Toussaint L’ouverture was the best all around leader. He never gave up on what he believed in even if it meant he would have to die for it. He was a tough and honest leader with fantastic political and military skills. Oh, he also abolished slavery in Saint Domingue. Since he was a very important man in history, the question that is being tossed around is “How should we remember Toussaint L’ouverture”. The best thing people should do is break down his amazing actions into 3 parts: liberator of slaves, ruler of Saint Domingue, and military commander. First though, it is important to know about the place where he did all of these feats, in Saint Domingue. Saint Domingue was the western half of the Caribbean Island of Hispaniola. Hispaniola was conquered by Columbus in 1492. Two centuries later in 1697, the French took over the western half of the island and named it Saint Domingue. Saint Domingue was absolutely rich of sugar and coffee. 8,000 plantations produced about 40 percent of the world’s sugar and more than half of the world’s coffee supply. The people doing the work were 500,000 slaves whose owners were rich white people called planters. Louverture was born in the 1740’s as a slave. He was then granted freedom by his owner and rented a coffee plantation and got slaves of his own. In the summer of 1789, after white refusal to end slavery, thousands of plantations were burned and hundreds of people were killed. While all of this happened, Toussaint became a leader. That is when he started to become the great man he became.
Being the liberator of slaves of Saint Domingue is a big honor to have. That means you relieved thousands of innocent people of brutal jobs in the extremely hot sun of a Caribbean Island. That is what Toussaint L’ouverture did. In the beginning, he joined the slave revolution as a doctor to the injured troops as well as commanding a small squad of slave soldiers.(Doc A) In 1792 he gained the reputation for running a camp and training his men in guerilla tactics and and the European shoulder to shoulder style of fighting. Since Robespierre abolished slavery in France, Toussaint and his army stopped their revolt and supported France.(Doc A) He then defeats the British who landed on the island and teamed up with the Spanish to take down the French. After he defeated the British, he became the the ruler of Saint Domingue. Toussaint sent a letter to the French Directory in 1797. The letter said that the slaves that he freed would sacrifice their lives rather than being enslaved again. (Doc B) He also told the French Directory that it would be absolutely impossible to enslave his men again. Then when he thought everything was well, Napoleon Bonaparte sends 21,000 soldiers over to Saint Domingue to bring slavery back.(Doc A) Toussaint got tricked into a negotiation meeting and got captured and sent back to France. Even though he got captured by France, he still did amazing things for the slaves of Saint Domingue.
We should remember Toussaint L'ouverture also as the great military leader of Saint Domingue. During the 1791 slave revolt, Toussaint trained slave soldiers to fight in guerilla warfare and in the classic European style of fighting. (Doc A). Toussaint showed no mercy by having his adopted nephew, Moyse, captured and executed because he lead a revolt in which he commanded rebels to massacre all whites. A war chant of “General Moyse is with us-death to all whites” was created. (Doc E).He astonished everyone with the speed that he traveled post to post to check in on everything. (Doc F). This showed that he really cared about how well his troops were being treated and being trained. When Napoleon came to Saint Domingue with his troops, Toussaint burned down their cities and ran to the mountains where they had the advantage because they knew that territory while the French were running around in this odd and new terrain. He used his guerilla tactics to take down the French troops. (Doc F). This proves that Toussaint L’ouverture knew what he was doing and acted as a great military leader for the slave troops of Saint Domingue.
Not only was Toussaint L'ouverture a great military leader, he was also a great political leader of the nation of Saint Domingue. He created a constitution for the people of Saint Domingue. In the constitution it says that each worker is a member of the family and is entitled to the revenues. This means that the workers get some money that the plantation gets. He also stated that each plantation should have a constant family and the owner of the land would be the father. At the beginning of the constitution, he clearly states that there cannot be slaves in the territory and that “All men are born, live and die free and French.” (Doc. C ). Toussaint was forcing agricultural work because he thought that without it, Saint Domingue wouldn’t function. Most people would believe that because they owned had most of the worlds coffee and sugar plantations. L'ouverture was very strict when it came to the plantations. In his proclamation, he stated “As soon as a child can walk, he should be employed on the plantation according to his strenght in some useful work” He also created laws in Saint Domingue that must be followed. A security card must be owned by all males and females. (Doc D). On the card it must state: family name, address, age and sex of the person who owns it. Toussaint also made a rule where if a manager of driver of a plantation lets a field worker from another plantation take refuge in their plantation, then their status would go down and they would have to serve one week in prison. (Doc D). As the leader of Saint Domingue, Toussaint L’ouverture showed authority by creating a constitution for the people of his nation to follow and by creating strict laws.
Toussaint L'ouverture led the only successful slave revolt, commanded a successful army, and led a successful nation. People think that it is pretty safe to say that Toussaint was quite a successful man. The revolution that he led changed the world in terms of how people thought of slavery and the island of Hispaniola. Saint Domingue also became free and turned into Haiti thanks to Toussaint. He will be remembered for a very long for being a great military commander, ruler of saint domingue and for being a liberator of slaves.
Bibliography:
Document A
Source: Created from various sources “TimeLine of Abolition In Saint Domingue”
Document B
Source: Toussaint Louverture “Letter to the French Directory, NOvember 1797.”
Document C
Source: “The Saint Domingue Constitution of 1801. Signed by Toussaint Louverture in July 1801.”
Document D
Source: “Toussaint Louverture, Proclamation, 25 November 1801.”
Document E
Source: “Madison Smartt Bell, Toussaint Louverture: A Biography, 2007.”
Document F
Source: William Wells Brown, “A Description of Toussaint Louverture,” from The Black Man, his Antecedents, his Genius, and His Achievements, 2nd edition. Engraving of Toussaint Louverture, 1802.
