He May Have Had His Flaws

Leaders come in all shapes and sizes and they are all around us. Leaders are people who lead or command a group, organization, country or even just one person; people can also be considered leaders by having a big influence on someone else or setting the example. A good example of a leader is a parent or guardian because they have to set good examples for their children so that when they grow up they can set good examples for their kids and so that they do not get into any trouble. Another good example of a leader was Toussaint Louverture. Toussaint was born around 1743 and was the leader of the Haitian revolution. Toussaint’s main goal was to free the slaves. This revolution took place on a Caribbean island called Hispaniola, two centuries later the French took control of the western half and named it Saint Domingue which today is called Haiti. Saint Domingue was a very economically valuable colony because there were 8,000 plantations that were producing 40 percent of the world’s sugar and more than half of the world’s coffee. The entire slave population of the United States in 1800 was around one million; the slave population in Saint Domingue was about 500,000. This is important to think about because there is half of the United States slave population in the tiny city of Saint Domingue. The reason why Toussaint fought against the French as a slave rebel leader in 1793, was made commander-in-chief of the French colonial army in Saint Domingue after 1794, and then fought again against the French in 1802 is because he was a young slave himself until he was granted freedom by his owner. Once Toussaint was free he rented a small coffee plantation and had a few slaves of his of his own, he encouraged his slaves to fight for their freedom. Toussaint always wanted to end slavery and finally France fought against slavery, but soon the French decided to bring slavery back which caused Toussaint to fight against them. In 1804 Haiti declared their independence but Toussaint was not able to celebrate this because he was dying from pneumonia in a French jail and he never knew that Haiti actually gained their independence (background essay). Toussaint Louverture should be remembered as a liberator of slaves, the ruler of Saint Domingue, and a military commander. Although Toussaint should be remembered for being a military commander and the ruler of Saint Domingue, the most important reason he should be remembered as is a liberator of slaves because without him the slaves would not have been free and Haiti would have may never have gained their independence.

The most important reason as to why Toussaint Louverture should be remembered as is a liberator of slaves. In 1789 the French revolution begins and the declaration of the rights of man which later triggered the slave revolution of Saint Domingue. At first Toussaint serves as a doctor to the troops and then after a while of being the doctor he became commander of a small detachment of the slave soldiers. Toussaint trained his soldiers in both guerilla tactics and “European style” fighting because the opponents did not know what guerilla tactics were it would be more effective because they would not be ready. Guerilla tactics mean that the soldiers ambush the opponents and surprise them; “European style” means that all the soldiers march at the enemy shoulder to shoulder. In the Timeline of Abolition in Saint Domingue it says that in 1794 Toussaint stopped his revolt against the French colonial troops and now supports the French because the French have now abolished slavery. In 1798 he became ruler of Saint Domingue and then in 1801 he gained control of the Spanish side of the island (document A).  In a letter written by Toussaint Louverture it says, “could men who have once enjoyed the benefits of liberty look calmly while it is taken from them!..." We have known how to confront danger to our liberty and we will know how to confront death to preserve it.” Toussaint is expressing his anger about how slavery was coming back to Saint Domingue. He is saying that once people have been freed it is going to be impossible to go back to the way they were living before as slaves. It also says that they will fight to the death just to keep their freedom (document B). In the Saint Domingue Constitution of 1801 article 3 states “All men are born, live and die free and French.” This is promising that there should be no more slaves and everyone should live and die free. The work that this constitution encourages is farming agriculture because people can only make profits from the farming. According to the constitution the owner has the power to run the plantations, the owners were are also known as the “father” and the formers slaves are considered family and now work for money unlike they did before (document C). If Toussaint was not able to free the slaves there may still be slaves in Haiti today. Toussaint cared more about freeing the slaves than he did about fighting the French.

Another way that Toussaint Louverture should be remembered is as the ruler of Saint Domingue. The Saint Domingue Constitution of 1801 was signed by Toussaint in July of 1801, in part VIII article 28 is says, “The constitution nominate Citizen Toussaint Louverture, chief General of the Army of Saint Domingue and... he is entrusted the direction thereof for the remainder of his glorious life.” This states that Toussaint is the ruler of Saint Domingue until he dies. There are definitely some advantages and disadvantages of having the same ruler until he dies. The advantage is that he is a smart, good leader, but the disadvantage is that if people revolt there is no way to get rid of him except to kill him and if he is captured the people of Saint Domingue will then not have a ruler (document C). In the Proclamation written on November 25, 1801 Toussaint states, “...Tending to incite sedition [actions against authority of the nation] shall be brought before a court martial [military court] and punished in conformity with the law.” Toussaint’s goal throughout this whole Proclamation is to maintain order and to try to prevent any more violence and revolt like before, but especially in this statement Toussaint is saying that anyone who breaks a law is going to go to court and get punished. Some of the consequences that Toussaint sets in place for the people who break the rules are getting arrested or going to court. Mainly Vagabond cultivators who are people who refuse to work get arrested and the manager of a plantation goes to jail is a worker from another plantation takes refuge in their plantation and they know they are not from there but does not report it. There are four months between the signing of the constitution of 1801 and this Proclamation, in those four months there have been many revolts. The Constitution of 1801 was the nice way of writing all the rules for Saint Domingue but that did not seem to be working so the Proclamation was written to maintain authority and show the people of Saint Domingue who is in charge (document D). These documents show that even though Toussaint may have had his flaws he was a good ruler and he just wanted everything to be in good order with no violence.

The final way as to how Toussaint Louverture should be remembered as is a military commander. In a Biography about Toussaint Louverture it says, “... discontent with Toussaint’s draconian [cruel] labor policy and gathering suspicion of his friendliness with the white planter class.” This is saying the people are starting to fight against Toussaint and disagree with the way he is ruling Saint Domingue. Hyacinthe Moyse, Toussaint Overture’s nephew, distrusted Toussaint and so did all of the former slaves. They were unhappy with his cruel labor policy and they were gathering suspicion about how nice he was to the white planter class. Many of the former slaves object to plantation farming because they did not want to do it again but soon they were forced to work. The former slaves wanted to work in small holdings instead of the large plantations because there would be less people to work around and it would be less crowded. On October 29, 1801 a revolt broke out on the northern plane lead by Moyse, Toussaint reacted by forcing Moyse to watch the soldiers step out of line and one by one shoot themselves. Then Moyse was arrested and later executed. It was not a good idea to execute Moyse because he is his nephew, they are family, and instead he could have just taken him down from power or punished him another way (document E). A Description of Toussaint Louverture written from “The black man” was written in 1863 and is a secondary source. In this document is explains some of Toussaint’s character traits that he possesses that helped him gain his soldiers confidence and respect. Toussaint Louverture was said to have superior knowledge, race, humanity, generosity and courage. According to Toussaint the French were coming to the port city of Samana because Napoleon wanted to take control. Toussaint reacts to this by deciding to burn down Samana because Napoleon wants to reinstate slavery. Toussaint then waited for the French army in the mountain to use the guerilla tactics on them. This would be very effective because the French army would not be prepared because they have never been trained to use this strategy and it would give his soldiers an advantage (document F). These documents show that Toussaint was a good military commander and he really knew what he was doing and he would be able to lead his soldiers to victory.

Although Toussaint Louverture should be remembered for being a military commander and the ruler of Saint Domingue, the most important reason as to why he should be remembered as is a liberator of slaves because without him the slaves would have not been free and Haiti would have may have never gained their independence. Though Toussaint was not always gentle and nice about his methods he really did know what he was doing and he definitely lead Saint Domingue in the right direction. He understood how the slaves felt because he was a slave once himself so he made his point to finally set slaves free. Toussaint was definitely a great revolutionary leader of that time.