Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Haiti: Historical Setting
After the French National Assembly declared in favor of
enfranchisement of free blacks and enforcement of equal
rights, commissioners were dispatched to Saint-Domingue to
implement the policy. Whites in Saint-Domingue, who had had
little respect for royal governance in the past, now rallied
behind the Bourbons and rejected the radical egalitarian
notions of the French revolutionaries. A convoluted situation
developed in different regions of the colony, which resulted in
divisions within the white, mulatto, and black communities as
well as among the various groups. Black slaves battled white colonists
while blacks who supported the French king, known as
black royalists, fought white and mulatto French republicans,
and still other mulattoes struggled against white troops. The
Spanish and British took advantage of the instability, and their
intervention became another chapter in the revolution.
The leader of the slave rebellion in Saint-Domingue was
Toussaint Louverture. Toussaint was born between 1743 and
1746 on the Breda plantation in northern Saint-Domingue,
one of a small number of slaves who were well treated and
allowed to become literate. Toussaint served on the Breda
plantation as a steward; when the rebellion began, he arranged
safe conduct for his master's family out of the colony and
joined the army. He soon emerged as the preeminent military
strategist, reportedly in part because of his reading of works by
Julius Caesar and others, and in part because of his innate leadership
ability.
In April 1793, Cap-Francais fell to the French republican
forces, who were reinforced by thousands of blacks who had
joined them against the French royalists on the promise of freedom.
In August Commissioner Leger-Felicite Sonthonax abolished
slavery in the colony.
Two black generals refused to commit their forces to France.
Instead, Jean-Francois and Georges Biassou accepted commissions
from Spain and, in coordination with Spanish forces,
sought to take the north of Saint-Domingue. Toussaint joined
the Spanish in February 1793. Commanding his own forces, he
cut a swath through the north, swung south to Gonaives, and
by the end of the year had taken control of north-central Saint-
Domingue. At this point, Toussaint changed his surname to
Louverture meaning "opening," perhaps a commentary on his
ability to find openings on the battlefield, or an allusion to his
role in creating an opening for slaves.
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