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Slave Resistance Gains Momentum

1790—1791

21-28 Oct 1790

The Ogé Rebellion: Jacques Vincent Ogé, an affranchis representing the colony in France, leads a revolt against the white colonial authorities in Saint-Domingue. Despite colonists’ attempts to prevent him from leaving France, Ogé manages to escape to England, where he is secretly helped by abolitionists. From there he sails to the United States, where he buys weaponry before arriving in Saint-Domingue on October 21. Eluding police, Ogé manages to unite with friends and family and organize a “common front of gens de couleur against the forces of white supremacy.” He amasses 300 men, consisting primarily of mulattoes and some free blacks. The group, fully armed, marches to Grande-Rivière, just south of Le Cap, and joins with others with the intention of taking the city and disarming the white population. The colonists manage to disband Ogé’s army by outnumbering the rebels. Ogé escapes and goes into hiding in the eastern part of the island in Spanish Santo Domingo.

9 March 1791

Ogé is extradited from Spanish territory and executed at Le Cap. He is forced, cords hanging from his necks, to repent for his crimes on bended knee before being tied to a wheel and killed on a scaffold. His head is cut off and displayed on a stake. Two days later 21 of his supporters and troops are sentenced to death. The next month 13 more are sentenced to the galleys for life.

“Such were the consequences of the ambiguous March decrees [which were] designed to leave to the colonists ‘the merit and option of exercising an act of generosity toward mulattoes and free blacks, an act which would inspire in them sentiments of affection and gratitude and establish the most perfect harmony among the different classes composing the population.'"

April

General insurrection breaks out amongst the 10,000 to 15,000 slaves in the Cul-de-Sac plain. Slaves mobilize around Mirebalais, Arcahaye, Petite-Rivière, Verettes, and Saint Marc until nearly half the province is in armed rebellion. Blacks throughout the colony become increasingly restless.

15 May 1791

The debate on mulatto and free black rights resumes in heated discussions in France. One proponent writes that “We will sacrifice to the colonial deputies neither the nation nor the colonies nor the whole of humanity . . . I ask the Assembly to declare that the free persons of color be allowed to enjoy the rights of voting citizens.”

The National Assembly responds by declaring a limited number of free-born persons of color eligible to be seated in future assemblies, with the rights of voting citizens. Though the action is conservative – only applicable to persons born of free parents and “possessing the requisite qualifications” – colonists are furious.

Slaves in the Cul-de-Sac plain are disarmed and returned to their plantations. In the West, rebels surrender in exchange for their leaders’ freedom. In the South, slaves refuse to back down and continue to agitate for the freedom, due to the fact that by now they “had fought as equals and considered themselves free.”

It is important to note that at this point the slaves are not fighting for general emancipation. Instead, they are demanding freedom for their leaders, additional free days during the week, and abolition of the whip as punishment. However, colonists refuse to negotiate at all. Meanwhile the slave forces continue to grow, reaching nearly 4,000 by the end of July.

Summer 1791

Black and mulatto leaders increase their organization efforts. Mulattoes agitate in the South for their rights separate from the efforts of the slaves. At the same time the slaves, emboldened by their participation as armed equals in the insurrection movements, begin to form their independent movement for emancipation.

July 1791

Colonists revolt against the May 15 decree issued by France. Different factions from the white community all unite to subvert the decree and reestablish the legislative powers of the colony. Nearly all 85 members of the disbanded Colonial Assembly are pardoned in France and return to Saint-Domingue where they are re-elected. The elections exclude free blacks and mulattoes from voting.

By this point “it was not the few hundred mulattoes and free blacks included in the law that the planters feared. The entire social and economic structure of the colony, slavery itself, and the precious fortunes tied to it were at stake.”

June 1791

Slaves in the Cul-de-Sac plain begin abandoning their plantations including: those from the Fortin-Bellantien plantation near Croix-des-Bouquets, who assassinate their commandeu; groups from five nearby plantations, roughly 50 in number; and the entire ateliers of two other plantations. The slaves begin holding frequent gatherings in the woods to plot their revolution.

When the planters attempt to break up the meetings, the slaves resist with “unrestrained courage and determination.” Of the group, 13 slaves are mortally wounded and captured, 60 retreat with arms, 2 are killed and 8 of their leaders are executed.

July 1791

The entire structure of Saint-Domingue is changing rapidly. In addition to internal divisions between royalists and reformists, the planters’ strained relations with colony officials erupt into open fighting. Saint-Domingue is in social and administrative chaos and France dismantles the colony’s power structure.

Amidst the upheaval, nearly every planter is too preoccupied with the colony’s power struggles to pay attention to the slaves’ growing unrest. Few of the colonists understand how the changes taking place affect their slaves.

The planters’ lack of understanding was due primarily to hubris: “Although a few might have foreseen the dangers ahead, most generally assumed that slavery was as inviolable as it was enduring. It had lasted over two hundred years. Slave rebellions had occurred in the past, and marronage had been a constant plague. But the revolts were always isolated affairs, and maroon bands were invariably defeated along with their leaders. For the planters, there was no reason to believe that slave activity was any different from what it had been in the past. They would soon learn, but only by the raging flames that within hours reduced their magnificent plantations to ashes, how wrong they were.”

The above quote is by Carolyn E. Fick from The Making of Haiti, pp.87-88

29 July 1791

Violence breaks out in Les Cayes after failed negotiations between colonists and rebel slaves. 2,000 slaves attack a plantation being used as a military camp by the planters. The slaves then divide themselves up into smaller groups to simultaneously attack plantations throughout the Torbeck region. During their attacks, the rebels kill any slave who refuses to join their forces. Their army, growing with each new attack, torches 14 of the colony’s finest plantations.

In response, the colonists charge Governor Blanchelande with disarming the slaves and suppressing the insurrection. Blanchelande amasses hundreds of troops and plans his attack. However, he is overly naïve and plans his offensive publicly, ensuring that the slaves receive detailed information on his planned attacks, allowing them to prepare and strategize against him.

4 August 1791

Blanchelande’s troops are attacked by slaves. The rebels descend on Port-Saltu from all four sides in a coordinated offensive. By the time they are through, not a single plantation is left in the area. The slaves then set successive ambushes, pushing back each column of the colonist army and advancing along the mountainous cliffs. The slaves succeed in destroying the coordination of the whites’ attack and causing confusion and disorder. More than 200 of Blanchelande’s troops are killed.

8 August 1791

Blanchelande returns to Les Cayes with his dilapidated army. In his retreat, he leaves behind 2 cannons and large supplies of munitions and arms. The white residents in Les Cayes are furious and accuse him of aiding the slave insurrection. Blanchelande replies that the planters would have been better off negotiating with the slaves and granting their initial demands.

10 August 1791

Blanchelande goes to Le Cap, fleeing angry colonists in Les Cayes. He is later deported to France. Despite their defeat, Les Cayes planters still refuse to negotiate with slave leaders.

The Revolution Builds

1791–1792

24 September 1791

The National Assembly in France revokes the May 15 decree, which had granted limited rights to free blacks and mulattoes, and names three commissioners to restore order in Saint-Domingue. In response, mulatto agitation in the South becomes open, armed rebellion in collaboration with the black slaves. Rebels in the west seize Port-au-Prince capital, cut its water supply and block all access to incoming food supplies before they are overcome by the French troops.

26 September 1791

Le Cap is burned to the ground by rebelling slaves.

“During those first weeks of revolution, the slaves destroyed the whites and their property with much the same ruthlessness and cruelty that they had suffered for so many years at the hands of their masters. The scenes of horror and bloodshed on the plantations, as whites hopelessly tried to defend themselves or, at best, to flee from the unleashed terror and rage of their former slaves, were only too reminiscent of the brutality that the slaves themselves had endured under the plantations regime. Yet as atrocious as they were, these acts of vengeance were surprisingly moderate, in the opinion of one of the best-known historians of that revolution, compared with the cold-blooded, grotesque savagery and sadistically calculated torture committed by their oppressors throughout the past. These were impassioned acts of revenge, of retribution, and were relatively short-lived.”

The "horrible carnage" gives way to strategic military operations, tactical maneuvers and new political alliances as the slaves gain territory and stabilize their positions.They raid plantations for military equipment, loot the whites' forces after they are repelled, and trade with the Spanish for weaponry.

28 September 1791

The National Assembly in France issues a decree granting amnesty to all free persons in Saint Domingue charged with “acts of revolution.” The slaves however are still intent on warfare and pursuing “an end to the whites.”

October 1791

Port-au-Prince is burned to the ground during fighting between whites and mulattoes. Toussaint Louverture, a young former slave, begins to gain recognition as a promising leader in the rebel army.

November 1791

Of 170,000 slaves in the North Province, 80,000 have by now joined the rebel forces. The slaves set up camps in Platons with thousands of dwellings, two infirmaries, a civil government, crops and food supplies.

The three new civil commissioners named in September arrive in the colony from France.

November 1791

Boukman is killed in battle, becoming the first of the original leaders to die. His head is cut off by colonists and exposed on a stake in Le Cap with the inscription “The head of Boukman, leader of the rebels.” In response, the slaves mourn intensely, retreating into the mountains to hold services. Fervor builds amongst the rank-and-file soldiers to kill every white they see, including all their prisoners. The grief and rage is finally channeled into a three day calenda ceremony.

Without Boukman, the rebel leaders falter, unsure of how to proceed. Against the wishes of their troops, they choose to negotiate with the colonists, asking for improved quality of life on plantations in exchange for the release of prisoners, namely the leaders’ wives. The slave troops, on the other hand, vow that they will continue fighting for freedom, even if it means killing their own leaders. They, more than their commanders, are violently opposed to compromising or returning to the plantations and realize that the negotiations are doomed.

At the end of the month, the Colonial Assembly refuses all the slaves’ demands. The rebel leaders agree to return to war.

9 January 1792

Governor Blanchelande marches against the slaves encamped at Platons. The rebel army, out of supplies and outnumbered, abandons camp and retreats to the mountains. They leave behind noncombatants, consisting of a few hundred women, children, elderly and infirm, whom they expect will be treated leniently by the French. Instead the troops massacre them, “their heads cut off and their bodies slashed to pieces as the women fought ferociously to protect their children.” About 3,000 other captured slaves are returned to masters, and many are killed to set an example. The colonists celebrate their victory, but in reality the core of the insurgent movement – including its strongest, most determined, leaders – is still in hiding.

22–23 January 1792

Slaves begin their attack to recapture the Ouinaminthe district in the northeast of Saint-Domingue, attacking Le Cap to secure ammunition and replenish their supplies.

4 April 1792

Louis XVI affirms the Jacobin decree, granting equal political rights to free blacks and mulattoes in Saint-Domingue. A second commission is assembled, led by Léger Félicité Sonthonax, to enforce the ruling.

*The year marks the three hundred year anniversary of Columbus’ landing on Hispaniola.

May 1792

Spain declares war against England, then France. In Saint-Domingue, the European powers battle for control of the lucrative colony.

20 June 1792

Blacks and mulattoes in the South ally with the British and begin an open rebellion.

In Le Cap, civil commissioners Blanchelande and Sonthonax flee for protection as rebels attack the city. Every street becomes a battlefield: “Terror and panic spread like wildfire as the women and children desperately tried to escape; atrocities and pillaging were committed on both sides."

21 June 1792

Over 10,000 slaves in Le Cap are now in open revolt. Threatened on all sides, French colonists realize that they need the slaves’ support to keep control of Saint-Domingue. Civil commissioners issue a proclamation guaranteeing freedom and the full rights of French citizenship to all slaves who join them to defend France from foreign and domestic enemies. Though some leaders refuse, allying instead with the Spanish, a group of marooned slaves answers the call, descending upon the capital “like an avalanche,” and forces the invaders to retreat. Chaos reigns, as nearly the entire city burns down and white colonists fight each other. In the coming months Spain, England and France are to battle constantly for Saint-Domingue.

17 September 1792

Civil commissioner Étienne Polverel arrives from France and the slaves offer to negotiate with the colonists once more. Polverel refuses to meet their demands but does agree to grant an unconditional pardon if the slaves surrender. The colonists protest angrily to this concession, and Polverel, like Blanchelande before him, is forced to attack the slaves in response to the pressure.

21 Sept 1792

France, The Republic is declared, abolishing the monarchy. In January of the following year Louis XVI is beheaded.

21 October 1792

Vicomte de Rochambeau is appointed Governor General of Saint-Domingue.

February 1793

Rebel leaders, including Toussaint Louverture, join Spanish forces to fight against the French.

France declares war on England and Holland.

10–13 March 1793

The Reign of Terror sweeps through France after royalist uprisings and military reverses. Tens of thousands of opponents of the Revolution are executed along with common criminals.

Early June 1793

Louverture offers to aid General Laveaux, Chief Commander of the republican forces in the North. Louverture offers his support and 5,000-6,000 troops in exchange for full amnesty and general emancipation. Laveaux refuses and Louverture continues to aid the Spanish for another full year.

20 June 1793

Le Cap is again consumed by flames and deserted by white residents. 10,000 white refugees fleeing the destruction arrive in the United States fleeing the destruction.

The French continue to court the support of the rebel troops. A new decree is issued proclaiming that any slave wishing to join republican army will be granted his freedom. Soon after the offer is extended to troops’ wives and children.

27 August 1793

Polverel declares that the certain slaves are now free, specifically those on sequestered plantations in the West, those belonging to émigré planters and deportees, all remaining insurgent maroons, and all those who are fighting for France. Though Polverel believes in gradually granting slaves their rights, Sonthonax is simultaneously planning far more radical action in the North.

29 August 1793

Sonthonax issues a General Emancipation decree abolishing slavery in the North. More slaves in the colony have their freedom than ever before. Monsieur Artaud, one of the colony’s wealthiest planters with more than 1,000 slaves, tells Sonthonax that “only universal freedom could spare the whites from being totally annihilated.”

Following decrees further restrict punishments and grant minimal pay to slaves – now called “laborers” – in the colony. Skilled laborers are legally allowed on administrative councils. However, the declarations of freedom are bound solely to theoretical property rights. Slaves are still regulated by the government, legally bound to the same plantations and masters. Their daily lives change little. In protest, many slaves go on strike, arriving to the fields late, leaving early, and doing little work. Disarmed, many former rebels turn to vagrancy as their main form of resistance.Notably, women demand that they are granted equal pay and rights as men. Under the current system women are held to the same rules and punishments but paid only two thirds of men's wages.

August 1973

Toussaint Louverture makes his historic speech to rally the blacks, signifying that the revolution lives on.

20 September 1793

British troops sever ties between the North and South, isolating the provinces from each other as the Europeans, planters and rebels all fight for control. The British intend to restore order, make Saint-Domingue a British colony, and reinstate slavery.

21 August 1793

The first anniversary of the French Republic. Civil commissioner Polverel, combining the principles of the French Revolution with those of general emancipation, gives the slaves on his plantation their freedom. He then invites planters in the West to follow his example. The planters, pressured by Polverel and their slaves, back down and emancipate many of their slaves.

September 1793

A series of national reforms sweep through France from September 1793 through October 1795. The measures include the abolition of colonial slavery, economic measures to aid the poor, and support for public education.

4 February 1794

The Convention officially abolishes in France and French territories, including Saint-Domingue.

7 February 1794

A new work code is promulgated. Among other things, it requires owners to give slaves a third of plantation revenue and an additional free day. Slaves’ daily lives are still largely unaffected, however, and the new code fails to ease their discontent. Widespread resistance continues, with many slaves appropriating abandoned land for themselves.

Despite the force of the slave revolution, most colonists are still unaware that the system in Saint-Domingue is slowly breaking down. They do note however that “Unanimous and uncompetitive, the black values his liberty only to the extent that it affords him the possibility of living according to his own philosophy.” They also realize that Polverel’s version of emancipation, in which little actually changes on the plantations, is unacceptable to the laborers and incompatible with their values

Land Ownership

Land ownership in Saint-Domingue was a critical issue before, during, and after the Haitian Revolution. Land ownership granted access to power and prosperity and was sought after by all of the colony’s social classes.

During the build up to the revolution whites were increasingly threatened by the mulattoes and free blacks who were becoming powerful landowners. At the beginning of the revolution, one of the slaves’ central demands was to have small plots of land and an additional free day during the week to cultivate them. Later on, during Louverture’s reign, laborers objected to his adherence to a plantation-based economy which required blacks to work land that was not theirs.

Through the course of the revolution, and in the years following, former slaves felt owning land was critical in order to truly claim their freedom. To that end they fought for the colonists – and even their own leaders – for land rights, never giving up their goal to own the fields they worked in.

Spring 1794

France has lost control of nearly the entire colony, aside from Le Cap and Port-de-Paix. The British and Spanish control most of the North, Môle St. Nicolas in the West, and Jérémie and Grand-Anse in the South. Many mulattoes and blacks are aiding the foreign forces with the goal of expelling the French.

April-May 1974

The civil commissioners from France are forced to depart. André Rigaud, a mulatto military leader, consolidates the colony’s authority in the South. After these changes, there is a period of relative peace, with markedly fewer protest movements from black laborers.

6 May 1974

Louverture abandons the Spanish army in the east and joins with the French forces after the Spanish refuse to take steps to end slavery. His chief officers would eventually become some of the best-known leaders of the revolution, including Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Henri Christophe, and his nephew Moïse.

4 June 1794

The British capture Port-au-Prince led by General Thomas Maitland. British troops occupy most major seaports in the west and south. Spanish troops, along with a number of former slaves, occupy much of the western provinces.

25 June 1794

The French legislature recalls commissioners Polverel and Sonthonax. Sonthonax later is tried and triumphantly acquitted of the charges of treason brought against him by colonists.

Nearly 4 months after Polverel’s departure, Rigaud writes to him:“The [South] province . . . is tranquil and in a reasonably good state of defense . . . Work is going well; your proclamations on agricultural production are having the full effect that you anticipated.”

Late 1794

Various maroon bands disband and join with Louverture's forces. A few months later, Louverture and Rigaud along with other military leaders begin launching simultaneous attacks against the British. In June of 1795, after five months of fighting, Louverture takes control of Mirebelais, northeast of Port-au-Prince in the center of the colony.

22 July 1795

France and Spain sign a peace treaty ceding Saint Domingue to France after months of battle. The agreement is ratified the following year in the Treaty of Basel.

26 October 1795

The National Convention in France dissolves and the Directory is established. The Directory sends five new civil commissioners to Saint-Domingue “to survey the administration and application of French law in the colony, to keep Saint Domingue ‘both French and free,’ and to restore its economic prosperity based on a system of general emancipation in what had by now become, at least nominally, a multiracial, egalitarian society.” Mulatto rights and the abolition of slavery are now considered “accomplished facts.”

20 March 1796

Louverture establishes that he is the strongest leader in the colony when Governor General Laveaux returns to Le Cap from Port-de-Paix. Laveaux attempts to reins in the mulattoes, who he believes have been abusing their new rights, and frees blacks from the prisons. Mulattoes, threatened by his new policies and association with Louverture, charge Laveaux with tyranny and begin mobilizing forces against him. The situation climaxes when a group of mulattoes arrest Laveaux and throw him in prison, where he is kept until Louverture orders his release.

The incident demonstrates a shift in power and solidifies Louverture’s position. Not only powerful, “Toussaint appeared to hold the undivided confidence of the black masses.” Laveaux is forced to proclaim Louverture Lieutenant Governor of the colony. Meanwhile, class and race-based power struggles continue to simmer throughout Saint-Domingue.

11 May

hree new civil commissioners from France, including Sonthonax, arrive in Saint-Domingue.

June 1796

Final withdrawal of Spanish forces from Hispaniola per the peace treaty signed by France and Spain in July 1795.

18 July 1796

Rochambeau is dismissed as Governor General after clashing with Sonthonax and returns to France. Rigaud replaces him.

Toussaint Louverture in Power

1796–1801

August 1796

Primary electoral assemblies in Saint-Domingue are formed to elect colonial representatives to the legislative body in France. The outcome, facilitated by Louverture, results in positions for Laveaux and Sonthonax as deputies to the French legislature.

October 1796

Power struggles develop in the face of Louverture’s growing power. To solidify his position and strengthen his ties, Sonthonax appoints Louverture Commander-in-Chief of the army. Laveaux sails to France as deputy while Sonthonax reluctantly stays in Saint-Domingue to perform his duties as civil commissioner. He plans to depart the colony in eighteen months when his assignment ends.

25 August 1797

Louverture forces Sonthonax to return to France prematurely in a political move calculated to strengthen his position and gain favor in France. Sonthonax, despite wanting to leave the colony in the first place, finds himself forced out. As a result, instead of a normal and peaceful departure, the event becomes a humiliating and “forcible expulsion.” The remaining civil commissioners in the colony defer to Louverture, reaffirming that he is the most powerful figure in Saint-Domingue. Louverture misjudges, however, and instead of gaining favor abroad his audacity threatens the French and he is quickly seen as a major threat.

Fall 1797-

Winter 1798

Louverture’s army conquers most of British-occupied Saint-Domingue in the West. In the South, Rigaud’s army conquers the British at Jérémie.

March 1798

The British surrender their fight for Saint-Domingue and negotiate peace with Louverture. Louverture agrees to grant full amnesty to French citizens who didn’t fight with the British, all black troops enrolled in the British army, and to the émigrés who had abandoned the British prior to the opening of negotiations.

April 1798

France sends another official agent to Saint-Domingue upon the return of Sonthonax. Commissioner Hédouville arrives in Le Cap. His mission is to promulgate laws of the French legislative body, to “entrench respect for French national authority,” to prevent blacks from abusing their freedom, and to strictly enforce French law against the immigrants who first came to the colony in 1771.

In reaction to France’s mounting fear of Louverture and his black army, Hédouville tries to disempower Louverture by dividing him and Rigaud. Though he is unsuccessful, Hédouville manages to force Louverture’s resignation from the Directory, insulting him in France and arranging to replace him with three European generals. In addition, he fills the Saint-Domingue army with white soldiers, sending the black troops back to plantations. Slaves view Hédouville’s actions as an attempt to reinstate slavery and a new wave of insurrection breaks out.

13 June 1798

Louverture signs a secret alliance treaty with England and the United States.

October 1798

British forces evacuate Saint-Domingue as part of an agreement not to interfere with trade with France’s colonies. The French economy, depressed during its wars against Spain and England, reopens to colonial imports. At the same time merchant bourgeoisie lobby to reinstate the slave trade. Napoleon Bonaparte faces increasing pressure in France to bring down Louverture and take back Saint-Domingue.

23 October 1798

Hédouville missteps and tries to have Moïse arrested. Moïse, “the idol of the black workers” and Louverture’s nephew, manages to escape, issuing a call to arms to black workers throughout the plain. Louverture orders Dessalines and his troops to march on Le Cap to arrest Hédouville. Meanwhile mulattoes from around the colony join Rigaud in the South. Louverture concurrently strengthens and reorganizes his army in the North.

1799

Bonaparte’s overthrows the Directory in France, destroying the democratic republic and its anti-slavery principles. He declares himself Consul-for-Life, restores the pre-Revolution status quo of white rule, and turns his attention to France’s colonies.

July 1799

Civil war between Louverture and Rigaud breaks out: Rigaud takes over command of Léogâne and Jacmel while Louverture take over Petit-Goâve. This power struggle, fraught with issues of race and class, ultimately benefits the economic interests of the Americans and British, who seek to maximize their trade to the detriment of the French.

“From the vantage point of international politics, Saint Domingue was being manipulated as a piece on a chessboard, and the outcome of its internal struggles would be a key to the particular political and economic advantages that each of the three contending foreign powers intended to reap.”

April 1800

Louverture sends a military expedition into Spanish Santo Domingo to bring the territory under his rule. At the same time a mass uprising of armed black workers breaks out in the North in support of Louverture. Louverture’s negotiations with the Spanish ultimately fail but he successfully gains the masses’ popular support. Moïse marches in the South with 10,000 troops.

May 1800

Bonaparte sends a new commission to Saint-Domingue to confirm Louverture’s power in the colony and instate France’s most recent constitution. The new constitution proclaims that French colonies are to be governed by a set of “special laws” that take into the account the particularities of each territory. It states that Saint-Domingue is not to be represented in the French legislative body and will not be governed by laws for French citizens. The constitution does not address the colony’s general emancipation, but it is carefully worded to assure blacks of its inviolability.

Louverture, meanwhile, is focused on ending civil war in the South and disarming Rigaud and his army.

25 July 1800

Dessalines defeats Rigaud with the help of American vessels at the Jacmel port. Louverture exiles Rigaud to France and re-divides the areas of conflict. He grants general amnesty to every person who helped him fight Rigaud.

30 August 1800

Louverture is proclaimed the colony’s Supreme Commander-in-Chief. He and his revolutionary army of ex-slaves are “the uncontested dominant forces in Saint-Domingue” and he begins to impose what is essentially a military dictatorship. He has an army of 20,000 men to enforce his position as “absolute master of the island-colony."

Louverture institutes a new set of policies enforcing the traditional plantation system so that the colony’s shaken economy can produce exports for France. This is an extension and reinforcement of earlier work codes imposed by French civil commissioners such as Sonthonax, Polverel and Hédouville. The laborers see the policies as an effort to re-impose slavery. They further object to Louverture’s plan to import Africans to increase the Saint-Domingue’s labor force and buoy its economy.

28 January 1801

The governor of Spanish Santo Domingo cedes control of his territory to Louverture. To make his achievements permanent, Louverture forms a central assembly to write a new constitution for all of Hispaniola that abolishes slavery on the entire island. Louverture's achievements during his years in power include social reforms, structuring and organizing a new government, establishing courts of justice and building public schools.

8 July 1801

Louverture proclaims the new constitution in Saint-Domingue and is declared Governor General for life. The constitution, which is sent to France, sanctions the structures Louverture has already set in place, and emphasizes the bourgeois principles of the French Revolution.

Slavery is abolished forever and the constitution eliminates social distinctions of race and color, stating “all individuals be admitted to all public functions depending on their merit and without regard to race or color.” All individuals born in the colony were to be “equal, free, and citizens of France.” Voodoo is outlawed, mandatory labor is codified and Catholicism is established as the colony’s official religion. Black slaves, chafing against Louverture’s mandatory labor requirements, reject the measures through various forms of resistance.

Though the constitution essentially usurps the power of the French, Saint-Domingue still identifies as a French colony. The constitution attempts to establish Saint-Domingue as equal to France, asserting the colony’s autonomy while still trying to receive benefits from France. Though the constitution is not a formal declaration of independence, Bonaparte immediately recognizes it as a threat and rejects it. General Victor-Emmanuel Leclerc, Bonaparte’s brother-in-law, is sent to Saint-Domingue to re-impose slavery and the Code Noir.

By now planters are increasingly unhappy with the state of affairs in Saint-Domingue and are relying on Bonaparte to unseat Louverture, restore slavery, and facilitate the rise of the colony once more. Bonaparte is sympathetic, declaring that “Toussaint was no more than a rebel slave who needed to be removed, whatever the cost.”

19 July 1801

In the United States, President Thomas Jefferson reassures the French that he opposes independence in Saint-Domingue and pledges to support Napoleon’s agenda.

October 1801

A massive uprising against Louverture’s regime breaks out in the North and Moïse is rumored to be involved. In Limbé, west of Le Cap, 250 whites are killed and rebels occupy Gonaives with the goal of killing whites, uniting mulattoes and blacks and declaring Saint-Domingue independent. The rebels support popular land distribution and charge Louverture with exploiting the masses at France’s benefit. Moïse is known to oppose his uncle, and has refused to make his laborers work, saying “was not the executioner of his own color” and that “the blacks had not conquered their liberty to labor again under the rod and the whip on the properties of the white.”

Louverture has Moïse arrested, tried without defense, and shot. He brutally suppresses the uprising and 1,000 rebels are killed. The ruling class, split on Louverture’s actions, becomes further divided. Louverture’s left-wing support dwindles, considerably weakening his position. He becomes completely isolated from whites, mulattoes, and blacks, his former base of support.

General Leclerc in Saint-Domingue

1801–1802

24-31 Oct 1801

Leclerc sails from France for Saint-Domingue. He is Commander-in-Chief of France’s largest expeditionary army ever with 20,000 European troops, who are called “the elite of the French army.” Rochambeau is named second in command. Bonaparte gives Leclerc very specific instructions on the stages of the expedition, which he expects will take three months.

First stage, 15-20 days: Leclerc is to convince Saint-Domingue residents of France’s good will and peaceful intentions. Leclerc is to claim the troops are there to protect the colony and preserve its peace, allowing the troops to land and take control of the major port cities.

Second stage: wage war against the rebel army generals to break the masses’ moral and leave them leaderless.

Third stage: disarm all the blacks and mulattoes and force them back onto plantations to reinstate slavery. Bonaparte’s commands to Leclerc include “Do not allow any blacks having held a rank above that of a captain to remain on the island.”

October 1796

Power struggles develop in the face of Louverture’s growing power. To solidify his position and strengthen his ties, Sonthonax appoints Louverture Commander–in–Chief of the army. Laveaux sails to France as deputy while Sonthonax reluctantly stays in Saint-Domingue to perform his duties as civil commissioner. He plans to depart the colony in eighteen months when his assignment ends.

4 February 1802

General Christophe sets fire to Le Cap, burning it to the ground in anticipation of the European troops’ arrival.

“The most devastating war in the entire history of Saint Domingue had now begun.

6 February 1802

Leclerc enters Le Cap, which is now completely destroyed. He carries with him a letter from Napolean Bonaparte requesting Louverture’s surrender. In France, Bonaparte is undeterred, and from February 1802 to November 1803 sends 80,000 troops and 408 ships to reinforce Leclerc’s troops, some of who have been in Saint-Domingue since 1792.

Louverture hastily sends instructions to his leaders throughout the colony, warning that the French intend to restore slavery. All of his letters are intercepted and one by one his generals defect to fight for the French. Dessalines and Christophe are trapped in the North. By mid-February nearly half of Louverture’s army is fighting under Leclerc, who gains entire control of the South.

Louverture’s only option is to hold out until the rainy season, several months away, with the hope that France’s troops would succumb to the tropical climate and fall ill. His strategy was founded in reality: within the first two weeks of Leclerc’s arrival, two thousand European troops were already in the hospital, ¾ of them sick and the rest wounded. After three weeks, 500 more had died and another 1,000 were wounded.

Leclerc is forced to request an additional 6,000 apart from those already promised and further reinforcement of 2,000 per month for the next three months in order for his mission to succeed.

24 March 1802

The French suffer a major loss in the Battle of Crête-à-Pierrot when European troops attack a fort defended by Dessalines. Leclerc, attempting to break the resistance in the West, intended to recapture the fort to compensate for the fact that his campaign is already behind schedule.

Dessalines' forces are outnumbered, with 1,500 blacks facing 12,000 Europeans and colonists. Undeterred, Dessalines gives a rousing speech urging his countrymen to fight for independence:

“Take courage, I tell you, take courage. The whites from France cannot hold out against us here in Saint Domingue. They will fight well at first, but soon they will fall sick and die like flies. Listen well! If Dessalines surrenders to them a hundred times, he will betray them a hundred times. I repeat it, take courage and you will see that when the French are reduced to small, small numbers, we will harass them and beat them; we will burn the harvests and then take to the hills. They will be forced to leave. Then I will make you independent. There will be no more whites among us.”

Dessalines holds out against two attacks launched by Leclerc and then manages a “brilliantly maneuvered” evacuation of his troops through enemy lines ten times their own number. Leclerc’s inability to defeat Dessalines and his resistance army signifies a major turning point in the war.

25 March 1802

France, England and Spain sign the Treaty of Amiens, achieving peace for 14 months during the Napoleonic wars. By this point France has gained back control of many of the colonies it had lost in recent years.

26 April 1802

A warrant is issued in the colony for the arrest and capture of Louverture and Christophe. After several failed negotiations, Louverture tries once more to reach a settlement with the French, sending Christophe to confer with Leclerc in order to discover his intentions. Christophe deserts, taking with him 12,000 soldiers as well as artillery and munitions.

Leclerc makes an offer to Louverture which would allow him to retire with his staff, retain his army ranks and functions, and retire to a place of his choosing. Louverture, realizing that he can’t survive another loss, accepts. As a result Dessalines is forced to submit as well, and reluctantly joins the French, breaking ties with Louverture in the process. Dessalines is the more militant of the two, and holds the opinion that Louverture should have thrown out the French and declared independence when he learned of Leclerc’s expedition. Dessalines begins biding his time to unite the colony’s blacks and mulattoes in order to finally expel the French.

The Final Years of the Revolution

1802–1803

13-14 Oct 1802

Revolutionary leaders, including Dessalines and Christophe, at last defect from the French, taking with them black and mulatto generals and issuing a general call to arms.

A new revolutionary army forms with mostly black officers and rank-and-file soldiers. Blacks and mulattoes begin to form a national identity around their common goal of expelling the French.

2 November 1802

Leclerc dies of yellow fever. Before his death, Leclerc recommends to Bonaparte that Rochambeau succeed him: “He is a person of integrity, a good military man, and he hates the blacks.”

Rochambeau takes command as captain general of the colony, writing to Bonaparte for an additional 35,000 troops to defeat, disarm and drive back the blacks. He becomes known for his ruthless violence and massacres, even bringing man-eating dogs from Cuba to hunt the blacks.

“Command of the French forces thus fell to Rochambeau, in whose name and by whose orders so many atrocities and mass-murders, ghastly acts unparalleled since the days of slavery, had already been committed in the South and the West.”

1 January 1803

Rochambeau requests special permission to immediately proclaim the restoration of slavery as the French lose control of more and more of the colony. Rebellion erupts in Port-Salut in the South.

A Frenchman “renowned for his cruelties,” writes to Rigaud from Les Cayes: “These men who have risen today in insurrection have always conducted themselves in a manner deserving of praise for their leaders and the confidence of the government . . . I am without forces and I fear that this little insurrection at Port-Salut might spread.”

Now allied, insurgent blacks and mulattoes strike “at all points throughout the interior . . . the entire plain was in a state of insurrection as the black laborers began to raze the cane fields and set the plantations ablaze.”

The insurrection, powered by the populous, becomes generalized. The leaders “had organized and sustained the resistance against Leclerc independently” despite the defections of their leaders. They espouse their values, focusing on independence, voodoo, their goals and culture. Their world view has developed apart from that of their generals “because they had no real place in the Louverturian society that Toussaint had forged…”

Dessalines is threatened by the laborers’ independence and resistance to his leadership, and in response kills independent leaders who refuse to submit, saying they had “become obstacles to freedom and therefore had to be liquidated.”

7 April 1803

The French troops launch a final effort to subdue the rebel forces. The Europeans are without any money or supplies and are forced to trade their munitions for food sold by local women. The troops are heavily afflicted by yellow fever and weakened by famine.

In Grand-Anse, the French’s last stronghold, a new insurrection breaks out. Masses of black plantation laborers and local officers burn and devastate the region and spread their insurrection. Brigaud writes that the worst part “is that Grande-Anse affords these rebels twenty-five to thirty thousand black laborers, one quarter of who have already waged war against Rigaud during the occupation.”

30 April 1803

The Louisiana Purchase Treaty is signed and France cedes its North American territory to the United States. The sale marks Bonaparte's withdrawal from the western hemisphere as he turns his attentions away from the failed campaign in Saint-Domingue.

18 May 1803

Dessalines creates the Haitian flag at Arcahaie: He rips the white fabric from the French tricolor, with the red and blue representing the unity of blacks and mulattoes against the whites. With this, the Haitian flag is born. Black and mulatto generals swear allegiance to Dessalines, creating a cross-class alliance to fight their common enemy.

August 1803

The French evacuate their troops from Jérémie in the South.

17 October 1803

The revolutionary army takes control of Les Cayes in the South.

17 November 1803

General Rochambeau surrenders to Dessalines after losing the Battle of Vertières, agreeing to a cease-fire as long as French forces evacuate within 10 days.

Over the course of the campaign begun by Leclerc, France lost 50,000 men, and“In the name of slavery, she lost what had been the wealthiest and most flourishing colony in the Caribbean.”

28 November 1803

The remaining French troops evacuate Môle-Saint-Nicolas in the North.

30 November 1803

Dessalines, leading 8,000 men, takes possession of Le Cap, officially named Cap Français, and renames it Cap Haïtien. Rochambeau capitulates and flees.

Haitian Independence

1804–1805

1 January 1804

In Gonaïves, Dessalines proclaims Haiti’s independence, signaling the formation of the world’s first black republic. He publishes a Declaration of Independence, signed by himself and Christophe, and the colony “Saint-Domingue” is abolished forever. The original Taino name of Hayti is officially restored.

“The proclamation was a formal acknowledgement of the self-determination of those diverse and ordinary individuals of whom the black masses were composed.”

Though Haiti is independent, Haitians still fear that they will be invaded by outside forces. French troops remain in the eastern part of Hispaniola and France is actively lobbying England, Spain and the United States to isolate Haiti commercially and diplomatically. France emphasizes that Haiti is a threat to the countries’ plantation system and slaveholders. The global community shuns Haiti, a major contributing factor to Haiti’s later impoverishment.

Jan-Feb 1804

Dessalines orders the slaughter of the remaining French residents in Haiti after promising them protection. Blacks and mulattoes, most of them former slaves, exact revenge on the whites and as many as 4,000 are killed. They are urged on by Dessalines, who famously cried, "Koupe tèt, brule kay," meaning, "Cut their heads, burn their houses."

8 October 1804

Dessalines is crowned Emperor Jacques I of Haiti.

20 May 1805

Dessalines ratifies Haiti’s first constitution. To strengthen national unity and bring together the country’s various factions, the constitution proclaims all Haitians black. The constitution also legitimizes Dessalines’ regime, legalizing structures set in place since independence. The constitution reaffirms the permanent abolition of slavery, that all Haitians are free and equal; and above all Haitians’ inalienable right to land ownership.

Conclusion

Upon declaring independence, Haiti claimed a singular place in world history. The Haitian revolution, lasting from 1791 to 1804, culminated in the first independent nation in the Caribbean, the second democracy in the western hemisphere, and the first black republic in the world.

Since the revolution, over 200 years ago, Haiti has struggled with external and internal dilemmas. The revolutionary wars had destroyed nearly all of the country’s colonial infrastructure and production capabilities. In the 1800s Europeans and Americans ostracized the fledgling nation politically and economically, contributing to Haiti’s decline from one of the world’s wealthiest colonies to one of its most impoverished countries.

The 20th century ushered in an era of American occupation from 1915 to 1934 and totalitarian regimes under the Duvaliers from 1957 to 1987. After decades of political suppression, Haiti held new democratic elections and in 1991 President Jean-Bertrand Aristide took office. He was ousted just months later, and the following years were filled with coup d’états, military regimes, and daily violence.

In 2006, René Préval was elected president and since then Haiti has experienced a period of relative political and social calm. This stability was shaken most recently in 2008 when Haiti was hit by four successive hurricanes over the course of just weeks. The natural disasters resulted in hundreds of deaths, injuries and lost homes. Famine and disease swept the country, exacerbated by Haiti’s lack of infrastructure or governmental services.

Haiti will be recovering from these disasters for years, adding to its long list of challenges. Already the country is crippled by poverty. Additionally, Haiti has been commonly misrepresented for decades. American media, for example, have equated Haitians with savage voodoo ceremonies, HIV/AIDS, and “boat people” refugees beginning in the early 1900s. Aside from ignoring factual evidence, these accounts disregard the complexity and richness of Haiti’s resilient culture and people. Despite its poverty, Haiti is clearly an exceptional nation, and one that has had a profound impact on the world since it was claimed by Columbus over 500 years ago.

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