Toussaint L Ouverture: Haiti

My taught of the Haitian/French revolution is that was a great thing because Haitians was one of the first to gain their freedom by killing the ones that had enslaved them and led by a great leader Toussaint louver Ture that fought with the former slaves to gain their freedoms. Toussaint tried to argue to stop the slaughtering by negotiating with them but they did not agree with them so Toussaint decided to keep fighting to white until all formers slaves was created equal and that made Toussaint a great leader and during all of them years of fighting Toussaint became the official know leader that lead. In my opinion I think Toussaint is one of the greatest leader to lead a slave rebellion because his ideas were to negotiate with the whites so that they both

Toussaint L’Ouverture was born in 1743 in Saint Domingue on a plantation in Cap-Haïtien. He was quite prodigious as a young child: rather than working as a field slave and toiling in the hot sun, he began his slave existence as a herder. Later on, he became a coach driver and waiter for his owner. Ultimately, his owner saw such promise in him that he appointed L’Ouverture as an overseer of fellow slaves who were working in the field. Throughout his tenure, being a more “upscale” slave, he was given access to the plantation library. It was in that library that L’Ouverture’s godfather taught him how to read and write, and the seeds of his future were sown.

By 1792, the French had sent troops in to try and restore order. These battles differed from the battles in the United States because they centered on ideas of racial equality. Poorly treated slaves and angry mixed race citizens fought not only for their right to have an independent nation, but for a literal freedom and equality for themselves. When Toussaint L’Overture, a former slave, took over the Haitian armies in 1793, he was fighting both the British and the French, two armies fighting to possess an island rich in resources, including the slaves who were fighting against them. He was a powerful leader and an intelligent military strategist, and his capacity to control the rebelling slaves greatly improved their organization. Battles with the French dragged on until 1803, when Napoleon no longer had the resources to sustain the warfare and withdrew his troops. By 1804, Haiti was an independent republic governed by Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who in a final expression of racial tension had the remaining white citizens massacred. Both the United States and Haiti helped secure their independence through successful military campaigns, but Haiti’s independence had race as a focal point in a way colonists of the United States did not

Similar to the American Revolution, the Haitians too seeked to create a republic founded on the values of the Enlightenment - but unlike the Americans, Haiti took this a step further, by outlawing slavery and becoming the first modern nation ruled by Africans. As the French Revolution began, there was a political crisis in St. Domingue, France’s wealthiest colony, and supplier of nearly 40% of Europe’s sugar imports. Planters were threatened by the Revolution, which aimed to remove many of the privileges enjoyed by the aristocracy (who made up the planter class). Wealthy free blacks, some of who owned plantations themselves, began to demand equal rights to whites. Poor whites, felt that the Revolution did not include blacks, and imagined a new society where they had enough to own slaves themselves. Out of the chaos of this political struggle, the slave population of St. Domingue, which made up nearly 90% of the colony’s population, revolted and seized power for themselves. By 1794, Haiti had seen one of the largest, and successful, slave rebellions in the course of human

Toussaint L’ouverture was not only a good liberator but he was also a great ruler of Saint Domingue. Saint Domingue was not a good country without Toussaint. Toussaint was a great leader for Saint Domingue and changed their lives forever. He wrote a document that restricted the slaves. (Doc. C) He created this document so that the slaves are free but, they still have to follow the rules like all the others. Toussaint also created a proclamation stating that “Any individual… tending to incite sedition shall be brought before a court martial and be punished in conformity with the law.” (Doc. D) Toussaint states here that if any slave that breaks the law will go to the military court and be punished with the law. He uses this law to help all the

How did the French Revolution impact events on San Domingue (Haiti)? What did the revolution mean for the French? For Haitians? Why was this both contradictory and dangerous?

He wanted to keep his island prosperous, which is why he didn’t want any vagabonds hanging around. (Doc D) With his role extending past being just a ruler, Toussaint didn’t only help slaves gain liberty and independence, but he also helped lead them in this new territory under his own constitution as a ruler of Saint

b. François Toussaint L’Ouverture became the leader of the former slaves. Toussaint remained in charge in the following many years of frequent battles, but in 1802 he was captured by French forces and later died in a French prison.

St. Domingue, what is now Haiti, was a place of sugar rich plantations owned by the french. A collection of rebel slaves started the Haitian Revolution in 1791,they were inspired by the French revolution. The successful revolts lead by general Toussaint L’Ouverture earned the slaves control over a third of St. Domingue. While the rebels maintained control of the place, they kept an alliance with France. Two years after Napoléon’s ambition came into power, he decides to send 30,000 soldiers to take St. Domingue back. Early in the continuing year, french forces dropped to less than 10,000 troops. Relations with Britain were dwindling fast, war was imminent, Napoléon’s decided to cut St. Domingue out of his plans. In 1803, the nation of Haiti gave Napoléon Bonaparte his first defeat. Part of Bonaparte’s plan

Toussaint L’Ouverture, leader of the Haitian revolution from 1791–1804, who was called Napoléon Noir, or the black Napoleon by both his admirers and his detractors alike once said: “I was born a slave, but nature gave me a soul of a free man....” (Lamartine, 1998, p.62). With these 15 words the former slave, now military leader L’Ouverture encapsulated the driving sentiment behind the bloody 13 year war for Haitian independence. The slave revolution which began in Haiti in 1791was inspired by the ideals of the age of enlightened reasoning which were floating across the sea from Europe, and was galvanized by the rising tide of the French revolution as news came through from Paris that the blade of Dr. Guillotine’s eponymous “national razor” was beginning the bloodletting.

However, when Napoleon Bonaparte attempted to reinstate slavery at the beginning of the 19th century, there was much objection specifically by Toussaint (de Breda) Louverture. Toussaint created a new constitution for Saint-Dominque without slavery and placed administrators in charge over the islands government, commerce, and legislation (Dubois/Garrigus,169). Napoleaon sent troops to Saint-Dominque, arrested Toussaint and deported him to France; however, this only furthered intensified the fighting. After much strife, Napoleon eventually gave up and the Haitian Declaration of Independence was created on January 1, 1804 and later a constitution in 1805 (Dubois/Garrigus,188).

What makes Toussaint Louverture so historic? In 1790 Colored French citizens were granted civic rights, but in 1791, Saint Domingue, a slave rebellion began against the French. Louverture took numerous leadership responsibilities during the revolt. He had an abundance of successes over wars, but the streak ended when France captured Toussaint in 1802 (Doc A). Toussaint Louverture's roles make him noteworthy because of how effective his work was on Saint Domingue. He is notable because he was the liberator of slaves, ruler of Saint Domingue, and military commander.

Toussaint L’Ouverture was born into slavery in 1743. He was the oldest child of an African Prince that was captured and forced into slavery. L’Ouverture was taught to read and write by his godfather as a child, which greatly impressed the manager of the plantation where he lived. The manager allowed L’Ouverture to use his personal library which helped him learn 3 languages and become well versed in the medicinal use of plants and herbs. Despite having worked as a slave, he also became a skilled horseman. As L’Ouverture grew older he gained his freedom from slavery, continuing to have a close relationship with his former owner regardless of any negative stigma he may face.

Toussaint Louverture organized an army of twenty thousand that controlled most of Saint-Domingue and spread a constitution that granted equality and citizenship to all of its residents. However, he did not want to declare independence from France because he did not want to aggravate Napoleon Bonaparte into attacking the island, which he ended up doing later. After his death following his arrest, the black generals that succeeded Toussaint defeated the French troops that survived yellow fever and had driven them out of the colony. In late 1803, they declared independence, the establishment of Haiti soon followed. Although they had abolished French rule, French is the main language spoken in Haiti today. The victory of the Haitian revolution signifies the first and only successful slave revolt in modern

The war became more complicated in 1793 when the British invaded Saint Domingue. The Spanish, who had a colony on the eastern two-thirds of Hispaniola, also entered the fray by supporting armies of escaped slaves, including a force under the command of an ex-slave named Toussaint Louverture. Pressed on all sides, commissioners from republican France, led by Leger Felicte Sonthonax in the northern part of the colony, began to extend freedom and citizenship to every slave in summer and autumn 1793. Inspired by this application of the rights of man, the French National Convention abolished slavery in all French possessions on February 4, 1794.