Toussaint Louverture began his military career as a leader of the slave rebellion in the French colony of Saint-Domingue; he was by then a free black man and a Jacobin. Initially allied with the Spaniards of neighboring Santo Domingo, Toussaint switched allegiance to the French when they abolished slavery.
He gradually established control over the whole island and used political and military tactics to gain dominance over his rivals. Throughout his years in power, he worked to improve the economy and security of Saint-Domingue.
He restored the plantation system using paid labour, negotiated trade treaties with Britain and the United States, and maintained a large and well-disciplined army.
In , he promulgated an autonomist constitution for the colony, with himself as Governor-General for Life. In he was forced to resign by forces sent by Napoleon Bonaparte to restore French authority in the former colony. He was deported to France, where he died in The Haitian Revolution continued under his lieutenant, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who declared independence on January 1, Toussaint was also deeply influenced by his Catholic religion, which condemned slavery, and Enlightenment philosophers, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau , who wrote of the equality of man.
Toussaint first secured safety of his wife and family in the Spanish-controlled eastern half of the island, away from the rebellion. During his time in slavery, Toussaint had learned African and Creole herbal-medical techniques. He now served as a doctor to the troops as well as a soldier. Toussaint quickly developed a reputation and was given command of black former slaves.
His forces were well-organized and steadily grew to 4, men. Jean-Jacques Dessalines, an escaped slave, joined Toussaint and quickly became a close confident and able lieutenant.
While the Caribbean islands boiled with rebellion, European powers were fighting to gain advantage. The British government was concerned that the slave revolt would spread to their neighboring colony of Jamaica. Seeking an opportunity to harass the French, the British sent troops to put down the slave revolt. Fearing defeat, the French National Convention acted to preserve its colonial rule and secure the loyalty of the black population.
In France granted freedom and citizenship to all blacks in the Empire. His first mission was to attack Spanish-controlled Santa Domingo on the eastern side of the island. He was now fighting his former black colleagues, who were still loyal to Spain. Toussiant contained the remaining British troops, rendering them ineffective and soon they too withdrew from the island. By , Toussaint was the leading political and military figure in the colonies.
Having temporarily secured peace with the European powers, Toussaint turned to the domestic unrest still festering on the island. Prior to , the mulatto population, who were not enslaved, had owned slaves themselves. Many wanted them back. In , Toussaint was able to defeat the mulatto army with the help of Dessalines. Toussaint was now the de facto ruler of the entire island of Hispaniola. He introduced a constitution, which reiterated the abolition of slavery and declared himself Governor-General for Life, with nearly absolute powers.
Hoping to bring some stability back to Hispaniola, he set out to reestablish agriculture and improve the economic conditions. Toussaint established trade agreements with the British and the Americans, who supplied his forces with arms and goods in exchange for sugar and the promise not to invade Jamaica or the American South. The alliance with the Americans also afforded naval protection on trading vessels destined for Saint-Domingue, an important buffer against British aggressions.
Judging the resources of the merchant and planter classes as integral to rebuilding Saint-Domingue, Toussaint extended generous restitution policies in the name of republican fraternity, going so far as to punish any acts of retribution against former slaveholders.
This ensured him a loyal base of allies who did his bidding at regional and international levels. Under his stewardship, Saint-Domingue initiated a robust civic overhaul and public-works projects that created roads, widened canals and improved public sanitation. That extensive leniency to white citizens, alongside his increasingly autocratic measures to compel Black citizens to work on plantations, corroded his standing among the Black majority. Still, through much of his tenure as governor, he worked vigorously to safeguard their interests and ensure they were now paid for their labor.
He traveled extensively to quell internal unrest, relying on his deep cultural ties and Afro-spiritualist cues to reinforce his image as their defender. Toussaint led charges into battle, and survived numerous brushes with death, lending him a supernatural aura that he cultivated to enrapture followers and enemies alike.
His legend grew. In time, for his unprecedented achievements, he would be hailed as the Black George Washington and the Napoleon Bonaparte of the Caribbean. But these honorifics fail to capture the measure of Toussaint Louverture and his far-reaching impact. His was a revolution that carried far wider geopolitical implications: Historians credit it with spooking France from further colonial endeavors in the hemisphere and inspiring Napoleon to offload the Louisiana territory to the United States, effectively doubling the young republic in size.
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