The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution

James announces his intent to explore “why and how” the Haitian revolution became “the only successful slave revolt in history” (ix)—an outcome he attributes largely to the efforts of Toussaint L’Ouverture. He also lays out his approach acknowledging both context and the possibility of individual intervention.

James summarizes events leading to the transatlantic slave trade. Upon arriving in the West Indies in 1492, explorer Christopher Columbus claimed the island of San Domingo (now known as Hispaniola) for Spain. Over the next few decades, due to colonial policies, including forced labor, and imported diseases, the indigenous population of the island decreased dramatically. In 1517, King Charles V authorized the transport of 15,000 African slaves to the island, opening a slave trade that would eventually see millions of Africans forcefully relocated. Meanwhile, Spain and France struggled for control of the island until a 1695 treaty split it into two territories, with France laying claim to the western portion.

Slave traders first targeted populations in Guinea but eventually moved both inland and along the coast. Although propagandists claimed that captured slaves would have better lives in America, life in Africa was generally peaceful before the Europeans arrived and stirred up tribal conflict.

Captured individuals were chained in columns and loaded with weights, then marched to the shore, where many died in cramped dens. Those deemed fit for labor were packed into small compartments on the traders’ ships. During the long voyage to the Americas, they would leave these compartments daily at most, and sometimes not for weeks. Fearful of rebellion, the ships’ crews treated the captives cruelly; some even fed them the flesh of their deceased peers. Upon arrival in the West Indies, the slaves were sold and branded.

James describes working conditions on a sugar plantation in San Domingo. Male and female slaves of all ages began manual labor at dawn and continued until an hour or two before midnight, with two breaks. This continued six days a week, all year. During time off, many slaves tended to their own agricultural products for sale in local markets, enabling a few to purchase their freedom. Slaveowners punished even small infractions by whipping, mutilation or even burning. James suggests the slaves’ inability to maintain their population through reproduction as a sign of their distress.

To cope, many slaves feigned stupidity and indifference, though observers noted an underlying “liveliness of intellect and vivacity of spirit” (17). Some committed suicide, while others resorted to homicide, typically by poison, to tilt circumstances in their favor. Nighttime Voodoo celebrations included songs calling for the destruction of the White slaveowners.

A small percentage of slaves worked in relatively elevated positions. These included Henri Christophe, a hotel waiter who would become Emperor of Haiti, and Toussaint L’Ouverture, whose good education and upbringing helped him become a steward of livestock, a position typically reserved for White men. Escaped slaves banded together by the thousands in the wilderness. These “maroons,” as they were known, raided plantations. Leader François Mackandal planned a major rebellion but was captured and killed before he could carry out his plans.

Though France’s Negro Code of 1685 offered slaves some legal protections, these were not honored in practice. In 1788, coffee planter Le Jeune killed and tortured several slaves, accusing them of poisoning others. Fourteen slaves testified against him, while Le Jeune failed to produce any evidence to support his claims. He was cleared of all charges.

In France, a group of philosophers known as the Encyclopedists condemned slavery, to no avail. Toussaint was likely influenced by the writings of Abbé Raynal, who argued that “a courageous chief only is wanted” to “raise the sacred standard of liberty” (25).

Hoping to amass enough wealth to return and live comfortably in France, planters grew a variety of cash crops, including coffee, cotton, and sugar cane. Few French women traveled to the colony; those who did generally belonged to the lower classes. Disaffected male members of the aristocracy also made their way to the island, where many served as military officials. Lacking strong regulation, the colony’s towns and villages were often dirty. Cultural activities included plays, reading for pleasure, and the formation of intellectual societies; gambling and prostitution were also common.

Two classes of White colonists emerged: the “big whites,” including the plantation owners and powerful merchants, and the “small whites,” including the planters’ subordinates, various working-class townspeople, and “fugitives from justice” (33). All claimed superiority over Blacks. San Domingo was jointly governed by a governor, who represented the king, and an intendant, who oversaw administrative matters. The big whites, who employed a militia of their own, came to resent these officials, while the small whites sought their favor, with some success.

Male colonists frequently coerced female slaves to sleep with them. This led to the creation of another social class consisting of “Mulattoes” who had both European and African ancestry. Though these Mulattoes had some privileges not enjoyed by the slaves of full African descent, they also had to complete undesirable tasks, such as maintaining roads and pursuing fugitive slaves. Legally, a person was considered Black if even one part of their ancestry in 128 was African; those with a higher proportion of White ancestry claimed superiority over others. Concerned at the growing influence of this mixed-race class, White colonists passed laws comparable to those of Nazi Germany, preventing the Mulattoes from gathering, bearing weapons, or going to France.

As San Domingo’s economy boomed, France tried to maintain control by funneling the colony’s trade through a single company, an arrangement known as “the Exclusive,” starting in 1664. When restrictions became too strict, the colonists protested and won concessions on multiple occasions. No longer in control of American colonies, English leaders called for the abolition of the slave trade, hoping to regain market share from France. Despite their joint efforts with a French society known as Friends of the Negro, the slave trade expanded, until San Domingo was receiving more than 40,000 slaves annually in the late 1780s.

In France, growing import-dependent industries paved the way for the revolution of 1789. Tensions mounted between the poor to middle classes and the now-bankrupt monarchy and aristocracy. Colonists seized the opportunity to secure representation in France’s legislative body, the States-General. Afterwards, some wondered if it was a mistake: San Domingo now faced increased scrutiny, along with calls for the abolition of slavery, including an eloquent speech by the Count of Mirabeau. In San Domingo, a difficult year ended with one governor being replaced by another as colonists pushed back against the Exclusive.

As news of the 1789 revolution in France, including the storming of the Bastille, reached San Domingo, colonists split their loyalties: Most identified as Patriots, siding with the revolutionaries; some royalists remained loyal to the monarchy; and others refrained from taking sides. All three groups competed to win favor with the Mulattoes, many of whom joined the royalists to prevent a coalition of big and small whites from acting against them. Unpopular bureaucrats, including the intendant (an administrative official who served as an agent of the king), fled to France, while Lacombe, a Mulatto who pushed for political rights, was lynched.

In Paris, revolutionary leaders put off discussing colonial matters even as they declared that “all men were born free and equal” (67). In September 1789, a delegation of mixed-race individuals appealed to the National Assembly for political rights and won some sympathy, but those with economic interests in San Domingo opposed the request. After months of debate and delay, the Assembly passed a decree on March 8, 1789 granting the colony a significant degree of autonomy and offering the vote to individuals who met certain economic qualifications, without specifying whether Mulattoes and free blacks were eligible. In San Domingo, the decree sharpened hostilities between the Patriots, who feared Mulattoes would claim voting rights, and the bureaucratic royalists. Confident of success, the bureaucrats sent troops to the Patriots’ headquarters; several Patriot leaders fled to France.

Determined to secure rights for Mulattoes, Vincent Ogé, a member of the mixed-race delegation to France, returned to San Domingo in October 1790 with men and weapons. After authorities ignored requests for the March 8 decree to be enacted, Ogé and his followers attacked the authorities at Le Cap. After losing the battle, he and his associates were captured, tried, and cruelly killed.

News of Ogé’s death finally convinced leaders in France to address “the colonial question” directly (75). At the conclusion of a four-day debate, a compromise was reached, granting the right to vote to those Mulattoes whose parents were both free. Though the decree was passed in May, backlash from the Colonial Commission kept it from reaching San Domingo. In September, under the influence of Antoine Barnave, who described slavery as a necessary evil, the Constituent Assembly canceled the decree, tainting the otherwise idealistic revolution, according to James.

A group of soldiers arrived in San Domingo with orders to help the bureaucrats keep the Patriots in check; instead, they joined with the Patriots and told the slaves that “all men [are] free and equal” (83). More and more slaves began to revolt, but their isolated uprisings were quashed.