Collection Overview

Related Material

Scope and Content

Collection consists largely of letters written by Haitian officials, including Toussaint L'Ouverture, Hippolyte Daniel de St. Antoine, and E. Coquierre. There are two prints: one of Pierre François Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture and one of Jean Jacques Dessalines (?). There is also a printed map of Australasia and Polynesia, and newspaper and journal articles.

Organization

1. Correspondence
2. Prints
3. Printed material

Arrangement

Collection is arranged chronologically within in each series.

Country Sketch

A key figure in the insurrections of the 1790s was Pierre François Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture, three of whose letters exist in the collection. Toussaint was a former slave and proved an effective leader. He joined the French forces in Hispaniola and eventually became their commanding general. In 1801 he completed the conquest of Santo Domingo and proceeded to abolish slavery and declare himself governor general for life.

Unfortunately for Toussaint, the French had by this time made peace with Britain and the United States and Napoleon Bonaparte sent General Charles Leclerq in 1802 to restore French sovereignty. Leclerq captured Toussaint, and he died in a French prison in 1803. In the meantime, Toussaint's leading generals, Henri Christophe and Jean Jacques Dessalines, had joined Leclerq's forces.

When it became clear that Napoleon intended to restore slavery in the colony, the top black officers defected and joined the insurrectionists. Concerned that Napoleon might use St.-Domingue as a point from which to occupy Louisiana, Thomas Jefferson supplied arms, munitions, and supplies to the insurrectionists. When Britain went to war again with France in 1802, the British Navy prevented Napoleon from sending reinforcements to Leclerq's army; in November 1803, the French surrendered, and in January 1804 Dessalines declared an independent 'Haiti'.

The years following independence, however, were far from calm. The first two decades were characterized by political strife, and there were continuous economic troubles. The United States, Britain, and France made the situation worse by exploiting the country politically and economically. Abraham Lincoln's recognition of Haitian independence in 1862 did do something to bolster Haitian confidence, but this little to solve the dire economic problems. The pattern of power struggles, foreign exploitation, and economic distress would continue well beyond the last date included in this collection: 1888.