Dessalines tore the white from the French tricolor. The remaining blue and red became the flag of the world's first Black republic
unknown, Image publisher: Chez Jean rue Jean de Beauvais, No. 10, Paris, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The question
Who freed the enslaved of Saint-Domingue, what did the French state say it was sending an army to do, and what did the free record settle about the declaration of 1804 and the price France set on it in 1825?
On 29 August 1793 the civil commissioner of the Republic proclaimed at the Cap, for execution in the province of the North, that all the negroes and people of mixed blood then in slavery were “déclarés libres pour jouir de tous les droits attachés à la qualité de citoyen”.123On 13 November 1801 the First Consul wrote to his foreign minister of “le parti que j'ai pris d'anéantir à Saint-Domingue le gouvernement des noirs”.4On 1 January 1804 the general in chief of the native army and his generals swore at Gonaïves to renounce France for ever, and the French historiography dates the proclamation of independence to that day.56On 17 April 1825 the King of France conceded the independence of the former colony on the condition of a payment to the former colonists, and the Haitian legislature declared the sum, 150,000,000 francs, a national debt.789
Notes 1 to 9
1Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioner of the Republic, Proclamation. Au nom de la République. Nous... (1793)art. 2
2Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioner of the Republic, Proclamation. Au nom de la République. Nous... (1793)§ preamble
3Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioner of the Republic, Proclamation. Au nom de la République. Nous... (1793)§ sign
4Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5863Exhibit 3
5Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
6Thierry Lentz, Bonaparte, Haïti et l'échec colonial du régime consulaire (2003)abstract
7Itazienne Eugène, La normalisation des relations franco-haïtiennes (1825-1838) (2003)abstract
8Charles X, King of France, Charles, par la grâce de Dieu, Roi de France et de Navarre (1825)pp. 258 to 259Exhibit 7
9Chamber of Representatives of the communes, Republic of Haiti, Adresse de la Chambre des Représentants des communes aux... (1826)pp. 456 to 457
This thesis asks who freed the enslaved of Saint-Domingue, what the French state said it was sending an army to do, and what the free record settles about the declaration and the price set on it.It makes three claims.First, that the acts of state held here declared the people of the colony, or those of its North, free 5 times between 1793 and 1805, 2 of them in Bonaparte's own name in November 1801, and that the law of 1802 which maintained slavery named other colonies and not this one.Second, that Bonaparte's note to his minister, written in the same fortnight as his guarantee of liberty, states the expedition's course as annihilating the government of the blacks, and that the record holds the arrest in the prisoner's own words.Third, that the Act of 1804 carries 37 names as the Haitian historian prints it, that the ordinance of 1825 set 150,000,000 francs as the condition of recognition and the Haitian legislature declared it a national debt, and that the ceremony of 1791, the day of Toussaint Louverture's death and the count of the dead are disagreements, which this thesis states as disagreements.
1The acts of state this record holds declared the people of Saint-Domingue, or those of its North province, free 5 times between 1793 and 1805, 2 of them in Bonaparte's own name in November 1801, and the law of 1802 that maintained slavery named other colonies and not this one.
2Bonaparte's note to his foreign minister, written in the same fortnight as his guarantee of liberty, states the expedition's course as annihilating the government of the blacks, and the record holds the arrest in the prisoner's own words.
3The Act of 1 January 1804 carries 37 names as the Haitian historian prints it, the ordinance of 1825 set 150,000,000 francs as the condition of recognition, and the Haitian legislature declared the sum a national debt; the ceremony of 1791, the day of Toussaint's death and the count of the dead are disagreements this thesis states as disagreements.
Shaded sentences are the reading of this thesis
The record
The primary documents this thesis holds were fetched from the John Carter Brown Library's collection on the Internet Archive, from the Internet Archive's scans of the Correspondance de Napoléon Ier and of the Haitian Recueil général des lois et actes, from the United States Statutes at Large as GovTrack serves them, and from the abstracts of open articles on Persée, Brill, SciELO and an open journal, and every passage below was sliced from that copy by a script rather than retyped. (the reading of this thesis)The commissioners' proclamations, Toussaint Louverture's proclamation and constitution, the law of the year X, the memoir he wrote in prison and the two statutes of the United States are held whole or by article; Bonaparte's letters are held by item; the Haitian acts of the recognition, and the ordinance of Charles X as the Recueil reprints it, are held by page. (the reading of this thesis)Where a scan's text layer is the free copy the extract keeps the layer's misreadings and says so, and where the layer garbles a figure, as it does the year of the Act and the sum of the ordinance, the figure is cited from a page where it is printed clean. (the reading of this thesis)The Haitian record is held in French from Madiou's history and Saint-Rémy's edition, the one printed at Port-au-Prince and the other by a Haitian in Paris, and in Spanish from a Haitian scholar writing in Argentina; the one document in Creole is the commissioners' broadside, held beside its French broadside as the official parallel text, with a rendering marked as this thesis's own. (the reading of this thesis)The scholarship is held only as the passages cited, and the Persée articles only as their abstracts, because their pages are behind a challenge from this container. (the reading of this thesis)What the record does not hold is listed under the gaps below, by name, with what was tried. (the reading of this thesis)The largest are the copy of the Act in the National Archives at Kew, which the count of its signatures could not be checked against; the Convention's decree of the year II, of which no free printing was found; the treaties Eugène describes, which carry the reduced sum the event record states and this thesis does not; Leclerc's own letters, on Persée and unreadable from here; and the standard works of James, Fick, Dubois and Trouillot, which sit in lending collections this container cannot open, so that the one Haitian scholar the event record leans on most is absent, and every count of the dead below comes from a colonist, a commission or a Haitian historian, and none from the dead's own side. (the reading of this thesis)The prisoner's own statement of what was done to him comes first. (the reading of this thesis)He wrote that when he was arrested he had no other clothes than those he wore, that a note to his wife was handed to General Leclerc's aide-de-camp and never arrived, that he was put aboard the frigate “la Créole” and then the ship “le Héros”, and that his wife and children, arrested with her, arrived the next day.10
Note 10
10Toussaint Louverture, Mémoires du général Toussaint-L'Ouverture écrits par... (1802)p. 83Exhibit 4
Primary documents held with extracts
16 of 21
Scholarship verified to exist as named
19 of 25
Of which read at a free copy and pinned
14
Positions, each with a source by a holder
6 of 6
Sources from the region or in its languages
34
Exhibits with full provenance
8
Findings of this thesis, with their working
4
Extracts stored verbatim
57
What the free record could not reach
the manuscript Declaration and Act of Independence in the UK National Archives (CO 137/111), the only known original; the French text is held here as Madiou prints it and in the Dubois and Garrigus translationthe Duke page's link to the National Archives is a retired DocumentsOnline address; the education page answered 404 and the catalogue search page carried no link to the images. The signatures are counted from Madiou's print and the count says soTriedwww.nationalarchives.gov.ukwww.nationalarchives.gov.ukwww.nationalarchives.gov.uk
the Constitution of 20 May 1805 as Gallica holds the printing; held here as Madiou prints itGallica's text service answered with a security-check page (altcha) on the first try and reset the connection on the second; a person can read itTriedgallica.bnf.frgallica.bnf.fr
the decree of the Convention nationale of 16 pluviôse an II (4 February 1794) abolishing slavery in the colonies, the metropolitan act that ratified Sonthonax's proclamationno printing of the decree itself was found free: Gallica's search returned Chaumette's speech of 30 pluviôse and the Internet Archive's returned nothing. The thesis argues the 1794 abolition from what Sonthonax's proclamation and Bonaparte's own documents say, and does not quote the decreeTriedgallica.bnf.frgallica.bnf.frarchive.org
the two treaties of 12 February 1838 between France and Haiti, which Eugène's abstract describes as separating recognition from the payment of the debt, and which carry the reduced balance the event record calls 90 million francstomes V and VI of the Recueil were fetched and searched for 1838, soixante millions and traité; neither carries the treaties' text as the layer prints it. The reduced sum is therefore not stated in this thesis; the 1838 treaties are known here only through Eugène's abstractTriedarchive.orgarchive.org
Lettres du général Leclerc, commandant en chef de l'armée de Saint-Domingue en 1802, ed. Paul Roussier: the expedition commander's own letters to Bonaparte, including his reports of the epidemic and his last letterson Persée, whose page images and PDF are behind an altcha challenge from this container (HTTP 403 on the PDF); a person can read it. Leclerc's own account of the campaign is therefore absent from this ledger, and the French side of 1802 is known here through Bonaparte's correspondence and Lacroix's memoirTriedwww.persee.frwww.persee.fr
Hoffmann's argument on the ceremony at Bois-Caïman as history, myth and ideologythe record's metadata was read and the DOI resolves; the page images and the PDF are behind an altcha challenge from this container, so the argument is not quoted and the entry is unpinnedTriedwww.persee.frwww.persee.fr
Bertin M. Louis Jr., Haiti's Pact with the Devil?: Bwa Kayiman, Haitian Protestant Views of Vodou, and the Future of Haiti (Religions, 2019), the one open-access article found on the ceremony's afterlife in HaitiHTTP 403 on the page and on the PDF from this container; the DOI 10.3390/rel10080464 resolves through Crossref. Not admitted, because nothing of it could be readTriedwww.mdpi.comwww.mdpi.com
Anja Bandau, The Narrations of the Destruction of Saint-Domingue in the Late 18th Century (L'Ordinaire des Amériques, 2013), on the colonist narratives this ledger holds as Tier DOpenEdition answered both requests with an Anubis bot-wall challenge page; the DOI 10.4000/orda.688 resolves through Crossref. Not admittedTriedjournals.openedition.orgjournals.openedition.org
C. L. R. James, The Black Jacobins, which the event record cites for a quotationthe Internet Archive item the event record names is a 1989 printing in a controlled-lending collection (access-restricted-item true), which this container cannot open; the DOI the record gives (10.2307/2507494) resolves to a 1940 review in the Hispanic American Historical Review, not to the book. The quotation is therefore not published hereTriedarchive.org
Carolyn Fick, The Making of Haiti: the Saint Domingue revolution from belowcontrolled lending copy, not openable from this container; the DOI the record gives (10.2307/2165920) resolves to a 1992 review in the American Historical Review, not to the bookTriedarchive.org
Laurent Dubois, Avengers of the New Worldcontrolled lending copy, not openable from this container; the DOI the record gives (10.2307/4129048) resolves to a 2004 review in the International Journal of African Historical Studies, not to the bookTriedarchive.org
Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past, the Haitian scholar's account of the revolution as unthinkablethe Internet Archive item the event record names is a community upload of a copyrighted book, which this ledger does not cite; the DOI the record gives (10.2307/2952745) resolves to a 1997 review in the Journal of American History. The one Haitian scholar the event record leans on most is therefore absent from this ledger, and the record section says soTriedarchive.org
The argument
1The oath and the fire
The Convention's commission, reporting on the troubles, wrote that other memoirs put the delegates at 200, all commandeurs of workshops, that a mulatto or quarteroon read them public papers announcing that the King and the National Assembly had granted them three days a week, that the slaves of some plantations of the Acul and the Limbé wanted to begin the war against the whites before the troops arrived, that the slaves of Turpin and Flaville came to fetch those of Clément in the evening, that the two workshops chose Boukmans and Auguste as chiefs, and that the fire began towards midnight; by the morning of the 23rd, it counted 37 proprietors, attorneys and refiners assassinated.11Madiou, from Port-au-Prince, tells of a night on which 200 delegates of the workshops of the North met at the Lenormand plantation, heard a supposed decree of the king read by a man of colour, and decided that on the 22nd the insurrection would be general.12Dalmas, a colonist writing under the Restoration, is the one source in this record for a sacrifice. (the reading of this thesis)He places the plan among the chiefs at Le Normand at Morne Rouge, and before its execution a feast or sacrifice in a wooded ground of the Choiseul plantation called the Caïman, where a black pig was the offering.13Madiou's line and Dalmas's footnote both date the meeting at Lenormand to the same night of August, which the printed pages give as the fourteenth and which both scans' text layers garble; only the sacrifice is undated. (the reading of this thesis)The event record's prayer, which it says Dalmas recorded, is in none of these pages, and this thesis does not print it. (the reading of this thesis)The three accounts are set beside each other in the disagreements below. (the reading of this thesis)
Notes 11 to 13
11Jean-Philippe Garran de Coulon, for the Commission des colonies of the Convention nationale, Rapport sur les troubles de Saint-Domingue, tome I (1797)pp. 212 to 213
12Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome I (1847)§ lenormand
13Antoine Dalmas, Histoire de la révolution de Saint-Domingue, tome I (1814)pp. 117 to 118
2Liberty granted and liberty taken
The commissioner's proclamation freed and bound in the same breath. (the reading of this thesis)Article II declared the enslaved free citizens, subject to a regime set out in the articles that followed; article IX held the negroes then attached to the plantations of their former masters to stay on them and to be employed in cultivating the land; article XII divided each plantation's revenue into three equal portions, one for the owner of the land, one for the costs of working it, and the third among the cultivators.141516In two broadsides of one July day, one in French and one in Creole, the same commissioners had told the colony that it would not die and would rise from its ashes; the French says it will not bow its head under the yoke of tyrants and will become “comme la France la terre de la liberté”, and the Creole says it will never again know a king or wicked masters.1718
Notes 14 to 18
14Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioner of the Republic, Proclamation. Au nom de la République. Nous... (1793)art. 2
15Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioner of the Republic, Proclamation. Au nom de la République. Nous... (1793)art. 9
16Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioner of the Republic, Proclamation. Au nom de la République. Nous... (1793)art. 12
17Étienne Polverel and Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioners of the Republic, Proclamation nous, Étienne Polverel et Léger-Félicité... (1793)§ 1
18Étienne Polverel and Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioners of the Republic, Proclamation nous, Étienne Polverel et Léger Félicité... (1793)§ 1Exhibit 1
Exhibit 1DocumentÉtienne Polverel and Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, 2 July 1793
The commissioners' proclamation of 2 July 1793 in Creole: the country will not die
Non, pays cila li pas lé mouiir : H pai lé jamais quine i roi encore, ni quine j maîtres qui niéchans i li va furtir de cendres â li, et li \a plus brillante que jamais ^ U va fcmblé en France , qui aftor terre i liberté et terre i l'égalité , et républîqu*: fianeaife U va trouver tncotc petites a li qui va fcrvi li ben.
Void translation, not a published quotationNo, this country will not die: it will never again know a king, nor know wicked masters; it will rise from its ashes, and it will be more brilliant than ever; it will be like France, which is now the land of liberty and the land of equality, and the French republic will still find in it children who will serve it well.
Locator
§ 1
Held by
John Carter Brown Library, on the Internet Archive, proclamation09sain
Rights
a 1793 public act, public domain, with a Void translation beside it
In a proclamation dated at the Cap on 12 fructidor of the fifth year of the Republic, Toussaint Louverture, general in chief of the army of Saint-Domingue, told the cultivators of the plain that the gratitude they owed France “pour le bienfait inestimable de la liberté qu'elle vous a donné” bound them to the duties of their state, and that the war had been undertaken by their enemies only to return them to slavery.1920The constitution he had prepared in 1801, which Schneider's colonel Vincent carried to the First Consul, said in its third article that slaves were not permitted in the territory, that “l'esclavage est aboli” for ever, and that all men born in the country lived and died free and French; its article 28 gave him the reins of government for the whole of his life.212223
Notes 19 to 23
19Toussaint Louverture, general in chief of the army of Saint-Domingue, Proclamation, Toussaint Louverture, général en chef de... (1797)§ 3
20Toussaint Louverture, general in chief of the army of Saint-Domingue, Proclamation, Toussaint Louverture, général en chef de... (1797)§ sign
21Toussaint Louverture and the central assembly of Saint-Domingue, Constitution française des colonies de Saint-Domingue,... (1801)art. 3Exhibit 2
22Toussaint Louverture and the central assembly of Saint-Domingue, Constitution française des colonies de Saint-Domingue,... (1801)art. 28
23Christian Schneider, Le colonel Vincent, officier du Génie à Saint-Domingue (2002)abstract
Exhibit 2DocumentToussaint Louverture and the central assembly of Saint-Domingue, 1801
The constitution of 1801, title II, article 3
Titre II. De ses habltans. 3. Les esclaves ne sont^ point souffert5 [pertr.itted) dans ce territoire- l'esclavage est aboli pour J sciais. Tous les hommes nés dans ce pays , vivent et meurent hommes Ijbres et français.
Void translation, not a published quotationTitle II. Of its inhabitants. 3. Slaves are not permitted in this territory; slavery is abolished for ever. All men born in this country live and die free men and French.
Locator
art. 3
Held by
John Carter Brown Library, on the Internet Archive, constitutionfran00sain
Rights
an 1801 public act, public domain, with a Void translation beside it
Bonaparte answered in three documents of the same fortnight. (the reading of this thesis)The proclamation of 8 November told the inhabitants of Saint-Domingue, whatever their origin and colour, that they were all French, all free and all equal, and that if anyone said the forces coming were meant to take their liberty they should answer that the Republic had given it and would not suffer it to be taken.24The note to Talleyrand of 13 November said the expedition could not be delayed a day because after germinal the climate was impracticable for Europeans, that to put it off would oblige him to recognise Toussaint and to constitute French blacks there, and that in the course he had taken of annihilating the government of the blacks he had been guided less by commerce than by the necessity of stifling every seed of trouble in every part of the world.25The Exposé of 22 November told the nation that at Saint-Domingue and Guadeloupe there were no more slaves, that all was free and would stay free, and that Martinique had kept slavery and would keep it.26
Notes 24 to 26
24Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5859
25Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5863Exhibit 3
26Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5874
Exhibit 3DocumentNapoléon Bonaparte, 13 November 1801
Bonaparte to Talleyrand, 13 November 1801: the government of the blacks
Paris, 22 brumaire au X (13 novembre 1801). Que je ne puis pas retarder d'un jour l'expédition de Saint-Domingue, car, passé le mois de germinal, le climat est impraticable pour les Européens ; Que, si j'étais obligé de renvoyer l'expédition à une autre année, je serais obligé de reconnaître Toussaint, de renoncer à Saint-Domingue, et d'y constituer des noirs français, ce qui sans doute ne serait point une spéculation d'argent, mais serait très-avantageux à la République sous le point de vue de la puissance militaire; Que, dans le parti que j'ai pris d'anéantir à Saint-Domingue le gouvernement des noirs, j'ai moins été guidé par des considérations de commerce et de finances que par la nécessité d'étouffer, dans toutes les parties du monde, toute espèce de germe d'inquiétude et de troubles; mais qu'il n'a pas pu m'échapper que Saint-Domingue, reconquis par les blancs, serait pendant bien des années un point faible qui aurait besoin de l'appui de la paix et de la métropole; Que la liberté des noirs, reconnue à Saint-Domingue et légitimée par le Gouvernement, serait dans tous les temps un point d'appui pour la République dans le nouveau monde;
Void translation, not a published quotationParis, 22 brumaire year X (13 November 1801). That I cannot delay the Saint-Domingue expedition by a single day, because after the month of germinal the climate is impracticable for Europeans; That, if I were obliged to put the expedition off to another year, I would be obliged to recognise Toussaint, to renounce Saint-Domingue, and to constitute French blacks there, which would doubtless not be a money-making venture but would be very advantageous to the Republic from the point of view of military power; That, in the course I have taken of annihilating the government of the blacks at Saint-Domingue, I have been guided less by considerations of commerce and finance than by the necessity of stifling, in every part of the world, every kind of seed of unrest and trouble; but that it could not escape me that Saint-Domingue, reconquered by the whites, would for many years be a weak point needing the support of peace and of the mother country; That the liberty of the blacks, recognised at Saint-Domingue and legitimised by the Government, would at all times be a point of support for the Republic in the new world;
Locator
item 5863
Held by
Internet Archive (Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, tome VII, No. 5863), correspondancede07napouoft
Rights
an 1858 state edition, public domain, with a Void translation beside it
The law of 30 floréal an X maintained slavery in the colonies restored to France by the treaty of Amiens “conformément aux lois et réglemens antérieurs à 1789”, extended the same to the colonies beyond the Cape of Good Hope, and allowed the slave trade and importation into those colonies as before 1789.27It does not name Saint-Domingue. (the reading of this thesis)
Note 27
27The Corps législatif of the French Republic, promulgated by Bonaparte, First Consul, Loi relative à la traite des noirs et au régime des... (1802)whole document
AnalysisThe finding of this thesis, from the rows below
What the acts of state in this ledger say about slavery in Saint-Domingue, 1793 to 1805
Method Every act of state this ledger holds that speaks to the status of the enslaved of Saint-Domingue, one row per act, in date order, with the producer and what the act says of Saint-Domingue: free where it declares the enslaved free or slavery abolished there, silent where it maintains slavery elsewhere and does not name the colony. The result is the share of rows that say free.
Rows the analysis is computed from, each traced to an extract
date
act
producer
saint domingue
Extract
1793-08-29
Sonthonax's proclamation for the province of the North, article II
Polverel and Sonthonax, civil commissioners of the Republic
Computed over 6 rows, rows with saint_domingue = 'free': 5 of 6; result 0.8333
Of the 6 acts of state held here that speak to slavery between 1793 and 1805, 5 declare the people of Saint-Domingue free, the first of them the enslaved of the province of the North only, and 2 of them issued by Bonaparte in November 1801; the 1 that maintains slavery, the law of 30 floréal an X, names the colonies restored by the treaty of Amiens and those beyond the Cape of Good Hope and does not name Saint-Domingue.
Confidence high for what each document says, which is read from its own text; the set is the ledger's, not the archive's, and the decree of 16 pluviôse an II is a gap. Against it the note to Talleyrand of 13 November 1801, held here, states the aim of annihilating the government of the blacks at Saint-Domingue in the same fortnight as the two documents that guarantee their liberty, so the count of what the acts say is not a count of what the government intended; Sonthonax's freedom binds the freed to the plantations by its own article IX and is ordered for the province of the North; and the law of 30 floréal an X, in its article IV, submits the regime of the colonies for ten years to regulations the Government will make, which leaves the colony it does not name to the Government's regulation
haitian-revolution
3The expedition and the prisoner
On 8 brumaire, before the proclamation of 8 November 1801, Bonaparte had Talleyrand tell the British cabinet, port by port, which ships would sail for Saint-Domingue in the last decade of brumaire, carrying “à peu près 20,000” men of landing under Leclerc, and asked that Jamaica supply the army's provisions, the interest of civilisation being to destroy “la nouvelle Alger qui s'organisait au milieu de l'Amérique”.3435On 18 November the First Consul wrote to Toussaint Louverture that the peace let the government attend to the colony, that his brother-in-law Leclerc was sent as captain general with forces suitable to make the sovereignty of the French people respected, and that the constitution Toussaint had made contained things contrary to the dignity and sovereignty of that people.36
Notes 34 to 36
34Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5845
35Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5859
36Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5867
AnalysisThe finding of this thesis, from the rows below
The ships of the line Bonaparte told London were sailing
Method The letter to Talleyrand of 30 October 1801 (No. 5845) lists, port by port, the ships of the line and frigates that were to sail for Saint-Domingue; one row per port, ships_of_line as the letter counts them in words (six, cinq and huit, un, trois, trois); the Spanish ships of Brest are one row and the French ships of Brest another; the trois vaisseaux of Flushing are read as bataves, which the layer prints as battues. The result is the sum. Frigates are not summed, because the letter adds quelques frégates at Brest without a number.
Rows the analysis is computed from, each traced to an extract
Computed over 7 rows, sum of ships_of_line = 26; result 26
The letter counts 26 ships of the line in the squadrons it told the British cabinet were sailing for Saint-Domingue, from 6 ports, with 18 frigates named by number and some at Brest not numbered, carrying à peu près 20,000 hommes de débarquement under Leclerc.
Confidence high for the arithmetic, which is the letter's own words summed; the letter is a diplomatic communication to London and states what was to sail, not what sailed. Against it the same letter says the Brest squadron carried quelques frégates beyond the four it numbers elsewhere, so the frigate count is a floor; the letter is a communication meant to reassure a foreign cabinet, and this ledger holds no embarkation return against which to check it, Leclerc's letters being a gap
haitian-revolution
Toussaint's own account of the end is the memoir he wrote in prison and addressed to the First Consul. (the reading of this thesis)It says that when he was arrested he had no clothes but those he wore, that a note to his wife given to Leclerc's aide-de-camp never arrived, that he was carried four leagues from the Cap to the ship “le Héros” and made to board it, that his wife and children, arrested with her, arrived the next day, and that they sailed at once for France on a crossing whose days the memoir counts.44The memoir ends by telling the First Consul that his wounds are very deep, that he is a physician, and that the prisoner counts entirely on his justice.45
Notes 44 to 45
44Toussaint Louverture, Mémoires du général Toussaint-L'Ouverture écrits par... (1802)p. 83Exhibit 4
45Toussaint Louverture, Mémoires du général Toussaint-L'Ouverture écrits par... (1802)p. 101
Toussaint Louverture's memoir: the arrest and the embarkation
Lorsque je fus arrêté, je n'avais d'autres vêtements que ceux que je portais sur moi. J'écrivis à mon épouse pour la prier de m'envoyer les choses dont j'avais le plus pressant besoin au Cap, où j'espérais qu'on allait me conduire. Ce billet avait été remis à l'aide-de-camp du général Leclerc avec prière de le faire passer ; mais il ne parvint pas à sa destination, et je ne reçus rien. Dès que je fus à bord de la frégate la Créole, on mit à la voile et on me conduisit à quatre lieues du Cap, où se trouvait le vaisseau le Héros ^ à bord duquel on me fit monter. Le lendemain mon épouse, ainsi que mes enfants qui avaient été arrêtés avec elle, y arriva aussi. On mit de suite à la voile pour France ^ Après une traversée de trentedeux jours \ pendant laquelle j'essuyai non-seulement les plus grandes fatigues, mais même des désagréments tels qu'il est inpossible de se l'imaginer, à moins d'en avoir été
Void translation, not a published quotationWhen I was arrested, I had no other clothes than those I wore. I wrote to my wife to ask her to send me the things I most urgently needed to the Cap, where I hoped I was to be taken. This note was handed to General Leclerc's aide-de-camp with a request to pass it on; but it never reached its destination, and I received nothing. As soon as I was aboard the frigate Créole, sail was set and I was taken four leagues from the Cap, where the ship Héros lay, and I was made to board it. The next day my wife, together with my children who had been arrested with her, arrived there too. Sail was set at once for France. After a crossing of thirty-two days, during which I suffered not only the greatest fatigues but discomforts such as it is impossible to imagine without having been
Locator
p. 83
Held by
Internet Archive (Saint-Rémy's edition of 1853), mmoiresdugn00tous
Rights
an 1802 document in an 1853 edition, public domain, with a Void translation beside it
The words the event record has Toussaint speak to his captors are carried in this record by one source, the memoir of a French general of the expedition, and by the Haitian editor of the memoir who quotes that general; they are quoted in the historiography, as that account's own, and nowhere else. (the reading of this thesis)On the day of his death the record disagrees with itself, and the disagreement is stated below rather than resolved. (the reading of this thesis)Gainot and Macé write that the French occupation's last period ran from the death of Leclerc in November 1802 to the capitulation of Rochambeau in November 1803, and that yellow fever and the renewed war with Britain are facile explanations that conceal the responsibilities of the colonial authorities.46Madiou places the attack that opened the last battle at daybreak on 18 November 1803, when General Clervaux ordered it to begin.47
Notes 46 to 47
46Bernard Gainot and Mayeul Macé, Fin de campagne à Saint-Domingue, novembre 1802-novembre... (2003)abstract
47Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 85
4The declaration
The proclamation of January 1804, as Madiou prints it, ends by asking the people to swear to live free and independent and to prefer death to anything that would put them back under the yoke, and is dated at the headquarters of Gonaïves on the first of January over the signature of Dessalines.4849In the translation of Dubois and Garrigus the same text opens “It is not enough to have expelled the barbarians who have bloodied our land for two centuries”.50It says “We have dared to be free, let us be thus by ourselves and for ourselves”.51The Act that followed records that the general in chief, with the generals assembled, had made known to foreign powers the resolution to render the country independent, and that each general swore to renounce France for ever, to die rather than live under its domination, and to fight for independence to the last breath.525354
Notes 48 to 54
48Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 115
49Thierry Lentz, Bonaparte, Haïti et l'échec colonial du régime consulaire (2003)abstract
50Laurent Dubois and John D. Garrigus (trans.), The Haitian Declaration of Independence, 1804 (translation) (2006)§ 0
51Laurent Dubois and John D. Garrigus (trans.), The Haitian Declaration of Independence, 1804 (translation) (2006)§ 11
52Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
53Laurent Dubois and John D. Garrigus (trans.), The Haitian Declaration of Independence, 1804 (translation) (2006)§ 21
54Laurent Dubois and John D. Garrigus (trans.), The Haitian Declaration of Independence, 1804 (translation) (2006)§ 25
Exhibit 5DocumentJean-Jacques Dessalines and the generals of the native army; printed by Thomas Madiou, 1 January 1804, printed 1848
The Act of Independence with its signatures, as Madiou prints it
ARMÉE INDIGÈNE. Aujourd'hui, 1% Janvier 4804, le Général en Chef de l'armée indigène, accompagné des généraux de l'armée, convoqués à l'effet de prendre les mesures qui doivent tendre au bonheur du pays; _ Après avoir fait connaître aux généraux assemblés ses véritables intérêts, d'assurer à jamais aux indigènes d'Hayti, un gouvernement stable, objet de sa plus vive sollicitude; ce qu'il a fait par un diseours qui tend à faire connaître aux puissances étrangères, la résolution de rendre le pays indépendant, et de jouir d’une liberté consacrée par le sang du peuple de cette île; el après avoir recueilli les avis, à demandé que chacun des généraux assemblés prononçât le serment de renoncer à jamais à la France, de mourir plutôt que vivre sous sa domination, et de combattre jusqu'au dernier soupir pour f'Indépendance. ah Les généraux, pénétrés de ces principes sacrés, après avoir donné d'une voix unanime leur adhésion au projet bien manifesté d'Indépendance, ont tous juré à la postérité, à l'Univers, de renoncer à jamais à la France, et de mourir plutôt que de vivre sous sa « domination. | | Fait aux Gonaïves, ce 1° Janvier 4804 et le 1° de l'Indépendance d'Hayti, | | Signé : ° Dessalines, général en chef; Christophe, Pétion, Clervaux, Geffrard, Vernet, Gabart, généraux de division; P: Romain, E. Gérin, F. Capoix, Daut, J. L. François, Férou, Cangé, L. Bazelais, Magloire, Ambroise, J, J. Herne , Tous: saint Brave, Yayou, généraux de brigade; Bonnet, F. Papalier, Morrelly , Chevalier, Marion, adjudans-généraux ; Magny , Roux, chefs de brigade ; Chareron, B. Loret, Quene, Makajoux, PDupui, Carbonne, Diaquoi aîné, Raphaël, Malet, Derenoncourt; officiers de l'armée ; et Boisrond Tonnère, secrétaire. 3
Locator
p. 117
Held by
Internet Archive (Histoire d'Haïti, tome III, page 117), histoiredhaiti03madi
Rights
an 1848 printing, public domain
AnalysisThe finding of this thesis, from the rows below
The names on the Act of Independence, as Madiou prints it
Method Every name printed under Signé at the foot of the Acte de l'Indépendance in Madiou's tome III, page 117, one row per name, with the rank the print groups it under. Magloire Ambroise is counted as one name, because the second act on page 118 prints him as one; the print of page 117 sets a comma between the two words. The result is the count of rows.
Rows the analysis is computed from, each traced to an extract
Computed over 37 rows, count of rows = 37; result 37
The Act as Madiou prints it carries 37 names: the general in chief, 6 generals of division, 12 generals of brigade, 5 adjudants-généraux, 2 chefs de brigade, 10 officers of the army and the secretary.
Confidence moderate: the rows are read from an 1848 print through a scan's text layer, the original in the National Archives was not fetched, and one name (Magloire Ambroise) is set with a comma that could make it two. Against it the second act of the same day, page 118, prints Magloira Ambroise as one name, which is the reading taken here; if the comma on page 117 is Madiou's, the count is 38; the layer's misprint of the year (4804) is on the same page and shows what the layer can do to a name
haitian-revolution
AnalysisThe finding of this thesis, from the rows below
The generals who signed both acts of 1 January 1804
Method The 18 generals (6 of division, 12 of brigade) printed under the Act of Independence on page 117 of Madiou's tome III, one row each, read against the signatures printed under the act of the same day naming Dessalines governor-general for life on page 118; signed_second is yes where the name is printed under the second act and no otherwise. The result is the share of rows with yes.
Rows the analysis is computed from, each traced to an extract
Computed over 18 rows, rows with signed_second = 'yes': 17 of 18; result 0.9444
Of the 18 generals whose names Madiou prints under the Act of Independence, 17 are printed again under the act of the same day that made Dessalines governor-general for life with the right to make peace and war and to name his successor; the one who is not is Daut.
Confidence moderate: both lists are read from an 1848 print through a scan's text layer, and the second list prints J. L. François as J. EL, François and Magloire Ambroise as Magloira Ambroise, which are read here as the same men. Against it the second act's list is a list of generals only, so the 19 other names on the Act (adjudants, chefs de brigade, officers, the secretary) are not tested; Madiou says the generals drew up and signed the second act at the palace after the ceremony, so its signers were those present there, and absence from it need not be dissent
haitian-revolution
The name the new state took is the subject of Geggus's article, which asks what the founders might have known of the Amerindian past of the Caribbean and of South America.110The proclamation of April that announced the killing of the French, which Madiou says almost every arm had carried out, is where Madiou counts its victims, men, women and children, at “trois mille” or thereabouts; the proclamation's text says that its author, having saved his country, had “vengé l'Amérique”.111112The event record places those words in the declaration of the first of January; in this record they stand in the proclamation of April. (the reading of this thesis)The constitution of the empire, as Madiou prints it, formed the people of the island formerly called St. Domingue into a free, sovereign and independent state under the name of empire of Haiti, and declared in its article 2 that “L'esclavage est à jamais aboli”; its article 12 barred any white, of whatever nation, from setting foot on the territory as master or proprietor, its article 13 excepted the naturalised white women and the naturalised Germans and Poles, and the article that follows held that the Haitians would henceforth be known only under the generic name of blacks.113114
Notes 110 to 114
110David Geggus, The naming of Haiti (1997)abstract
111Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 141
112Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 142
113Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 471
114Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 472
5The price of recognition
The Congress of the United States enacted in 1806 that all commercial intercourse between residents of the United States and any part of the island of St. Domingo “not in possession, and under the acknowledged government of France” was prohibited, and that a vessel and cargo carried there would be forfeited.115It authorised the President to appoint diplomatic representatives to the republics of Hayti and Liberia by the act approved on June 5, 1862.116
Notes 115 to 116
115Congress of the United States, An Act to suspend the commercial intercourse between the... (1806)§ 1Exhibit 6
116Congress of the United States, An Act to authorize the President of the United States... (1862)whole document
Exhibit 6DocumentCongress of the United States, 28 February 1806
The Act of 28 February 1806 suspending commerce with the parts of St. Domingo not under France
NINTH CONGRESS . SEss. I. Cn . 9. 1806. CHAP. IX.-Aft dct to suspend the commercial intercourse between the United States, and certain parts of the island of St. Domingo. (a) Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all commercial inter- course between any person or persons resident within the United States, and any person or persons resident within any part of the island of St . Domingo, not in possession, and under the acknowledged government of France, shall be, and is hereby prohibited ; and any ship or vessel, owned, hired or employed, wholly or in part, by any person or persons resident within the United States, and sailing from any port of the United States, after due notice of this act at the custom-houses, respectively, whi h contrary to the intent hereof, shall be voluntarily carried ; or shall be destined to proceed, whether directly, or from any intermediate port or place, to any port or place within the island of St . Domingo, and not in possession, and under the acknowledged government of France ; and also any cargo which shall be found on board of such ship or vessel, when detected and interrupted in such unlawful purpose, or at her return from such voyage, to the United States, shall be wholly forfeited, and may be seized and condemned in any court of the United States having competent jurisdiction .
Locator
§ 1
Held by
United States Statutes at Large, vol. 2, page 351, served by GovTrack, 2 Stat. 351, ch. 9
Rights
a United States statute, public domain
The ordinance Charles X signed at the Tuileries opened the ports of the French part of Saint-Domingue to the commerce of all nations, made the duties equal for every flag except the French, in whose favour they were reduced by half, required the present inhabitants to pay into the Caisse des dépôts et consignations, in five equal annual terms, a sum destined to compensate “les anciens colons” who would claim an indemnity, and on those conditions conceded them the independence “pleine et entière” of their government.117Eugène writes that the ordinance of 17 April 1825 followed fruitless negotiations from 1814 to 1824, fixed the indemnity unilaterally at cent cinquante millions de francs or, and was in form an act of authority imposed on Haiti though Boyer had accepted the principle, and that Louis-Philippe's government reconsidered the policy in 1838 by a double treaty.118
Notes 117 to 118
117Charles X, King of France, Charles, par la grâce de Dieu, Roi de France et de Navarre (1825)pp. 258 to 259Exhibit 7
118Itazienne Eugène, La normalisation des relations franco-haïtiennes (1825-1838) (2003)abstract
Exhibit 7DocumentCharles X, 17 April 1825, printed 1851
The ordinance of 17 April 1825, as the Haitian Recueil reprints it
« Charles, par la gráce de Dieu, Roi de France et de Navarre, á tous » présents et á venir, Salut. » Vu les arl. 44 en3 de la Charle : » Voulant pourvoir á ce que réclamenl l'intérét du commerce franjáis. » les malheurs des ancienr, colons de Saint-Domingue, et l'étal précaire des )» habitants actuéis de cette le ; donné officiellement toutes les explicalions que je désirais pour la garantie nationale ("), j'ai accepté ladite ordonnance. M. le barón » Nous avons ordonné et ordonnons ce qui suit : » Art. 1". Les ports de la parlie francaisa de Saint-Doraingue seront » ouverts au comtnerce de loutes les nations. » Les droits percus dans ees ports, soit sur les navires, soit sur les mar- » chandises, lant á l'eatrée qu'á la sortie, seroai égaux et uniformes pour » lous les pavillous, excepté le pavilloa francais, en faveur duquel ees droils » seront réduits de moitié. » Art. 2. Les habitants actuéis de la partie francaise de Saint-Domin- » gue verseront á la caisse genérale des dépóts et consignations de France, » en cinq termes égaux, d'année en année, le premier échéant au 31 dé- » cembre 4 825, la somme de 450 millions de fraocs, destinée á dédom- » mager les anciens colons qui réclanieront une indemnité, » Art. 3. Nous concédons, á ees condilions, par la présente ordonnance, » aux habitants actuéis de la partie francaise de Saint-Domingue, l'indé- » pendance pleine et entiére de leur gouvernémenl. » Et sera la présente ordonnance scellée du grand sceau. » Donné á Paris, au cháteau des Tuileries, le 47 avril de l'an de gráce » 1825, et de notre régne le premier. » Signé : Charles .
Locator
pp. 258 to 259
Held by
Internet Archive (Recueil général des lois et actes du gouvernement d'Haïti, tome IV, No. 962), recueilgnral04hait
Rights
an 1825 public act in an 1851 official compilation, public domain
The Haitian Chamber of Representatives, on 26 February 1826, considered that an indemnity had been consented to in favour of France for the recognition of the full and entire independence of the Republic, and declared it a national debt.119At the close of its session on 10 May 1826 it told the Haitians that the legislature, having passed a law recognising as national debt the indemnity of 150,000,000 francs consented to France, had to provide the means to extinguish that sacred engagement, and had passed a law establishing an extraordinary contribution of “30 millions de gourdes payable” over a decade.120In the Chambre des Pairs, on 19 April, Barbé-Marbois opened his opinion on the law dividing the indemnity among the colonists by asking whether it had been necessary to recognise the independence of Saint-Domingue, and answered that for “trente-cinq ans” relations with the island had been almost entirely interrupted, that the regular profits of the colonial commerce had gone to enrich other countries, and that it mattered to order and general repose to end a state of things that kept Haiti outside the universal society.121Blancpain's note holds that there is a long way from the immense traffic of the slave trade to the small quarrel over the indemnity and the later loans, and that ignorance and demagogy are too often mixed in it.122How long Haiti paid and to whom is set out in the disagreements below, and this thesis states no single number for it. (the reading of this thesis)
Notes 119 to 122
119Chamber of Representatives of the communes, Republic of Haiti, Loi qui déclare dette nationale l'indemnité de... (1826)p. 353
120Chamber of Representatives of the communes, Republic of Haiti, Adresse de la Chambre des Représentants des communes aux... (1826)pp. 456 to 457
121François, marquis de Barbé-Marbois, in the Chambre des Pairs, Opinion sur le projet de loi relatif à la répartition de... (1826)pp. 1 to 2
122François Blancpain, Note sur les « dettes » de l'esclavage (2003)abstract
The historiography
The Haitian national account
Holders
Dessalines and the generals, in the proclamation and the Act of 1 January 1804 and the proclamation of April 1804 as Madiou prints them; the Chamber of Representatives of 1826; Madiou (1847 to 1848); Saint-Rémy (1853); Joachim (1975); Mezilas (2009)
The people of Saint-Domingue freed themselves, declared independence at Gonaïves by an oath of the generals, avenged the cruelties of the French, abolished slavery for ever in their constitution, and were made to pay France for a recognition that France imposed by ordinance.
Omits
The date and place of the ceremony of August 1791, which Madiou tells as a meeting at Lenormand and not as a sacrifice; the killing of the French civilians of 1804, which Madiou counts and defends; and the text of the treaties of 1838.
Tested against the primary record
QualifiedOn 1 January 1804 the general in chief and the assembled generals swore at Gonaïves to renounce France for ever, and the Act carries their names.
Rests on documents from: Thomas Madiou and Joseph Saint-Rémy; Scholarship; Congress of the United States.
The Act and its signatures are held here only as Madiou prints them and as Dubois and Garrigus translate them; the one Tier A artifact on the point is the United States statute of 1806, which speaks of parts of the island not in possession of France and does not name the Act. The National Archives' original was not fetched, so the verdict is qualified.
The 4 extracts it rests on
Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
ARMÉE INDIGÈNE. Aujourd'hui, 1% Janvier 4804, le Général en Chef de l'armée indigène, accompagné des généraux de l'armée, convoqués à l'effet de prendre les mesures qui doivent tendre au bonheur du pays; _ Après avoir fait connaître aux généraux assemblés ses véritables intérêts, d'assurer à jamais aux indigènes d'Hayti, un gouvernement stable, objet de sa plus vive sollicitude; ce qu'il a fait par un diseours qui tend à faire connaître aux puissances étrangères, la résolution de rendre le pays indépendant, et de jouir d’une liberté consacrée par le sang du peuple de cette île; el après avoir recueilli les avis, à demandé que chacun des généraux assemblés prononçât le serment de renoncer à jamais à la France, de mourir plutôt que vivre sous sa domination, et de combattre jusqu'au dernier soupir pour f'Indépendance. ah Les généraux, pénétrés de ces principes sacrés, après avoir donné d'une voix unanime leur adhésion au projet bien manifesté d'Indépendance, ont tous juré à la postérité, à l'Univers, de renoncer à jamais à la France, et de mourir plutôt que de vivre sous sa « domination. | | Fait aux Gonaïves, ce 1° Janvier 4804 et le 1° de l'Indépendance d'Hayti, | | Signé : ° Dessalines, général en chef; Christophe, Pétion, Clervaux, Geffrard, Vernet, Gabart, généraux de division; P: Romain, E. Gérin, F. Capoix, Daut, J. L. François, Férou, Cangé, L. Bazelais, Magloire, Ambroise, J, J. Herne , Tous: saint Brave, Yayou, généraux de brigade; Bonnet, F. Papalier, Morrelly , Chevalier, Marion, adjudans-généraux ; Magny , Roux, chefs de brigade ; Chareron, B. Loret, Quene, Makajoux, PDupui, Carbonne, Diaquoi aîné, Raphaël, Malet, Derenoncourt; officiers de l'armée ; et Boisrond Tonnère, secrétaire. 3
Laurent Dubois and John D. Garrigus (trans.), The Haitian Declaration of Independence, 1804 (translation) (2006)§ 21
The Deed of independence Native Army Today, January 1st 1804, the general in chief of the native army, accompanied by the generals of the army, assembled in order to take measures that will insure the good of the country;
Congress of the United States, An Act to suspend the commercial intercourse between the... (1806)§ 1Exhibit 6
NINTH CONGRESS . SEss. I. Cn . 9. 1806. CHAP. IX.-Aft dct to suspend the commercial intercourse between the United States, and certain parts of the island of St. Domingo. (a) Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all commercial inter- course between any person or persons resident within the United States, and any person or persons resident within any part of the island of St . Domingo, not in possession, and under the acknowledged government of France, shall be, and is hereby prohibited ; and any ship or vessel, owned, hired or employed, wholly or in part, by any person or persons resident within the United States, and sailing from any port of the United States, after due notice of this act at the custom-houses, respectively, whi h contrary to the intent hereof, shall be voluntarily carried ; or shall be destined to proceed, whether directly, or from any intermediate port or place, to any port or place within the island of St . Domingo, and not in possession, and under the acknowledged government of France ; and also any cargo which shall be found on board of such ship or vessel, when detected and interrupted in such unlawful purpose, or at her return from such voyage, to the United States, shall be wholly forfeited, and may be seized and condemned in any court of the United States having competent jurisdiction .
Thierry Lentz, Bonaparte, Haïti et l'échec colonial du régime consulaire (2003)abstract
Cette étude propose un panorama d'ensemble de la politique coloniale du Consulat, peu connue mais qui ne peut se réduire à la seule question de l'esclavage aux Antilles. Un tableau est d'abord dressé de l'état de la question à l'issue de la décennie révolutionnaire ; puis sont évoqués les choix, désastreux retenus pour ramener les Antilles dans la sphère française : expédition à Saint-Domingue contre les projets autonomistes de Toussaint Louverture, décision de rétablir l'esclavage qui provoqua d'abord la répression et les massacres en Guadeloupe, puis la rupture irréversible avec Saint-Domingue, proclamé indépendant le 1er janvier 1804. Sont ensuite abordés les autres aspects du vaste projet colonial de Bonaparte, tous voués à des échecs rapides, faute, notamment, d'une flotte capable de rivaliser avec l'Angleterre : l'Egypte, l'Inde, la Louisiane, l'Australie même. En 1804, l'échec était patent sur tous les fronts coloniaux. En ce domaine le nouveau régime avait délibérément rompu
SupportedFrance imposed the indemnity by an ordinance, and Haiti's legislature declared 150,000,000 francs a national debt.
Rests on documents from: France, in the ordonnance of 1825 and the treaties of 1838; Chamber of Representatives of the communes, Republic of Haiti.
The ordinance's own text, as the Haitian Recueil reprints it, concedes independence on the condition of the payment; the law of 26 February 1826 and the Chamber's address of 10 May 1826 declare the sum a national debt and vote a contribution to pay it. Two producers, the French crown and the Haitian legislature, agree on the terms.
The 3 extracts it rests on
Charles X, King of France, Charles, par la grâce de Dieu, Roi de France et de Navarre (1825)pp. 258 to 259Exhibit 7
« Charles, par la gráce de Dieu, Roi de France et de Navarre, á tous » présents et á venir, Salut. » Vu les arl. 44 en3 de la Charle : » Voulant pourvoir á ce que réclamenl l'intérét du commerce franjáis. » les malheurs des ancienr, colons de Saint-Domingue, et l'étal précaire des )» habitants actuéis de cette le ; donné officiellement toutes les explicalions que je désirais pour la garantie nationale ("), j'ai accepté ladite ordonnance. M. le barón » Nous avons ordonné et ordonnons ce qui suit : » Art. 1". Les ports de la parlie francaisa de Saint-Doraingue seront » ouverts au comtnerce de loutes les nations. » Les droits percus dans ees ports, soit sur les navires, soit sur les mar- » chandises, lant á l'eatrée qu'á la sortie, seroai égaux et uniformes pour » lous les pavillous, excepté le pavilloa francais, en faveur duquel ees droils » seront réduits de moitié. » Art. 2. Les habitants actuéis de la partie francaise de Saint-Domin- » gue verseront á la caisse genérale des dépóts et consignations de France, » en cinq termes égaux, d'année en année, le premier échéant au 31 dé- » cembre 4 825, la somme de 450 millions de fraocs, destinée á dédom- » mager les anciens colons qui réclanieront une indemnité, » Art. 3. Nous concédons, á ees condilions, par la présente ordonnance, » aux habitants actuéis de la partie francaise de Saint-Domingue, l'indé- » pendance pleine et entiére de leur gouvernémenl. » Et sera la présente ordonnance scellée du grand sceau. » Donné á Paris, au cháteau des Tuileries, le 47 avril de l'an de gráce » 1825, et de notre régne le premier. » Signé : Charles .
Chamber of Representatives of the communes, Republic of Haiti, Loi qui déclare dette nationale l'indemnité de... (1826)p. 353
N° \ 003. — Loiqui declare del te nationale, Vindemnité de \ 50,000,000 de francs accordée á la Franco, pour la reconnaissance de Vindépendance d'Ha'iti (1 ) , Port-au-Priiice, le 26 février 1826. La Chambre des Représentants des communes, Considérant qu'il a été consentí, en faveur de la France, une indemnité de 150,000j000 de francs pour la reconnaissance, par ce gouvernement, de rindépendance pleine et entiére de la République d'Haíti, el qu'il est de Thonneur national d'assurer Texécution d'un engagement qui, sans porter alteinte á la dignilé du peuple haitien, consacre á jamáis son existence politiquea
Chamber of Representatives of the communes, Republic of Haiti, Adresse de la Chambre des Représentants des communes aux... (1826)pp. 456 to 457
N° 1034. — Adresse de la Chambre des Représentanls des communes, aux Baitiens, á la clóture de ses travaux. Port-au-Prince, le 10 mai 1826. La législature, aprés avoir rendu une loi qui reconnait dette nationale l'indemnié de 150,000,000 de francs consentie envers la France, devait pourvoir aux moyens d'éteindre cet engagement sacre. Une contribution extraordinaire, répartie de la maniere la plus équitable et la plus réguliére sur la généralité des citoyens, a paru le mode le plus convenable a employer. Une loi qui établit une contribution extraoidinaire de 30 millions de gourdes payable en dix anuées a done été rendue par la Chambre.
The French imperial account
Holders
Bonaparte, in the correspondence of October and November 1801; the Corps législatif of 30 floréal an X; Lacroix (1819)
The expedition went to restore the sovereignty of the French people over a colony whose governor had made his own constitution; the liberty of the blacks was guaranteed by proclamation, and the government of the blacks, not their liberty, was what had to be annihilated.
Omits
The law of 30 floréal an X, which maintained slavery where Amiens restored it and left Saint-Domingue unnamed; and what Leclerc wrote from the colony, which this ledger could not read.
2 Le Héros était commandé par le chef de division Savary. « En me » renversant, dit le Premier des Noirs au capitaine Savary, en montant » à son bord, on n'a abattu à Saint-Domingue que le tronc de l'arbre de » liberté des noirs; il repoussera, parce que les racines en sont pro- » fondes et nombreuses. » Pamphile de Lacroix. Révolution de Saint- Domingue.
Cette étude propose un panorama d'ensemble de la politique coloniale du Consulat, peu connue mais qui ne peut se réduire à la seule question de l'esclavage aux Antilles. Un tableau est d'abord dressé de l'état de la question à l'issue de la décennie révolutionnaire ; puis sont évoqués les choix, désastreux retenus pour ramener les Antilles dans la sphère française : expédition à Saint-Domingue contre les projets autonomistes de Toussaint Louverture, décision de rétablir l'esclavage qui provoqua d'abord la répression et les massacres en Guadeloupe, puis la rupture irréversible avec Saint-Domingue, proclamé indépendant le 1er janvier 1804. Sont ensuite abordés les autres aspects du vaste projet colonial de Bonaparte, tous voués à des échecs rapides, faute, notamment, d'une flotte capable de rivaliser avec l'Angleterre : l'Egypte, l'Inde, la Louisiane, l'Australie même. En 1804, l'échec était patent sur tous les fronts coloniaux. En ce domaine le nouveau régime avait délibérément rompu
Tested against the primary record
QualifiedThe expedition's purpose was to restore French sovereignty, and the liberty of the blacks was guaranteed.
Rests on documents from: Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul; Corps législatif of the French Republic.
The proclamation of 8 November 1801 says the Republic gave the blacks their liberty and will not let it be taken; the note to Talleyrand of 13 November says the course taken is to annihilate the government of the blacks at Saint-Domingue and that their liberty, recognised, would be a point of support for the Republic; the Exposé of 22 November says there are no more slaves at Saint-Domingue and all will stay free, while Martinique keeps slavery. The law of 30 floréal an X then maintains slavery in the colonies restored by Amiens and beyond the Cape, and does not name Saint-Domingue. Every document here is the French state's own, so under Rule A the verdict is capped at qualified: the papers show a guarantee of liberty and an intention to destroy the black government stated in the same fortnight, and a law that restores slavery elsewhere without naming the colony.
The 4 extracts it rests on
Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5859
5859. — PROCLAMATION. Paris, 1" brumaire an \ (8 novembre 1801). Habitants de Saint-Domingue, quelles que soient votre origine et votre couleur, vous êtes tous Français; vous êtes tous libres et tous égaux devant Dieu et devant la République. La France a été, comme Saint-Domingue, en proie aux factions et déchirée par la guerre civile et par la guerre étrangère. Mais tout a changé. Tons les peuples ont embrassé les Français et leur ont juré la paix et l'amitié. Tous les Français se sont embrassés aussi et ont juré d'être tous des amis et des frères. Venez aussi embrasser les Français et vous réjouir de revoir vos amis et vos frères d'Europe. Le Gouvernement vous envoie le capitaine général Leclcrc. Il amène avec lui de grandes forces pour vous protéger contre vos ennemis et contre les ennemis de la République. Si on vous dit : Ces' forces sont destinées à vous ravir votre liberté , répondez •. La République nous a donné la liberté, la République ne souffrira pas qu'elle nous soit enlevée. Ralliez-vous autour du capitaine général. Il vous rapporte l'abondance et la paix. Ralliez-vous tous autour de lui. Qui osera se séparer du capitaine général sera un traître à la patrie, et la colère de la République le dévorera, comme le feu dévore vos cannes desséebées.
Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5863Exhibit 3
Paris, 22 brumaire au X (13 novembre 1801). Que je ne puis pas retarder d'un jour l'expédition de Saint-Domingue, car, passé le mois de germinal, le climat est impraticable pour les Européens ; Que, si j'étais obligé de renvoyer l'expédition à une autre année, je serais obligé de reconnaître Toussaint, de renoncer à Saint-Domingue, et d'y constituer des noirs français, ce qui sans doute ne serait point une spéculation d'argent, mais serait très-avantageux à la République sous le point de vue de la puissance militaire; Que, dans le parti que j'ai pris d'anéantir à Saint-Domingue le gouvernement des noirs, j'ai moins été guidé par des considérations de commerce et de finances que par la nécessité d'étouffer, dans toutes les parties du monde, toute espèce de germe d'inquiétude et de troubles; mais qu'il n'a pas pu m'échapper que Saint-Domingue, reconquis par les blancs, serait pendant bien des années un point faible qui aurait besoin de l'appui de la paix et de la métropole; Que la liberté des noirs, reconnue à Saint-Domingue et légitimée par le Gouvernement, serait dans tous les temps un point d'appui pour la République dans le nouveau monde;
Void translation, not a published quotationParis, 22 brumaire year X (13 November 1801). That I cannot delay the Saint-Domingue expedition by a single day, because after the month of germinal the climate is impracticable for Europeans; That, if I were obliged to put the expedition off to another year, I would be obliged to recognise Toussaint, to renounce Saint-Domingue, and to constitute French blacks there, which would doubtless not be a money-making venture but would be very advantageous to the Republic from the point of view of military power; That, in the course I have taken of annihilating the government of the blacks at Saint-Domingue, I have been guided less by considerations of commerce and finance than by the necessity of stifling, in every part of the world, every kind of seed of unrest and trouble; but that it could not escape me that Saint-Domingue, reconquered by the whites, would for many years be a weak point needing the support of peace and of the mother country; That the liberty of the blacks, recognised at Saint-Domingue and legitimised by the Government, would at all times be a point of support for the Republic in the new world;
Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5874
5874. — EXPOSÉ DE LA SITUATION DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE. Taris, 1er frimaire an X (22 novembre 1801). A Saint-Domingue et à la Guadeloupe, il n'est plus d'esclaves; tout y est libre, tout y restera libre. La sagesse et le temps y ramèneront l'ordre et y rétabliront la culture et les travaux. A la Martinique, ce seront des principes différents. La Martinique a conservé l'esclavage, et l'esclavage y sera conservé. Il en a trop coûté à L'humanité pour tenter encore, dans cette partie, une révolution nouvelle.
The Corps législatif of the French Republic, promulgated by Bonaparte, First Consul, Loi relative à la traite des noirs et au régime des... (1802)whole document
L O I Relative à la traite des Noirs et au régime des Colonies . Du 30 Floréal, an X de la République une et indivisible. Au NOM DU PEUPLE FRANÇAIS , BONAPARTE, premier Consul, proclame loi de la République le décret suivant, rendu par !e Corps legislatif le 30 floréal an X , conformément à la proposition faite par le Gouvernement le 27 dudit mois, communiquée au Tribunat le même jour. DÉCRET. Art. I.*’ Dans les colonies restituées à la France en exécution du traité d’Amiens, du 6 germinal an X, l'esclavage sera maintenu conformément aux lois et réglemens antérieurs à 1789. II. Il en sera de même dans les autres colonies françaises au-delà du Cap de Bonne-Espérance. III. La traite des noirs et leur importation dans lesdites ‘colonies , auront lieu , conformément aux lois et régie- . mens existans avant ladite époque de 1789. IV. Nonobstant toutes lois antérieures, le régime des colonies est soumis , pendant dix ans , aux régîemens qui seront faits par le Gouvernement. Collationné à l'original, par nous président et secrétaires du Corps législatif. A Paris, le 30 Floréal, an X de la République française. Signé Rabaut le jeune , président ; Thiry, Bergier, Tupinier, Rigal, secrétaires. Soit la présente loi revêtue du sceau de l'État , insérée au Bulletin des lois , inscrite dans les registres des autorités judiciaires et administratives , et le ministre de la justice chargé d’en surveiller la publication. A Paris,
The colonists' and claimants' account
Holders
Dalmas (1814); Edwards (1797); Barbé-Marbois, in the Chambre des Pairs (1826); the ordinance of 17 April 1825, which names the former colonists as the indemnity's object
The rising of 1791 was planned by the slaves' chiefs and sealed by a blood sacrifice; it destroyed the plantations and killed the whites; the colonists' property was lost, and the indemnity of 1825 was owed to them for it.
Omits
The regime of the plantations that the rising answered, which Dalmas and Edwards describe as their own losses; and who paid the indemnity.
Pour rétablir ses rapports avec l'ex-colonie française de Saint- Domingue, le roi Charles X imposa au gouvernement d'Haïti, puisque les négociations engagées entre les deux pays de 1814 à 1824, se sont révélées infructueuses, une ordonnance, signée le 17 avril 1825, reconnaissant la souveraineté haïtienne sur l'ancienne colonie, mais en contre partie d'une indemnité destinée à indemniser les anciens colons dépossédés. Fixée unilatéralement à cent cinquante millions de francs or et complétée par des avantages en faveur du commerce français, cette indemnité était de fait un acte d'autorité imposée à Haïti, du moins quant à la forme puisque le principe en avait été accepté par Boyer. Cependant, les ambiguïtés de l'acte d'émancipation et l'exiguïté des ressources de la République d'Haïti, portèrent le gouvernement de Louis Philippe à reconsidérer, en 1838, la politique adoptée par son prédécesseur. Un double traité distinguait clairement, d'une part, la reconnaissance de l'indépendance et, d'autre part,
-D'autres mémoires disent que ces députés nègres e'tcient nombre de 200, &tous comm,andeurs d'ateliers. François ajoute que les papiers publics furent lus aux nègres assemblés par u mulâtre ou quarteron à lui inconnu , qui leur annonça que le R et l'Assemblée nationale leur avoient accordé trois jours p< semaine ; que les colons blancs s'y opposoient , et qu'il faîlo attendre l'arrivée des troupes qui viendroient faire exécuter c décret; qne c'étoit bien l'avis du plus grand nombre, mais qu les nègres de quelques habitations de l'Acul et du Limbe voi loieni à toute force commencer la guerre contre les blancs avai rarri.'ée des troupes (1). (^uci qu il en soiî , 1 insurrection recommença dam la pa Insunscdon . „ . , , * , ^ . ' ^ génériladans '^^^^^ ^^ ^ '^^^^ ^^ ^^ ^®"^ > ^^ ^ ^^^^^ ^^'^^ ' ^'^^ devint générale le Nord. Les esclaves de l'habitation Turpin et Flaville vinrent chercher kio heures du ^oir , ceux de l'habitation Clément. Les deu atelierç chr^ircnt pour chefs Eoukmans et Auguste , esck ves sur ces deux habitations. De - là ils allèrent sur l'habij talion Tremés , où ils firent grâce à un charpentier qu'ilj avoient manqué d'un coup de fusil j puis sur celle de Noé , don ils t'jèrent le procureur et le rafnneur. Ils donnèrent la vie ai X Extrait d'une déclaration de ce qui s'est passé au Limbe. ( ^i3 ) ' jrurgîcn Mongés et à son cpoase. C'est sur cette «dernière habî- Lion qtie l'incendie commença vers minuit (i). Dès le matin i 23 , la patrouille du Limbe apperçut les flammes dans la roisse de j*Acal , en retoarnant au corps-de-gardc 3 elle, cn- •ya deux hommes à la de'couvertc , qui vinrent bicnlôt annoncer le tout é.oit incendié , et que Ton e'gorgeoit tous les blawcs (2.), rsonne ne se joignit au commandant de Pcns , qui montra :aucoup de zèle avec une patrouille. Déjà Tincendie gagnoit uîieurs quartiers de la paroisse du Limbe, quand il arriva à îmbarcadaire , où tous les habitans s'étoit-nt enfuis. Il en rallia •es d'une ce^ntaine ; mais la terreur étoit dans tous les cœurs : îrsonne ne vou^oit faire sentinelle. On fut attaque plusieurs fois ir des troupes de nègres avant l'embarquement , qui eut lieu ndis que les nègres piiloient le bourg du Limbe dont ils s'étoient ?ja rendus maîtres (3). Le lendemain et les j'ours suivans , rinsurrection se propagea ms tous les ateliers duvoisinage avec l'activité de la flamme que ■s insurgés portoient dans toutes les habitations et dans tous les lamps de cannes à sucre , qui faisoient la principale récolte de colonie. Leur férocité s'augm.enta avec leur nombre ; dès la utinée du 23 , on comptoit 37 propriétaires , procureurs ou ifîineurs, d'assassinés. L'incendie se répandit si rapidement , que eu de jours après huit paroisses limitrophes , l'Acul , le Limbe ,
Tested against the primary record
QualifiedThe rising of August 1791 was planned days ahead at Lenormand and preceded by a sacrifice at the Caïman wood on the Choiseul plantation.
Rests on documents from: Antoine Dalmas; Commission des colonies of the Convention nationale; Thomas Madiou and Joseph Saint-Rémy.
The Convention's commission reports the rumour of three days a week, the slaves of Turpin and Flaville fetching those of Clément at ten in the evening, the chiefs Boukmans and Auguste, and the fire beginning towards midnight; it reports no ceremony. Madiou reports a meeting of delegates at Lenormand that fixed the night of the 22nd, and no sacrifice. Dalmas alone carries the sacrifice, and he places it after the plan was fixed at Le Normand and before it was carried out, without a date. One Tier A producer, the commission, on the plan; the ceremony rests on a colonist's memoir alone: qualified.
The 3 extracts it rests on
Jean-Philippe Garran de Coulon, for the Commission des colonies of the Convention nationale, Rapport sur les troubles de Saint-Domingue, tome I (1797)pp. 212 to 213
-D'autres mémoires disent que ces députés nègres e'tcient nombre de 200, &tous comm,andeurs d'ateliers. François ajoute que les papiers publics furent lus aux nègres assemblés par u mulâtre ou quarteron à lui inconnu , qui leur annonça que le R et l'Assemblée nationale leur avoient accordé trois jours p< semaine ; que les colons blancs s'y opposoient , et qu'il faîlo attendre l'arrivée des troupes qui viendroient faire exécuter c décret; qne c'étoit bien l'avis du plus grand nombre, mais qu les nègres de quelques habitations de l'Acul et du Limbe voi loieni à toute force commencer la guerre contre les blancs avai rarri.'ée des troupes (1). (^uci qu il en soiî , 1 insurrection recommença dam la pa Insunscdon . „ . , , * , ^ . ' ^ génériladans '^^^^^ ^^ ^ '^^^^ ^^ ^^ ^®"^ > ^^ ^ ^^^^^ ^^'^^ ' ^'^^ devint générale le Nord. Les esclaves de l'habitation Turpin et Flaville vinrent chercher kio heures du ^oir , ceux de l'habitation Clément. Les deu atelierç chr^ircnt pour chefs Eoukmans et Auguste , esck ves sur ces deux habitations. De - là ils allèrent sur l'habij talion Tremés , où ils firent grâce à un charpentier qu'ilj avoient manqué d'un coup de fusil j puis sur celle de Noé , don ils t'jèrent le procureur et le rafnneur. Ils donnèrent la vie ai X Extrait d'une déclaration de ce qui s'est passé au Limbe. ( ^i3 ) ' jrurgîcn Mongés et à son cpoase. C'est sur cette «dernière habî- Lion qtie l'incendie commença vers minuit (i). Dès le matin i 23 , la patrouille du Limbe apperçut les flammes dans la roisse de j*Acal , en retoarnant au corps-de-gardc 3 elle, cn- •ya deux hommes à la de'couvertc , qui vinrent bicnlôt annoncer le tout é.oit incendié , et que Ton e'gorgeoit tous les blawcs (2.), rsonne ne se joignit au commandant de Pcns , qui montra :aucoup de zèle avec une patrouille. Déjà Tincendie gagnoit uîieurs quartiers de la paroisse du Limbe, quand il arriva à îmbarcadaire , où tous les habitans s'étoit-nt enfuis. Il en rallia •es d'une ce^ntaine ; mais la terreur étoit dans tous les cœurs : îrsonne ne vou^oit faire sentinelle. On fut attaque plusieurs fois ir des troupes de nègres avant l'embarquement , qui eut lieu ndis que les nègres piiloient le bourg du Limbe dont ils s'étoient ?ja rendus maîtres (3). Le lendemain et les j'ours suivans , rinsurrection se propagea ms tous les ateliers duvoisinage avec l'activité de la flamme que ■s insurgés portoient dans toutes les habitations et dans tous les lamps de cannes à sucre , qui faisoient la principale récolte de colonie. Leur férocité s'augm.enta avec leur nombre ; dès la utinée du 23 , on comptoit 37 propriétaires , procureurs ou ifîineurs, d'assassinés. L'incendie se répandit si rapidement , que eu de jours après huit paroisses limitrophes , l'Acul , le Limbe ,
Antoine Dalmas, Histoire de la révolution de Saint-Domingue, tome I (1814)pp. 117 to 118
Les dispositions de ce plan avoient été arrêtées quelques jours auparavant entre les principaux chefs , sur l'habitation Le Normand , au Morne Rouge (a). Avant de l'exécuter , ils célébrèrent une espèce de fête ou de sacrifice , au milieu d'un terrain boisé et non cultivé de l'habitation Choiseul , appelé le Cdiman, où les nègres se réunirent en très-grand nombre. Un cochon entièrement noir, entouré de/e«M«*, chargé d'offrandes plus bizarres les mies que les autres, fut l'holocauste offert au génie tout-puissant de la race noire. Les cérémonies religieuses que les nègres (2) Le i4 ao'f'*' pratiquèrent en l'égorgeant, l'avidité avec laquelle Ils burent de son sang, le prix qu'ils mirent à posséder quelques-uns de ses poils, espècede talisman qm, selon eux, devoit les rendre invulnérables servent à caractériser l'Africain. Il étoit naturel qu une caste aussi ig,.o.,ute et aussi abrutie préludât aux attentats les plus épouvantables par les rites superstitieux d'une religion absurde et sanguinaire.
Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome I (1847)§ lenormand
Dans la nuit du 44 Août 1794, 200 députés des ateliers de la province du Nord se réunirent sur l’habitation Lenormand. Là, un homme de couleur leur donna lecture d'un prétendu décret, par lequel le roi leur aecordait trois jours de liberté par semaine. Il y fut décidé .que le 22» du même mois l'insurrection serait générale. | + Au jour fixé, à dix heures du soir, des tourbillons de flammes sortant du quartier de PAcul et s’élançant dang l'espace, dons Yrént le signal de riéitisénhn Les esclaves mirent à leur tête Jean François qui eut pour lieutenants Boukman et Flaville. Ils les portèrent en triomphe au son d'une musique africaine qui répandit partout la terreur. Toute la plaine du Nord fut à feu ct à sang; él dans les campagnes , les blancs de tous les partis tombèrent sous
The French republican account and its scholarship
Holders
Sonthonax and Polverel, in the proclamations of 1793; Garran de Coulon, for the Convention's commission (1797); Dorigny (2003); Gainot and Macé (2003); Lentz (2003); Schneider (2002); Pluchon (1992)
The Republic's commissioners freed the enslaved of the North in August 1793 under a labour regime; the Consulate's choices of 1801 and 1802 were disastrous and broke with the revolutionary legacy; the defeat of 1803 was the colonial authorities' own doing more than the fever's.
Omits
That the commissioners' freedom bound the freed to their former masters' plantations by its own articles; and the voices of the freed themselves, whom the proclamations address and do not quote.
Tested against the primary record
SupportedThe civil commissioner declared the enslaved of the North free on 29 August 1793, with a labour regime attached to the grant.
Rests on documents from: Polverel and Sonthonax, civil commissioners of the Republic; Toussaint Louverture and the central assembly of Saint-Domingue.
Article II declares all the negroes and people of mixed blood then in slavery free, article IX keeps those attached to the plantations of their former masters on them, and the broadside is dated at the Cap, 29 August 1793. Toussaint Louverture's proclamation of 1797 tells the cultivators of the inestimable gift of the liberty France gave them. Two producers, the commission and the general who had fought against it, on the grant.
The 4 extracts it rests on
Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioner of the Republic, Proclamation. Au nom de la République. Nous... (1793)art. 2
II. Tojs les nègres & fang- mêlés, aftuellement dans l'efclavage, font déclarés libres pour jouir de tous les droits attachés à la qualité de citoyen •f a.nçais ; ils feront cependant afTujettis à un régime dont les difpoiîtions font contenues dans les articles fuivans.
Void translation, not a published quotationII. All the negroes and people of mixed blood now in slavery are declared free, to enjoy all the rights attached to the quality of French citizen; they will however be subject to a regime whose provisions are contained in the following articles.
Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioner of the Republic, Proclamation. Au nom de la République. Nous... (1793)art. 9
IX. Les nègres actuellement attachés aux habitations de leurs anciens famres , fiuont tenus d'y refter ; ils feront employés à la culture de la terrç.
Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioner of the Republic, Proclamation. Au nom de la République. Nous... (1793)§ sign
Au Cap, le 29 août 1793 , l'an deux de la République Françaife. SONTHONAX. Par le Commiitaire civil de la République. GaULT , Sicràaire adjoint di la Commijfion Civile.
Toussaint Louverture, general in chief of the army of Saint-Domingue, Proclamation, Toussaint Louverture, général en chef de... (1797)§ 3
CurrivarTeuns, mes frères ct mes amis ! Que Îx reconnaissance que vous devez à la France, pour le bienfait inestimable de la liberté qu’elle vous a donné , vous attache aux devoirs de votre état. Montrez aux détracteurs mêmes de cette liberté que vous en êtes dignes, que vous en sentez tout le prix, et que vous savez la défendre , en soutenant du fruit do vos labenrs une guerre qui n’& été entreprise par vos ennemis que pour vous rendre l'esclavage. Prouvez-leur qu’un sol cultivé par des mains libres peut aussi bien fructifier que celui qui est cultivé ar des esclaves. Vous y parviendrez , mes amis, par
The anglophone and Atlantic account
Holders
Beard (1863); Nicholls (1978); Hoffmann (1990); Geggus (1997); Dubois and Garrigus, as translators of the declaration (2006); Yakubu and Opondo (2025)
The revolution's founding texts and their afterlife are the subject: the name Haiti taken from an Amerindian past, the declaration read in translation, the ceremony read as history and as myth, and the insurgency read from Africa as the precursor of the acts of emancipation.
Omits
The French and Haitian primary record in its own language, which this school reads in translation; and the counting of the dead, on which none of its holders in this ledger offers a figure.
Tested against the primary record
QualifiedThe United States suspended commerce with the parts of the island not under France in 1806 and authorised diplomatic representatives to Haiti in 1862.
Rests on documents from: Congress of the United States. One producer, so the verdict is capped at qualified.
The act of 28 February 1806 prohibits commercial intercourse with any part of the island of St. Domingo not in possession of France; the act of 5 June 1862 authorises the President to appoint diplomatic representatives to the republics of Hayti and Liberia. Both are the same producer's record, the Congress, so the verdict is capped at qualified.
The 2 extracts it rests on
Congress of the United States, An Act to suspend the commercial intercourse between the... (1806)§ 1Exhibit 6
NINTH CONGRESS . SEss. I. Cn . 9. 1806. CHAP. IX.-Aft dct to suspend the commercial intercourse between the United States, and certain parts of the island of St. Domingo. (a) Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all commercial inter- course between any person or persons resident within the United States, and any person or persons resident within any part of the island of St . Domingo, not in possession, and under the acknowledged government of France, shall be, and is hereby prohibited ; and any ship or vessel, owned, hired or employed, wholly or in part, by any person or persons resident within the United States, and sailing from any port of the United States, after due notice of this act at the custom-houses, respectively, whi h contrary to the intent hereof, shall be voluntarily carried ; or shall be destined to proceed, whether directly, or from any intermediate port or place, to any port or place within the island of St . Domingo, and not in possession, and under the acknowledged government of France ; and also any cargo which shall be found on board of such ship or vessel, when detected and interrupted in such unlawful purpose, or at her return from such voyage, to the United States, shall be wholly forfeited, and may be seized and condemned in any court of the United States having competent jurisdiction .
Congress of the United States, An Act to authorize the President of the United States... (1862)whole document
Cser. XC VI. - An Act to authorize the President of the United States to appoist June 5,18x2. Diplomatic Representatires to the Republics of Hayti and Liberia, respectively . Be it enacted by the Senate and Rouse of Representatives of the United Slates of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the United Diplomatic States be, and he hereby is authorized, by and with the advice and con- representatives to halts and sent of the Senate, to appoint diplomatic representatives of the United Liberia. States to the Republics of Hayti and Liberia, respectively . Each of the hu said representatives so appointed shall be accredited as commissioner and consul-general, and shall receive the compensation of commissioners Rank and pay. according to the act of Congress approved August eighteen, eighteen 18N ch.127. ndred and fifty-six : Provided, That the annual compensation of the Vol . x f- 52- representative at Liberia shall not exceed four thousand dollars . APPROVED, June 5, 1862
The ordinance of 1825 fixed the indemnity at cent cinquante millions de francs or, imposed in form though accepted in principle by Boyer; two treaties of 1838 separated recognition from the debt; and the sum paid, and later the loans, belong to their historical frames rather than to a claim of slavery's debts.
Omits
The Haitian legislature's own acts of 1826, which declared the sum a national debt and voted the contribution, and which neither abstract mentions.
Tested against the primary record
SupportedThe ordinance of 17 April 1825 fixed 150,000,000 francs in five equal annual terms, halved the duties for French ships, and conceded independence on those conditions.
Rests on documents from: France, in the ordonnance of 1825 and the treaties of 1838; Chamber of Representatives of the communes, Republic of Haiti.
The ordinance's article 2 sets the payment in five equal annual terms and its article 1 halves the duties for the French flag; the Haitian law of 26 February 1826 and the Chamber's address of 10 May 1826 state the sum as 150,000,000 francs. Two producers, the French crown and the Haitian legislature. The 1838 treaties are a gap, and the reduced balance is not stated here.
The 3 extracts it rests on
Charles X, King of France, Charles, par la grâce de Dieu, Roi de France et de Navarre (1825)pp. 258 to 259Exhibit 7
« Charles, par la gráce de Dieu, Roi de France et de Navarre, á tous » présents et á venir, Salut. » Vu les arl. 44 en3 de la Charle : » Voulant pourvoir á ce que réclamenl l'intérét du commerce franjáis. » les malheurs des ancienr, colons de Saint-Domingue, et l'étal précaire des )» habitants actuéis de cette le ; donné officiellement toutes les explicalions que je désirais pour la garantie nationale ("), j'ai accepté ladite ordonnance. M. le barón » Nous avons ordonné et ordonnons ce qui suit : » Art. 1". Les ports de la parlie francaisa de Saint-Doraingue seront » ouverts au comtnerce de loutes les nations. » Les droits percus dans ees ports, soit sur les navires, soit sur les mar- » chandises, lant á l'eatrée qu'á la sortie, seroai égaux et uniformes pour » lous les pavillous, excepté le pavilloa francais, en faveur duquel ees droils » seront réduits de moitié. » Art. 2. Les habitants actuéis de la partie francaise de Saint-Domin- » gue verseront á la caisse genérale des dépóts et consignations de France, » en cinq termes égaux, d'année en année, le premier échéant au 31 dé- » cembre 4 825, la somme de 450 millions de fraocs, destinée á dédom- » mager les anciens colons qui réclanieront une indemnité, » Art. 3. Nous concédons, á ees condilions, par la présente ordonnance, » aux habitants actuéis de la partie francaise de Saint-Domingue, l'indé- » pendance pleine et entiére de leur gouvernémenl. » Et sera la présente ordonnance scellée du grand sceau. » Donné á Paris, au cháteau des Tuileries, le 47 avril de l'an de gráce » 1825, et de notre régne le premier. » Signé : Charles .
Chamber of Representatives of the communes, Republic of Haiti, Loi qui déclare dette nationale l'indemnité de... (1826)p. 353
N° \ 003. — Loiqui declare del te nationale, Vindemnité de \ 50,000,000 de francs accordée á la Franco, pour la reconnaissance de Vindépendance d'Ha'iti (1 ) , Port-au-Priiice, le 26 février 1826. La Chambre des Représentants des communes, Considérant qu'il a été consentí, en faveur de la France, une indemnité de 150,000j000 de francs pour la reconnaissance, par ce gouvernement, de rindépendance pleine et entiére de la République d'Haíti, el qu'il est de Thonneur national d'assurer Texécution d'un engagement qui, sans porter alteinte á la dignilé du peuple haitien, consacre á jamáis son existence politiquea
Chamber of Representatives of the communes, Republic of Haiti, Adresse de la Chambre des Représentants des communes aux... (1826)pp. 456 to 457
N° 1034. — Adresse de la Chambre des Représentanls des communes, aux Baitiens, á la clóture de ses travaux. Port-au-Prince, le 10 mai 1826. La législature, aprés avoir rendu une loi qui reconnait dette nationale l'indemnié de 150,000,000 de francs consentie envers la France, devait pourvoir aux moyens d'éteindre cet engagement sacre. Une contribution extraordinaire, répartie de la maniere la plus équitable et la plus réguliére sur la généralité des citoyens, a paru le mode le plus convenable a employer. Une loi qui établit une contribution extraoidinaire de 30 millions de gourdes payable en dix anuées a done été rendue par la Chambre.
Lacroix's memoir is where the words on the Héros stand, and it is a French general's memoir published under the Restoration. (the reading of this thesis)It has Toussaint say to the commander of the ship that in overthrowing him they had cut down at Saint-Domingue only the trunk of the tree of the liberty of the blacks, and that “il repoussera par les racines, parce qu'elles sont profondes et nombreuses”; the same page says he died at the fort de Joux, cramped by cold and gnawed by regret, “après dix mois de captivité”.123Saint-Rémy, editing the memoir, quotes Lacroix for the words and names him as the source.124Dalmas, on the ceremony, writes that the religious ceremonies the negroes practised in slaughtering the pig, the avidity with which they drank its blood and the price they set on its hairs as a talisman “servent à caractériser l'Africain”, and that a caste so ignorant and brutalised naturally preluded the most appalling attacks with the rites of an absurd and bloody religion.125Edwards's computation of the white persons massacred within two months of the revolt, of the plantations and settlements destroyed and of the insurgents who perished by the sword or by famine is set in the disagreements below; his footnote says two of them were broken on the wheel under his own window at Cape François on 28 September 1791.126Yakubu and Opondo, of the University of Lagos and Moi University at Eldoret by the article's own footnotes, hold that the abolition of slavery in the nineteenth century had its roots in slave revolts, in Berbice in 1773 and in Saint-Domingue between 1791 and 1804, and that the successful Haitian insurgency served as an impetus for the freedom of black slaves across the globe.127128Mezilas, secretary of Haiti's embassy in Mexico by the article's byline and writing in Spanish, reads the revolution of 1804 by its political repercussions on Latin America and by the help Haiti's leaders gave the Spanish American revolutionaries.129Schneider's colonel Vincent, who carried the constitution of 1801 to the First Consul, tried in vain to dissuade him from sending the expedition and was hostile both to independence and to the return of slavery.130Lentz reads the Consulate's colonial choices as disastrous: the expedition against Toussaint Louverture's autonomist plans, the decision to re-establish slavery that brought repression and massacres in Guadeloupe and then the irreversible break with Saint-Domingue, proclaimed independent on the first of January 1804.131
Notes 123 to 131
123Pamphile de Lacroix, lieutenant-general, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de la révolution de... (1819)pp. 203 to 204
124Joseph Saint-Rémy (ed.), Editor's notes to the Mémoires du général... (1853)p. 83
125Antoine Dalmas, Histoire de la révolution de Saint-Domingue, tome I (1814)pp. 117 to 118
126Bryan Edwards, An historical survey of the French colony in the island... (1797)pp. 75 to 76
127Moses Joseph Yakubu and Paul Abiero Opondo, The Haitian Revolution, 1791-1804 (2025)p. 166
128Moses Joseph Yakubu and Paul Abiero Opondo, The Haitian Revolution, 1791-1804 (2025)p. 165
129Glodel Mezilas, La revolución haitiana de 1804 y sus impactos políticos... (2009)p. 31
130Christian Schneider, Le colonel Vincent, officier du Génie à Saint-Domingue (2002)abstract
131Thierry Lentz, Bonaparte, Haïti et l'échec colonial du régime consulaire (2003)abstract
Where the record disagrees
What happened before the rising of August 1791, where, and on what night
The plan was fixed among the chiefs at Le Normand, at Morne Rouge, some days before; before carrying it out they held a feast or sacrifice in a wooded, uncultivated ground of the Choiseul plantation called the Caïman, where a black pig was the offering and its blood was drunk. The footnote dates the meeting, not the sacrifice.
132Antoine Dalmas, Histoire de la révolution de Saint-Domingue, tome I (1814), pp. 117 to 118
In the night of 14 August 1791, which the layer prints as 44 Août 1794, 200 delegates of the workshops of the North read a supposed decree of the king granting three days of liberty a week and decided the insurrection would be general on the 22nd; no sacrifice is told.
133Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome I (1847), § lenormand
The insurrection began in the night of the 22nd, the slaves of Turpin and Flaville fetching those of Clément at ten in the evening; the workshops chose Boukmans and Auguste as chiefs; by the morning of the 23rd, 37 proprietors, attorneys and refiners were counted killed; no ceremony is reported.
134Jean-Philippe Garran de Coulon, for the Commission des colonies of the Convention nationale, Rapport sur les troubles de Saint-Domingue, tome I (1797), pp. 212 to 213
On what day Toussaint Louverture died at the fort de Joux
Towards the middle of April the governor left for four days, and when he returned Toussaint had ceased to live; Madiou gives no day, and writes: Le gouverneur l'avait laissé mourir de faim pendant ses quatre jours d'absence.
135Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome II (1847), pp. 213 to 214
Within two months of the revolt, upwards of two thousand white persons massacred, one hundred and eighty sugar plantations and about nine hundred coffee, cotton and indigo settlements destroyed, twelve hundred families reduced to charity; of the insurgents, upwards of ten thousand perished by the sword or by famine, and some hundreds by the executioner.
139Bryan Edwards, An historical survey of the French colony in the island... (1797), pp. 75 to 76
By the morning of the 23rd, 37 proprietors, attorneys and refiners counted assassinated; a few days later eight neighbouring parishes.
140Jean-Philippe Garran de Coulon, for the Commission des colonies of the Convention nationale, Rapport sur les troubles de Saint-Domingue, tome I (1797), pp. 212 to 213
The legislature declared the indemnity of 150,000,000 francs consented to France a national debt and voted an extraordinary contribution of 30 millions de gourdes payable in ten years.
142Chamber of Representatives of the communes, Republic of Haiti, Adresse de la Chambre des Représentants des communes aux... (1826), pp. 456 to 457
Fixed unilaterally at cent cinquante millions de francs or, an act of authority in form though Boyer had accepted the principle; reconsidered by Louis-Philippe's government in 1838 by a double treaty that separated recognition from the debt.
143Itazienne Eugène, La normalisation des relations franco-haïtiennes (1825-1838) (2003), abstract
Five equal annual terms paid to the Caisse des dépôts et consignations, to compensate the former colonists who would claim an indemnity, and the French flag's duties halved.
144Charles X, King of France, Charles, par la grâce de Dieu, Roi de France et de Navarre (1825), pp. 258 to 259
The abstract separates that indemnity from the loans Haiti later placed on the Paris market to balance its finances.
146François Blancpain, Note sur les « dettes » de l'esclavage (2003), abstract
What the record omits
Statements about this ledger, not about the world. Each is attached to the position it cuts against.
No source in this record is a testimony by one of the enslaved of 1791 in his or her own words; the rising is known here through a colonist, a commission of the Convention and a Haitian historian, and the one voice of a formerly enslaved man in his own words is a general's, written in a French prison and held in an 1853 print.cuts against The Haitian national account
No source in this record is a letter of Leclerc; the French side of 1802 is known here through Bonaparte's correspondence and a general's memoir, and the expedition commander's own reports of the epidemic and the killings are a gap.cuts against The French imperial account
No source in this record dates the sacrifice at the Caïman wood; the one account that tells it dates the meeting that preceded it and not the sacrifice, and the prayer the event record attributes to that night is in no page held here.cuts against The colonists' and claimants' account
No source in this record is a woman's account, enslaved or free; the women appear as an arrested wife, as the naturalised white women of an article of the constitution of 1805, and as counted victims.cuts against The Haitian national account
No source in this record is the treaty of 1838 or a Haitian treasury account of what was paid and when; the payments after 1826 are known here only through two French abstracts.cuts against The accountants of the indemnity
No source in this record is by a scholar of the Atlantic school reading the revolution from below; the standard monographs sit in lending collections this container cannot open, and the one Haitian scholar the event record leans on most is absent for the same reason.cuts against The anglophone and Atlantic account
No source in this record is the Convention's decree of 1794; the metropolitan abolition is known here through the commissioner's proclamation it ratified and through what Bonaparte's own documents say of it.cuts against The French republican account and its scholarship
Notes
1Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioner of the Republic, Proclamation. Au nom de la République. Nous... (1793)art. 2
2Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioner of the Republic, Proclamation. Au nom de la République. Nous... (1793)§ preamble
3Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioner of the Republic, Proclamation. Au nom de la République. Nous... (1793)§ sign
4Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5863Exhibit 3
5Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
6Thierry Lentz, Bonaparte, Haïti et l'échec colonial du régime consulaire (2003)abstract
7Itazienne Eugène, La normalisation des relations franco-haïtiennes (1825-1838) (2003)abstract
8Charles X, King of France, Charles, par la grâce de Dieu, Roi de France et de Navarre (1825)pp. 258 to 259Exhibit 7
9Chamber of Representatives of the communes, Republic of Haiti, Adresse de la Chambre des Représentants des communes aux... (1826)pp. 456 to 457
10Toussaint Louverture, Mémoires du général Toussaint-L'Ouverture écrits par... (1802)p. 83Exhibit 4
11Jean-Philippe Garran de Coulon, for the Commission des colonies of the Convention nationale, Rapport sur les troubles de Saint-Domingue, tome I (1797)pp. 212 to 213
12Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome I (1847)§ lenormand
13Antoine Dalmas, Histoire de la révolution de Saint-Domingue, tome I (1814)pp. 117 to 118
14Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioner of the Republic, Proclamation. Au nom de la République. Nous... (1793)art. 2
15Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioner of the Republic, Proclamation. Au nom de la République. Nous... (1793)art. 9
16Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioner of the Republic, Proclamation. Au nom de la République. Nous... (1793)art. 12
17Étienne Polverel and Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioners of the Republic, Proclamation nous, Étienne Polverel et Léger-Félicité... (1793)§ 1
18Étienne Polverel and Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioners of the Republic, Proclamation nous, Étienne Polverel et Léger Félicité... (1793)§ 1Exhibit 1
19Toussaint Louverture, general in chief of the army of Saint-Domingue, Proclamation, Toussaint Louverture, général en chef de... (1797)§ 3
20Toussaint Louverture, general in chief of the army of Saint-Domingue, Proclamation, Toussaint Louverture, général en chef de... (1797)§ sign
21Toussaint Louverture and the central assembly of Saint-Domingue, Constitution française des colonies de Saint-Domingue,... (1801)art. 3Exhibit 2
22Toussaint Louverture and the central assembly of Saint-Domingue, Constitution française des colonies de Saint-Domingue,... (1801)art. 28
23Christian Schneider, Le colonel Vincent, officier du Génie à Saint-Domingue (2002)abstract
24Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5859
25Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5863Exhibit 3
26Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5874
27The Corps législatif of the French Republic, promulgated by Bonaparte, First Consul, Loi relative à la traite des noirs et au régime des... (1802)whole document
28Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioner of the Republic, Proclamation. Au nom de la République. Nous... (1793)art. 2
29Toussaint Louverture and the central assembly of Saint-Domingue, Constitution française des colonies de Saint-Domingue,... (1801)art. 3Exhibit 2
30Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5859
31Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5874
32The Corps législatif of the French Republic, promulgated by Bonaparte, First Consul, Loi relative à la traite des noirs et au régime des... (1802)whole document
33Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 471
34Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5845
35Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5859
36Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5867
37Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5845
38Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5845
39Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5845
40Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5845
41Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5845
42Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5845
43Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de... (1858)item 5845
44Toussaint Louverture, Mémoires du général Toussaint-L'Ouverture écrits par... (1802)p. 83Exhibit 4
45Toussaint Louverture, Mémoires du général Toussaint-L'Ouverture écrits par... (1802)p. 101
46Bernard Gainot and Mayeul Macé, Fin de campagne à Saint-Domingue, novembre 1802-novembre... (2003)abstract
47Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 85
48Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 115
49Thierry Lentz, Bonaparte, Haïti et l'échec colonial du régime consulaire (2003)abstract
50Laurent Dubois and John D. Garrigus (trans.), The Haitian Declaration of Independence, 1804 (translation) (2006)§ 0
51Laurent Dubois and John D. Garrigus (trans.), The Haitian Declaration of Independence, 1804 (translation) (2006)§ 11
52Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
53Laurent Dubois and John D. Garrigus (trans.), The Haitian Declaration of Independence, 1804 (translation) (2006)§ 21
54Laurent Dubois and John D. Garrigus (trans.), The Haitian Declaration of Independence, 1804 (translation) (2006)§ 25
55Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
56Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
57Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
58Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
59Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
60Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
61Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
62Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
63Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
64Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
65Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
66Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
67Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
68Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
69Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
70Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
71Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
72Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
73Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
74Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
75Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
76Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
77Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
78Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
79Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
80Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
81Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
82Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
83Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
84Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
85Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
86Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
87Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
88Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
89Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
90Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
91Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
92Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 118
93Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 118
94Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 118
95Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 118
96Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 118
97Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 118
98Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 118
99Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 118
100Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 118
101Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 117Exhibit 5
102Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 118
103Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 118
104Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 118
105Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 118
106Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 118
107Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 118
108Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 118
109Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 118
110David Geggus, The naming of Haiti (1997)abstract
111Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 141
112Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 142
113Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 471
114Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 472
115Congress of the United States, An Act to suspend the commercial intercourse between the... (1806)§ 1Exhibit 6
116Congress of the United States, An Act to authorize the President of the United States... (1862)whole document
117Charles X, King of France, Charles, par la grâce de Dieu, Roi de France et de Navarre (1825)pp. 258 to 259Exhibit 7
118Itazienne Eugène, La normalisation des relations franco-haïtiennes (1825-1838) (2003)abstract
119Chamber of Representatives of the communes, Republic of Haiti, Loi qui déclare dette nationale l'indemnité de... (1826)p. 353
120Chamber of Representatives of the communes, Republic of Haiti, Adresse de la Chambre des Représentants des communes aux... (1826)pp. 456 to 457
121François, marquis de Barbé-Marbois, in the Chambre des Pairs, Opinion sur le projet de loi relatif à la répartition de... (1826)pp. 1 to 2
122François Blancpain, Note sur les « dettes » de l'esclavage (2003)abstract
123Pamphile de Lacroix, lieutenant-general, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de la révolution de... (1819)pp. 203 to 204
124Joseph Saint-Rémy (ed.), Editor's notes to the Mémoires du général... (1853)p. 83
125Antoine Dalmas, Histoire de la révolution de Saint-Domingue, tome I (1814)pp. 117 to 118
126Bryan Edwards, An historical survey of the French colony in the island... (1797)pp. 75 to 76
127Moses Joseph Yakubu and Paul Abiero Opondo, The Haitian Revolution, 1791-1804 (2025)p. 166
128Moses Joseph Yakubu and Paul Abiero Opondo, The Haitian Revolution, 1791-1804 (2025)p. 165
129Glodel Mezilas, La revolución haitiana de 1804 y sus impactos políticos... (2009)p. 31
130Christian Schneider, Le colonel Vincent, officier du Génie à Saint-Domingue (2002)abstract
131Thierry Lentz, Bonaparte, Haïti et l'échec colonial du régime consulaire (2003)abstract
132Antoine Dalmas, Histoire de la révolution de Saint-Domingue, tome I (1814)pp. 117 to 118
133Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome I (1847)§ lenormand
134Jean-Philippe Garran de Coulon, for the Commission des colonies of the Convention nationale, Rapport sur les troubles de Saint-Domingue, tome I (1797)pp. 212 to 213
135Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome II (1847)pp. 213 to 214
136Joseph Saint-Rémy (ed.), Editor's notes to the Mémoires du général... (1853)p. 101
138Pamphile de Lacroix, lieutenant-general, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de la révolution de... (1819)pp. 203 to 204
139Bryan Edwards, An historical survey of the French colony in the island... (1797)pp. 75 to 76
140Jean-Philippe Garran de Coulon, for the Commission des colonies of the Convention nationale, Rapport sur les troubles de Saint-Domingue, tome I (1797)pp. 212 to 213
141Thomas Madiou, Histoire d'Haïti, tome III (1848)p. 141
142Chamber of Representatives of the communes, Republic of Haiti, Adresse de la Chambre des Représentants des communes aux... (1826)pp. 456 to 457
143Itazienne Eugène, La normalisation des relations franco-haïtiennes (1825-1838) (2003)abstract
144Charles X, King of France, Charles, par la grâce de Dieu, Roi de France et de Navarre (1825)pp. 258 to 259Exhibit 7
145François Blancpain, Note sur les « dettes » de l'esclavage (2003)§ title
146François Blancpain, Note sur les « dettes » de l'esclavage (2003)abstract
Sources
Only entries verified to exist as named are printed. An entry with a free copy links to it; an entry read at that copy is marked as held.
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A Primary record
Bryan Edwards. An historical survey of the French colony in the island of St. Domingo. read from the Internet Archive scan. London, John Stockdale. 1797.Held as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Chamber of Representatives of the communes, Republic of Haiti. Loi qui déclare dette nationale l'indemnité de 150,000,000 francs accordée à la France, 26 February 1826. in Recueil général des lois et actes du gouvernement d'Haïti, tome IV, No. 1003. vol. IV. the Recueil of 1851, read from the Internet Archive scan. Paris, Auguste Durand. 1826. Recueil, No. 1003, page 353.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Chamber of Representatives of the communes, Republic of Haiti. Adresse de la Chambre des Représentants des communes aux Haïtiens, à la clôture de ses travaux, 10 May 1826. in Recueil général des lois et actes du gouvernement d'Haïti, tome IV, No. 1034. vol. IV. the Recueil of 1851, read from the Internet Archive scan. Paris, Auguste Durand. 1826. Recueil, No. 1034, pages 456 to 457.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Charles X, King of France. Charles, par la grâce de Dieu, Roi de France et de Navarre: the ordonnance of 17 April 1825 conceding the independence of the French part of Saint-Domingue against an indemnity. in Recueil général des lois et actes du gouvernement d'Haïti, tome IV, No. 962 (the President's message of 10 July 1825, which prints the ordinance in a footnote). vol. IV. as the Haitian Recueil of 1851 reprints it, read from the Internet Archive scan; the Bulletin des lois printing on Gallica could not be read from this container. Paris, Auguste Durand. 1825. Recueil, No. 962, pages 258 to 259.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Congress of the United States. An Act to suspend the commercial intercourse between the United States, and certain parts of the island of St. Domingo, 28 February 1806. in The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, vol. 2. vol. 2. 2 Stat. 351, chapter 9, read from the Statutes at Large page image's text layer served by GovTrack. Boston, Little, Brown. 1806. 2 Stat. 351, ch. 9.Held as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Congress of the United States. An Act to authorize the President of the United States to appoint Diplomatic Representatives to the Republics of Hayti and Liberia, respectively, 5 June 1862. in The Statutes at Large of the United States of America, vol. 12. vol. 12. 12 Stat. 421, chapter 96, read from the Statutes at Large page image's text layer served by GovTrack. Boston, Little, Brown. 1862. 12 Stat. 421, ch. 96.Held as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
François, marquis de Barbé-Marbois, in the Chambre des Pairs. Opinion sur le projet de loi relatif à la répartition de l'indemnité stipulée en faveur des colons de Saint-Domingue, séance du 19 avril 1826. the John Carter Brown Library's copy, read from the Internet Archive scan. Paris. 1826.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Jean-Philippe Garran de Coulon, for the Commission des colonies of the Convention nationale. Rapport sur les troubles de Saint-Domingue, tome I. vol. I. the John Carter Brown Library's copy, read from the Internet Archive scan. Paris, Imprimerie nationale. 1797.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioner of the Republic. Proclamation. Au nom de la République. Nous Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, commissaire civil de la République: the general emancipation of the North province, 29 August 1793. the John Carter Brown Library's copy, read from the Internet Archive scan. Cap-Français, Imprimerie de P. Catineau, Cap-Français. 1793.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul. Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, publiée par ordre de l'empereur Napoléon III, tome VII (an IX to an X). vol. VII. read from the Internet Archive scan. Paris, Imprimerie impériale. 1858. cited by item number: 5845 (to Talleyrand, 30 October 1801), 5859 (proclamation, 8 November 1801), 5863 (to Talleyrand, 13 November 1801), 5867 (to Toussaint Louverture, 18 November 1801), 5874 (Exposé de la situation de la République, 22 November 1801).In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
The Corps législatif of the French Republic, promulgated by Bonaparte, First Consul. Loi relative à la traite des noirs et au régime des colonies, 30 floréal an X (20 May 1802). read from the Internet Archive scan. Paris, Imprimerie de la République. 1802.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Toussaint Louverture. Mémoires du général Toussaint-L'Ouverture écrits par lui-même (the memoir written at the fort de Joux, 1802). in Mémoires du général Toussaint-L'Ouverture écrits par lui-même, pouvant servir à l'histoire de sa vie, ed. Saint-Rémy. Saint-Rémy's edition of 1853, read from the Internet Archive scan; the memoir's own pages are cited, the editor's notes under src-saint-remy-1853. Paris, Pagnerre. 1802.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Toussaint Louverture and the central assembly of Saint-Domingue. Constitution française des colonies de Saint-Domingue, en soixante-dix-sept articles (the constitution of 1801). the John Carter Brown Library's copy, read from the Internet Archive scan. 1801.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Toussaint Louverture, general in chief of the army of Saint-Domingue. Proclamation, Toussaint Louverture, général en chef de l'armée de Saint-Domingue, à ses concitoyens: 12 fructidor an V (29 August 1797). the John Carter Brown Library's copy, read from the Internet Archive scan. Cap-Français, P. Roux, printer to the Commission, Cap-Français. 1797.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Étienne Polverel and Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioners of the Republic. Proclamation nous, Étienne Polverel et Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, commissaires civils de la République: Haut-du-Cap, 2 July 1793 (French text). the John Carter Brown Library's copy, read from the Internet Archive scan. Cap-Français. 1793.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Étienne Polverel and Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, civil commissioners of the Republic. Proclamation nous, Étienne Polverel et Léger Félicité Sonthonax, commissaires civils, que nation française voyé dans pays-ci: Haut-du-Cap, 2 July 1793 (Creole text). the John Carter Brown Library's copy, read from the Internet Archive scan; the library's record calls it an exceedingly rare translation, printed mostly in Creole, of the French proclamation of the same date. Cap-Français. 1793.In HTHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
B Peer-reviewed scholarship
Benoît Joachim. La reconnaissance d'Haïti par la France (1825) : naissance d'un nouveau type de rapports internationaux. in Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine. vol. 22. vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 369-396, on Persée. Paris, Société d'histoire moderne et contemporaine. 1975.In FRVerified 2026-09-25
Bernard Gainot and Mayeul Macé. Fin de campagne à Saint-Domingue, novembre 1802-novembre 1803. in Outre-Mers. Revue d'histoire. vol. 90. vol. 90, no. 340-341, pp. 15-40, on Persée. Paris, Société française d'histoire d'outre-mer. 2003.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Christian Schneider. Le colonel Vincent, officier du Génie à Saint-Domingue. in Annales historiques de la Révolution française. vol. 329. no. 329, pp. 101-122, on Persée. Paris, Armand Colin. 2002.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
David Geggus. The naming of Haiti. in New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids. vol. 71. vol. 71, no. 1-2, pp. 43-68, open access on Brill. Leiden, Brill. 1997.Held as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
David Nicholls. Race, couleur et indépendance en Haïti (1804-1825). in Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine. vol. 25. vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 177-212, on Persée. Paris, Société d'histoire moderne et contemporaine. 1978.In FRVerified 2026-09-25
François Blancpain. Note sur les « dettes » de l'esclavage : le cas de l'indemnité payée par Haïti (1825-1883). in Outre-Mers. Revue d'histoire. vol. 90. vol. 90, no. 340-341, pp. 241-245, on Persée. Paris, Société française d'histoire d'outre-mer. 2003.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Glodel Mezilas. La revolución haitiana de 1804 y sus impactos políticos sobre América Latina. in Estudios de Filosofía Práctica e Historia de las Ideas. vol. 11. vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 31-42, on SciELO Argentina. Mendoza, INCIHUSA, CONICET. 2009.In ESHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Itazienne Eugène. La normalisation des relations franco-haïtiennes (1825-1838). in Outre-Mers. Revue d'histoire. vol. 90. vol. 90, no. 340-341, pp. 139-154, on Persée. Paris, Société française d'histoire d'outre-mer. 2003.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
John Relly Beard. Toussaint L'Ouverture: a biography and autobiography. read from the Internet Archive scan. Boston, James Redpath. 1863.Held as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Joseph Saint-Rémy (ed.). Editor's notes to the Mémoires du général Toussaint-L'Ouverture écrits par lui-même. in Mémoires du général Toussaint-L'Ouverture écrits par lui-même, pouvant servir à l'histoire de sa vie. read from the Internet Archive scan. Paris, Pagnerre. 1853.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Laurent Dubois and John D. Garrigus (trans.). The Haitian Declaration of Independence, 1804 (translation). in Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, 1789-1804: A Brief History with Documents, as reproduced on Duke University's Rediscovering Haiti's Declaration of Independence pages. the translation as Duke University's page prints it. Boston, Bedford/St. Martin's. 2006.Held as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Léon-François Hoffmann. Histoire, mythe et idéologie : la cérémonie du Bois-Caïman. in Études créoles. vol. 13. vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 9-34, on Persée. Montréal, Comité international des études créoles. 1990.In FRVerified 2026-09-25
Marcel Dorigny. De Saint-Domingue à Haïti : une nation issue de l'esclavage. in Outre-Mers. Revue d'histoire. vol. 90. vol. 90, no. 340-341, pp. 5-13, on Persée. Paris, Société française d'histoire d'outre-mer. 2003.In FRVerified 2026-09-25
Moses Joseph Yakubu and Paul Abiero Opondo. The Haitian Revolution, 1791-1804: Slave Insurgency as a Background to the Abolition of Slavery. in Journal of Central and Eastern European African Studies. vol. 5. vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 165-178, open access. Budapest, Óbuda University. 2025.Held as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Pierre Pluchon. Toussaint Louverture défie Bonaparte. L'adresse inédite du 20 décembre 1801. in Revue française d'histoire d'outre-mer. vol. 79. vol. 79, no. 296, pp. 383-389, on Persée. Paris, Société française d'histoire d'outre-mer. 1992.In FRVerified 2026-09-25
Thierry Lentz. Bonaparte, Haïti et l'échec colonial du régime consulaire. in Outre-Mers. Revue d'histoire. vol. 90. vol. 90, no. 340-341, pp. 41-60, on Persée. Paris, Société française d'histoire d'outre-mer. 2003.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Thomas Madiou. Histoire d'Haïti, tome I. vol. I. read from the Internet Archive scan. Port-au-Prince, Imprimerie de Joseph Courtois. 1847.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Thomas Madiou. Histoire d'Haïti, tome II. vol. II. read from the Internet Archive scan. Port-au-Prince, Imprimerie de Joseph Courtois. 1847.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Thomas Madiou. Histoire d'Haïti, tome III. vol. III. read from the Internet Archive scan. Port-au-Prince, Imprimerie de Joseph Courtois. 1848.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
D Positional
Antoine Dalmas. Histoire de la révolution de Saint-Domingue, tome I. vol. I. read from the Internet Archive scan of the John Carter Brown Library's copy. Paris, Mame frères. 1814.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
Pamphile de Lacroix, lieutenant-general. Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de la révolution de Saint-Domingue, tome II. vol. II. read from the Internet Archive scan. Paris, Pillet aîné. 1819.In FRHeld as extractsVerified 2026-09-25
The event
Key figures
Toussaint LouvertureFormerly enslaved military leader; governed Saint-Domingue 1797-1802; died in French captivity, April 7, 18031743 to 1803
Jean-Jacques DessalinesToussaint's successor; won the Battle of Vertieres; declared independence January 1, 1804; assassinated October 17, 18061758 to 1806
Boukman DuttyVodou priest who led the Bois Caiman ceremony, August 14, 1791; killed in battle November 1791? to 1791
Marie-Jeanne LamartiniereWoman combatant who fought at the Battle of Crete-a-Pierrot, March 1802, firing from the ramparts alongside male soldiers1750 to ?
Napoleon BonaparteFrench First Consul; sent 20,000 troops under Leclerc to restore slavery in Saint-Domingue, 18021769 to 1821
Alexandre PetionLeader of the southern republic after independence; gave Bolivar refuge, soldiers, and weapons in 1816 in exchange for a promise to abolish slavery1770 to 1818