two sides fought intermittently for the next decade, as social divisions and racial antagonism persisted.
Both sides were ruled as autocracies. It was only after Petion’s death in 1818, followed by Henri Christophe’s death by suicide, as he awaited what seemed like an inevitable coup against him in late 1820, that Haiti reunited. But a democratic representative state never emerged.
Haiti’s Financial Burden
Haiti encountered another seemingly insurmountable challenge in 1825 when France extorted its former colony in return for the recognition of its independence. A French naval squadron sat off the coast of the island until Haiti agreed to pay a 100 million franc indemnity.
Already struggling to make the young republic’s coffee and sugar plantations profitable without slave labor, this added financial burden sealed Haiti’s fate. The government had to borrow money from French banks to stay afloat. Over the next century, Haiti’s leaders directed state profits to pay off external debts, and line their own pockets. Political elites reaped most of the rewards of the export-dependent economy while the revolution’s costs were borne by the poor.
The Haitian Revolution both introduced—and made viable—the prospect that every human being, regardless of color, might become autonomous and free. But the Haitian people have yet to unshackle themselves of their country’s history of devasting poverty and endemic corruption.
As a result, the social transformation that many in Haiti dreamed of at the beginning of the 19th century was never accomplished. Haiti’s revolution was a source of inspiration around the world. But the price of its independence proved high. And it has never been free of that burden.
Common Questions about Haiti
Ruling as an absolute authority in his own right, Toussaint Louverture declared himself governor-for-life in 1801 while issuing a constitution that same year that formally abolished slavery and declared Catholicism as the official religion. Louverture also signed treaties with Britain and the United States, further challenging French sovereignty.
On January 1, 1804, insurgents proclaimed the independence of a small new Caribbean country to be henceforth known by the indigenous name of Haiti. Former slaves led the world’s first Black republic.
Haiti encountered a seemingly insurmountable challenge in 1825 when France extorted its former colony in return for the recognition of its independence. A French naval squadron sat off the coast of the island until Haiti agreed to pay a 100 million franc indemnity. Already struggling to make the young republic’s coffee and sugar plantations profitable without slave labor, this added financial burden sealed Haiti’s fate. The government had to borrow money from French banks to stay afloat.
