Thomas Jefferson and Black Rebellion
Thomas Jefferson and Black Rebellion
Largely thanks to the writings of C. L. R. James, Ralph Korngold, and others, the great Haitian Negro revolutionary leader Toussaint L’Ouverture has in recent years become familiar to American students. In conventional American history texts, it is now even customary to acknowledge Toussaint’s role in forcing Napoleon to disgorge the Louisiana Territory, contrary to his imperial ambitions of setting up an empire west of the Mississippi. The French army that was originally to reoccupy Louisiana was diverted to Haiti by the slave rising and there met its end.
Less well-known, but increasingly a part of our national history in the light of modern scholarship, is the role of the United States under Thomas Jefferson, after his assumption of the presidency in 1801, with respect to later phases of the Haitian rebellion and the downfall of L’Ouverture. One of the better standard texts sums this up as follows:
With respect to Santo Domingo, however, he [Jefferson] did not continue the policy of Adams, who had cooperated with the British in recognizing and supporting the rebel regime of Toussaint. Jefferson assured the French minister in Washington that the American people, especially those of ...
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