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Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution
The first and only successful slave revolution in the Americas began in 1791 when thousands of brutally exploited slaves rose up against their masters on Saint-Domingue, the most profitable colony in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world. Within a few years, the slave insurgents forced the French administrators of the colony to emancipate them, a decision ratified by revolutionary Paris in 1794. This victory was a stunning challenge to the order of master/slave relations throughout the Americas, including the southern United States, reinforcing the most fervent hopes of slaves and the worst fears of masters.
But, peace eluded Saint-Domingue as British and Spanish forces attacked the colony. A charismatic ex-slave named Toussaint Louverture came to France's aid, raising armies of others like himself and defeating the invaders. Ultimately Napoleon, fearing the enormous political power of Toussaint, sent a massive mission to crush him and subjugate the ex-slaves. After many battles, a decisive victory over the French secured the birth of Haiti and the permanent abolition of slavery from the land. The independence of Haiti reshaped the Atlantic world by leading to the French sale of Louisiana to the United States and the expansion of the Cuban sugar economy.
Laurent Dubois weaves the stories of slaves, free people of African descent, wealthy whites, and French administrators into an unforgettable tale of insurrection, war, heroism, and victory. He establishes the Haitian Revolution as a foundational moment in the history of democracy and human rights.
But, peace eluded Saint-Domingue as British and Spanish forces attacked the colony. A charismatic ex-slave named Toussaint Louverture came to France's aid, raising armies of others like himself and defeating the invaders. Ultimately Napoleon, fearing the enormous political power of Toussaint, sent a massive mission to crush him and subjugate the ex-slaves. After many battles, a decisive victory over the French secured the birth of Haiti and the permanent abolition of slavery from the land. The independence of Haiti reshaped the Atlantic world by leading to the French sale of Louisiana to the United States and the expansion of the Cuban sugar economy.
Laurent Dubois weaves the stories of slaves, free people of African descent, wealthy whites, and French administrators into an unforgettable tale of insurrection, war, heroism, and victory. He establishes the Haitian Revolution as a foundational moment in the history of democracy and human rights.
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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About the author
Laurent Dubois
119 books45 followersLaurent Dubois (PhD. University of Michigan) is associate professor of history at Michigan State University. His book A Colony of Citizens: Revolution and Slave Emancipation in the French Caribbean, 1787–1804 won the American Historical Association Prize in Atlantic History and the John Edwin Fagg Award. He is also the author of Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution, which was a Christian Science Monitor Noteworthy Book of 2004 and a Los Angeles Times Best Book of 2004, Les esclaves de la République: l'histoire oubliée de la première emancipation, 1787–1794, and Haiti: The Aftershocks of History.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/lauren...
http://us.macmillan.com/author/lauren...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews
June 1, 2025
Read for Haitian Heritage Month 🇭🇹.
An insightful history on slave revolt and Haiti Revolution formerly a French colony of Saint-Domingue. Haiti is the second independent country in the Americas led by Toussaint L'Ouverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines. Aug 21, 1791 – Jan 1, 1804.
An insightful history on slave revolt and Haiti Revolution formerly a French colony of Saint-Domingue. Haiti is the second independent country in the Americas led by Toussaint L'Ouverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines. Aug 21, 1791 – Jan 1, 1804.
April 30, 2014
The Haitian Revolution is extremely complex, and I have never fully understood it. Why was Toussaint Louverture fighting with the Spanish for a while before flipping back to the French? What were the British doing there? Where did Dessalines come from, and how did he get to be in charge? Why did Napoleon seem to back Toussaint, only to turn on him and send an army to reimpose slavery in St. Domingue? I had heard bits and pieces from around the edges, which basically always simplify it into a big slave revolution, led by Toussaint, that was successful even though Toussaint was kidnapped by the French and died.
After reading this, I finally feel as though I get it. I know the story. It IS a very complicated story, and Dubois doesn't get distracted here with a lot of complicated argument. He basically just tells the story as clearly as he can. What sets "Avengers of the New World" apart (besides the title, which is a really great title) is that he doesn't try to explain the revolution exclusively through conditions in St. Domingue, or through the French Revolution, but rather shows how the whole Atlantic world essentially drove this story. Without understanding the French and what they were doing, the Spanish and what they were doing, what the British were trying to do, what the Americans were trying to do, AND the very complex social situation on the island with enslaved people, free people of color, white creoles, and white people fresh from France and what they were ALL trying to do - without all that, you can't really understand all the twists and turns the conflict took. And it was very twisty and turny. And you can't understand how the enslaved people of St. Domingue pulled off the greatest slave revolution in the history of the world. Which is a really important and compelling story.
After reading this, I finally feel as though I get it. I know the story. It IS a very complicated story, and Dubois doesn't get distracted here with a lot of complicated argument. He basically just tells the story as clearly as he can. What sets "Avengers of the New World" apart (besides the title, which is a really great title) is that he doesn't try to explain the revolution exclusively through conditions in St. Domingue, or through the French Revolution, but rather shows how the whole Atlantic world essentially drove this story. Without understanding the French and what they were doing, the Spanish and what they were doing, what the British were trying to do, what the Americans were trying to do, AND the very complex social situation on the island with enslaved people, free people of color, white creoles, and white people fresh from France and what they were ALL trying to do - without all that, you can't really understand all the twists and turns the conflict took. And it was very twisty and turny. And you can't understand how the enslaved people of St. Domingue pulled off the greatest slave revolution in the history of the world. Which is a really important and compelling story.
October 19, 2017
A wonderfully-told history of a fascinating story. I especially enjoyed Dubois's chapter on the attempts, largely led by Toussaint L'Ouverture, to transition Saint-Domingue from a colony built on slavery to one built on a free labor. Lots of complexities and grey areas.
The Haitian Revolution covers so many key aspects of global history at this point in time. I feel like it ought to be more widely discussed and studied.
The Haitian Revolution covers so many key aspects of global history at this point in time. I feel like it ought to be more widely discussed and studied.
March 24, 2008
Choice quote from this fantastic book:
“The impact of the Haitian Revolution was enormous. As a unique example of successful black revolution, it became a crucial part of the political, philosophical, and cultural currenst of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. By creating a society in which all people, of all colors, were granted freedom and citizenship, the Haitian Revolution forever transformed the world. It was a central part of the destruction of slavery in the Americas, and therefore a crucial moment in the history of democracy, one that laid the foundation for the continuing struggles for human rights everywhere. In this sense we are all descendents of the Haitain Revolution, and responsible to these ancestors.”
“The impact of the Haitian Revolution was enormous. As a unique example of successful black revolution, it became a crucial part of the political, philosophical, and cultural currenst of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. By creating a society in which all people, of all colors, were granted freedom and citizenship, the Haitian Revolution forever transformed the world. It was a central part of the destruction of slavery in the Americas, and therefore a crucial moment in the history of democracy, one that laid the foundation for the continuing struggles for human rights everywhere. In this sense we are all descendents of the Haitain Revolution, and responsible to these ancestors.”
August 31, 2021
"Then, in 1791, the colony’s slaves began a massive uprising. It became the largest slave revolt in the history of the world, and the only one that succeeded. Within a few years these Caribbean revolutionaries gained liberty for all the slaves in the French empire. The man who came to lead Saint-Domingue in the wake of emancipation, Toussaint Louverture, had once warned the French that any attempt to bring slavery back to the colony was destined to fail. Although he did not live to see it, he was proven right. When freedom was threatened by Napoleon Bonaparte’s regime, the people of Saint-Domingue fought successfully to preserve it. Through years of struggle, brutal violence, and imperial war, slaves became citizens in the empire that had enslaved them, and then founders of a new nation. This book tells the story of their dramatic struggle for freedom..."
I didn't really like this one, unfortunately...
Author Laurent Dubois is the Marcello Lotti Professor of Romance Studies and History and founder of the Forum for Scholars & Publics at Duke University. His studies have focused on Haiti.
Laurent Dubois:
Dubois opens the book with a decent intro; where he lays out the scope of his writing and makes a few notes on terminology.
He writes of the declining Indigenous Taino population, at the hand of Spanish conquistadors here:
Haiti would eventually become the most prosperous colony in the new world, and the jewel of the French empire. At one time, it was providing some 40 percent to 50 percent of France’s gross national product, 60 percent of all Europe’s coffee and 40 percent of all Europe’s sugar.
Dubois notes that the slaves on the plantations there grew indigo, coffee, and sugar.
Unfortunately, despite fielding an interesting subject matter, much (maybe even most) of the writing here was flat and somewhat dry; a common problem that plagues many history books. I found my attention wandering numerous times while reading this one, and found it hard to keep focused on the bigger picture here...
This seemed to get worse as the book went on, and I was close to putting it down many times.
My reviews are always very heavily weighted to account for how engaging the writing is, and how effective the communication. Sadly, that will see this one being penalized fairly harshly.
Despite his best efforts, Dubois's writing tends to drone on in a monotonous fashion here more often than not...
**************************
2 stars, mainly for the dry telling.
I didn't really like this one, unfortunately...
Author Laurent Dubois is the Marcello Lotti Professor of Romance Studies and History and founder of the Forum for Scholars & Publics at Duke University. His studies have focused on Haiti.
Laurent Dubois:
Dubois opens the book with a decent intro; where he lays out the scope of his writing and makes a few notes on terminology.
He writes of the declining Indigenous Taino population, at the hand of Spanish conquistadors here:
"Overworked, attacked by diseases against which they had no immunity, executed as punishment for revolt, and often committing suicide to escape their brutal conditions, the indigenous population declined precipitously within the first few decades of Spanish colonization. By 1514, of a population estimated to have been between 500,000 and 750,000 in 1492, only 29,000 were left. By the mid-sixteenth century the indigenous population of the island had all but vanished..."
Haiti would eventually become the most prosperous colony in the new world, and the jewel of the French empire. At one time, it was providing some 40 percent to 50 percent of France’s gross national product, 60 percent of all Europe’s coffee and 40 percent of all Europe’s sugar.
Dubois notes that the slaves on the plantations there grew indigo, coffee, and sugar.
Unfortunately, despite fielding an interesting subject matter, much (maybe even most) of the writing here was flat and somewhat dry; a common problem that plagues many history books. I found my attention wandering numerous times while reading this one, and found it hard to keep focused on the bigger picture here...
This seemed to get worse as the book went on, and I was close to putting it down many times.
My reviews are always very heavily weighted to account for how engaging the writing is, and how effective the communication. Sadly, that will see this one being penalized fairly harshly.
Despite his best efforts, Dubois's writing tends to drone on in a monotonous fashion here more often than not...
**************************
2 stars, mainly for the dry telling.
April 20, 2023
I read this book as a class read for my college course, Blacks in the Caribbean. I learned so much from this book and how influential the Haitian Revolution was not just on Haitian History but American and European History as well. I loved how r this was written almost like a series of Journal entries that focused on different people who were involved in the revolution. This was the first nonfiction book I actually enjoyed!
October 18, 2017
For me, this book was a decent foray into the Haitian Revolution and its beginnings. I appreciated that it de-centered the role of Louverture and set the Revolution and subsequent emancipation within a larger historical context and framework. I was not a fan of the style of writing, however, and I'm not sure if it should be considered a definitive work.
December 27, 2010
Hispaniola was the first island in the New World discovered by Columbus; Spanish settlers soon slaughtered all the indigenous inhabitants, who called the island Ayiti, and imported Africans to be their slaves instead. After Louis XIV of France won a war with Spain and her allies, Spain ceded the western half of the island to France. In the 18th century the half-island became the most profitable colony in the New World, called Saint-Domingue, producing as much sugar as Cuba, Jamaica and Brazil combined, and half the world's coffee. Formerly a luxury enjoyed by the upper classes, sugar became a commodity consumed by average Europeans; it gave enough junk calories for the workers of the satanic mills of the Industrial Revolution, who did not have to grow their own food. Harsh as slavery was in the United States, that in Saint-Domingue was worse; in the United States, a population of 700 thousand slaves and 60 thousand free blacks in 1790 grew to 4 million slaves and 1/2 million free blacks in 1860; in Saint-Domingue, a million slaves imported during the 18th century resulted in a population of half-million slaves in 1791, and 30 thousand free blacks (there were also 30 thousand whites in the colony). A minor character of Voltaire's Candide is a slave whose hand was cut off when his fingers got caught in the millstones squeezing sap from stalks of sugar cane; many slaves were not so lucky, and simply died of septic shock. This means that most of the half-million slaves in Saint-Domingue were African-born; many were veterans of the civil wars of the Kingdom of Kongo who were captured, enslaved and sold to transatlantic slave traders. A slave rebellion was started in 1791 by a Voudou priest in a religious ceremony; this event was referred to by Pat Robertson this year, who said that the Haitians deserved the earthquake because they swore a pact with the Devil. The rebels soon controlled the northern third of the half-island. This forced the hand of the National Assembly in France, which first granted equal rights to the free blacks, and eventually abolished slavery. After Britain and Spain went to war with Republican France, they tried to annex the half-island; commanders of the slave rebellion agreed to fight for France if she abolished slavery. The most prominent of the commanders was François-Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture, a former slave who defeated the British and the Spanish; he abolished slavery but tried to keep the plantation economy running, manned by nominally free workers. After Napoleon put an end to the French Revolution, he appointed proponents of slavery to the Department of Colonies, and sent an invasion fleet to Saint-Domingue to re-establish slavery in the colony. Napoleon's soldiers captured Toussaint L'Ouverture, who died in a prison in the Jura mountains. However, the invasion force was weakened by both tropical disease and defections to the other side. Poles who enlisted to fight for Napoleon in the hope that he would restore their divided motherland had no desire to fight to re-enslave Caribbean blacks; I read somewhere about an ambassador of Communist Poland meeting with the descendants of his compatriots who joined the risen slaves. In 1804 another rebel commander, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, also a former slave, defeated the remainder of the French forces, declared the independence of the new nation of Haiti, massacred all the whites on the half-island except the Poles and a few other groups, and crowned himself emperor. The new nation was not recognized by the United States until the Civil War, when Radical Republicans in Congress did so; Frederick Douglass was the ambassador for a few years. The revolution induced Napoleon to sell Louisiana to the United States, since his plan for having Louisiana grow food for Saint-Domingue, which would specialize in sugar, wouldn't work anymore; however, Thomas Jefferson was averse to recognizing the nation of risen slaves, lest they prove an example to the slaves in his country. Although Haiti has been a nation of abject poverty and coups d'état ever since, many Latin Americans saw the Haitian Revolution as an example; in the 1960s an Afro-Trinidadian historian admiringly compared Fidel Castro to Toussaint L'Ouverture.
January 26, 2012
This book achieves exactly what its subtitle says: It outlines the "True Story of the Haitian Revolution" with just enough information about France's colonization of Hispaniola as is absolutely needed to understand the events that transpired between 1791 and 1804 and only a few broad comments about the impact the slave revolt and eventual revolution would have on the international community for the duration of the nineteenth century. Dubois aims, apparently, to create a popular history of the revolution; but while I think the book's rather dense for a casual reader I do think he excels at bringing vividly to life key figures like the savvy but paradoxical Toussaint Louverture. There are times when the story reads a bit like The Lord of the Rings -- thousands of men and women dead in battles, retaliatory campaigns, and other acts of immense and paranoid violence, their names erased from history, their bodies merely tally-marks on the competing forces' ledgers -- but this isn't a comment so much on Dubois's book as on the nature of slavery and revolution. I haven't read another volume on the Haitian revolution, but I doubt you'll find a more compelling one than this. Recommended.
September 29, 2019
The Haitian Revolution was one of the most significant events in history. Its outcome affected French, British, Spanish and the United States’ policies pertaining to the West Indies, the Americas and the issue of slavery itself. It is the most successful slave revolt in history and the only revolution where the former slaves became the government of a new nation, the first in the west to outlaw slavery. It involved political manoeuvring, military strategy, power struggles, intrigue and deception all enveloped in the rigid racial hierarchy that was San Domingue society. All this is to say that the Haitian Revolution is inherently fascinating and Laurent Dubois does it justice in this comprehensive account.
I inevitably found myself comparing this account to CLR James’ Black Jacobins, up to this point my favourite book on the topic. I’ll say that Dubois has benefitted from the 60+ years of research on the Revolution done since James’ first printing. He is able to fill in many details not available to James at the time and in some cases corrects inaccuracies. In this regard it is a more complete account of the Revolution. However, I can only go as far as saying it joins James’ Jacobins as essential reading for anyone interested in the Haitian Revolution!
I inevitably found myself comparing this account to CLR James’ Black Jacobins, up to this point my favourite book on the topic. I’ll say that Dubois has benefitted from the 60+ years of research on the Revolution done since James’ first printing. He is able to fill in many details not available to James at the time and in some cases corrects inaccuracies. In this regard it is a more complete account of the Revolution. However, I can only go as far as saying it joins James’ Jacobins as essential reading for anyone interested in the Haitian Revolution!
March 30, 2025
This book tells an in-depth story about a brutal revolution you don't tend to hear about that much. But for all that, though I wish it were otherwise, I just found this really boring and slow to get through.
February 2, 2024
Having known only the very basics of this part of history it's hard for me to say much about the accuracy of this book, but it felt comprehensive. Told the history of the Haitian revolution from many different angles, and got into depth about the development of the different characters who took part. This was such an interesting book and an interesting time period. The back and forth, the complexity of decisions made and the intent and political maneuvering was told very well here. The switching sides, gd. Even for someone who didn't have much background before reading this I was able to follow it well and learned a TON (although i will have to read a lot more to fully grasp the ins and outs).
It was very disheartening to read this honestly, as there were such highs always followed by terrible lows. France, Napoleon, true villainy. It was "interesting" to read the reasoning those at the top of the hierarchy used to make decisions regarding slavery and Haiti, and finding them nauseatingly familiar. History really is same shit, different day.
It was very disheartening to read this honestly, as there were such highs always followed by terrible lows. France, Napoleon, true villainy. It was "interesting" to read the reasoning those at the top of the hierarchy used to make decisions regarding slavery and Haiti, and finding them nauseatingly familiar. History really is same shit, different day.
September 11, 2017
By all rights, the slave revolt in Haiti, which defeated Napoleon's army, should be given greater moral and political status than the American Revolution. But, because of racism, this astounding history has been buried in a potter's field. "Avengers of the New World," with its many, many lessons for the masses who still struggle for freedom, is a must read. You simply cannot understand the French or American Revolutions without "following the money." The wealth that built Europe and the United States - and which fueled the thirst of the new bourgeoisies for "freedom," came from slavery, and Haiti was the most profitable slave colony in the world.
Author Dubois (who is related to CLR James, who wrote "The Black Jacobins," the famous history of the Haitian revolution) does not romanticize Toussaint Louverture, the the African warriors, or free coloreds who together defeated the French. This is a bitter, inspiring story. Louverture was not socialistic, like the maroon societies formed in the hills or on pirate ships by escaped slaves, rebellious sailors and indentured servants (read "The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic" by Peter Linebaugh). Louverture and subsequent leaders returned to the class-based plantation system to rebuild the economy and reestablish trade relations. That, and the punishing reparations Haiti was forced to pay France (for the losses of slave owners!) contributed to the impoverished Haiti that we see today.
Author Dubois (who is related to CLR James, who wrote "The Black Jacobins," the famous history of the Haitian revolution) does not romanticize Toussaint Louverture, the the African warriors, or free coloreds who together defeated the French. This is a bitter, inspiring story. Louverture was not socialistic, like the maroon societies formed in the hills or on pirate ships by escaped slaves, rebellious sailors and indentured servants (read "The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic" by Peter Linebaugh). Louverture and subsequent leaders returned to the class-based plantation system to rebuild the economy and reestablish trade relations. That, and the punishing reparations Haiti was forced to pay France (for the losses of slave owners!) contributed to the impoverished Haiti that we see today.
July 26, 2014
As a fan of popular history: this book is readable and engaging.
As a historian: Dubois' use of sources is masterful and his prose is engaging. I'm using this in a course and it remains to be seen how students will respond. However, I LOVED this book!
Highly recommend.
As a historian: Dubois' use of sources is masterful and his prose is engaging. I'm using this in a course and it remains to be seen how students will respond. However, I LOVED this book!
Highly recommend.
August 25, 2021
As the author states in the prologue to this book: “If we live in a world in which democracy is meant to exclude no one, it is in no small part because of the actions of those slaves in Saint-Domingue [Haiti] who insisted that human rights were theirs too.”
December 6, 2022
The first two chapters are very dense with names/dates/places and can be difficult to really absorb but once the first uprisings begin it’s very interesting. Such an important event in history with so many different factions, rebellions within rebellions, slaves being recruited by both the revolutionaries and the ruling powers to fight each other. Most interesting for me was learning about Louverture. I had always heard about him as this almost messiah like revolution figure who was a pillar for black empowerment and liberty, and while that is true to a certain extent there is so much more to the picture.
Read
June 1, 2018A solidly written history of a fascinating period of human history about which I knew relatively little and now want to learn more. There’s nothing particularly striking about the style but it’s a competent overview of a series of extraordinary events. Definitely made me want to pick up something more substantial on the subject.
December 7, 2024
The history of times of transition (between slavery and freedom for example) is very interesting and this book was strongest in my opinion when talking about the social dynamics of this time period. I got a little lost during the military sections though and think those sections needed a little more big picture to keep the point in mind.
January 7, 2019
3.5 stars
4.0 stars for content, 3.0 stars for writing style (and the editor should be fired)
4.0 stars for content, 3.0 stars for writing style (and the editor should be fired)
July 21, 2022
A lucid and detailed account of the Haitian revolution from start to finish.
Not a lot of rhetoric or philosophy here, just well-written history.
This was worth my time.
Not a lot of rhetoric or philosophy here, just well-written history.
This was worth my time.
March 18, 2021
Good book on the Haitian Revolution. I liked the first chapter and the last few chapters the best. The writing seemed to get bogged down a little bit and took a long time to get to the history I was interested in chapters 2-5 or so.
The Haitian revolution itself was incredibly brutal and complicated. By the end it was surprising that there were even people left on the island to start over. The revolution itself is fascinating and important as the first and one of the only successful slave-led revolutions. Also amazing to consider that it took place in the very early 1800's so that slavery was abolished, while it remained in the United States all the way to the Civil War in the 1860's. It is also really interesting to consider the relationship between the Haitian and French Revolutions. For a while, the revolutions were in tandem and Haitian people and leaders like Toussaint Louverture were allied with the new French Republic because the Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1789 outlawed slavery and gave Black Haitians full citizenship. However, with the ascendance of Napoleon there was a reversion back to racist policies and an attempt to reestablish slavery that led to the most brutal parts of the revolution.
Though the Haitians won, the country and economy was destroyed in the process. It was difficult to rebuild because other countries did not want to trade with them, especially the United States because they did not want to signal support to a Black led country and undermine their policy on slavery. Eventually the Hatians got into huge debt with France and their economy has really never developed as it could have.
I would recommend to anyone interested but it isn't an easy read because of the complexity and brutality.
The Haitian revolution itself was incredibly brutal and complicated. By the end it was surprising that there were even people left on the island to start over. The revolution itself is fascinating and important as the first and one of the only successful slave-led revolutions. Also amazing to consider that it took place in the very early 1800's so that slavery was abolished, while it remained in the United States all the way to the Civil War in the 1860's. It is also really interesting to consider the relationship between the Haitian and French Revolutions. For a while, the revolutions were in tandem and Haitian people and leaders like Toussaint Louverture were allied with the new French Republic because the Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1789 outlawed slavery and gave Black Haitians full citizenship. However, with the ascendance of Napoleon there was a reversion back to racist policies and an attempt to reestablish slavery that led to the most brutal parts of the revolution.
Though the Haitians won, the country and economy was destroyed in the process. It was difficult to rebuild because other countries did not want to trade with them, especially the United States because they did not want to signal support to a Black led country and undermine their policy on slavery. Eventually the Hatians got into huge debt with France and their economy has really never developed as it could have.
I would recommend to anyone interested but it isn't an easy read because of the complexity and brutality.
October 9, 2021
The largest slave revolt in the history of the world – and the only successful one – happened in the Caribbean just east of Cuba. It occurred in Haiti on the western half of the island of Hispaniola. (The Dominican Republic is on the eastern half.) Avengers of the New World explains how slaves in Haiti succeeded in winning their freedom where all others failed.
Columbus landed on Hispaniola in 1492, which was the first place Spain conquered in the New World. When Columbus arrived, the indigenous Taino numbered between 500,000 - 750,000. By 1514, only 29,000 were still alive. A priest documented what he called the extraordinary cruelty Spaniards inflicted. To replace the rapidly shrinking number of indigenous slaves, Africans were imported to work on the sugar cane plantations.
In 1697, Spain ceded the western half of the island to France, which already had a growing community there. By the time of the slave revolt, slaves comprised 90 percent of the colony’s population. Saint-Domingue was the world’s leading source of sugar and coffee and the world’s most profitable slave colony, making it “the centerpiece of the Atlantic slave system.”
While the capitalist slave economy was lucrative for planters, slaves had a miserable existence on Saint-Domingue. They were branded by their owners and rebranded when sold. Their death rate was high since they were easily replaced by a new shipment of Africans. Slaves who became free faced de jure racial discrimination in the colony.
The French Revolution starting in 1789 reverberated in the French colonies. The National Assembly in Paris adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Written by Marquis de Lafayette in consultation with Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration asserted the self-evident truth that human rights are universal and should be protected equally for all individuals.
In 1791 a slave insurrection erupted and received assistance from the Spanish on the eastern half of the island. In 1792, the National Assembly decided that legal equality for the free blacks was the only way to stop the insurrection and sent commissioners and troops to enforce the new decree. Conflict between free-coloreds and whites led to both sides recruiting and arming slaves.
In 1793, Spain and Britain declared war on the French Republic after the execution of King Louis XVI. Hoping to regain its former colony of Saint-Domingue, Spain made an alliance with the insurgents, giving them supplies. Meanwhile, the planters sought British intervention. The Republican forces then turned to slaves, promising freedom and equal citizenship to those who would fight for France. The policy undermined the old order. Soon slaves were also promised land confiscated from disloyal planters. Next the commissioners declared the emancipation of slaves who were bestowed with French citizenship. Shortly thereafter, the National Convention in Paris voted to end slavery in the French colonies. This immediate emancipation created a radical precedent at a time when leading abolitionists had been advocating a gradual approach. When British troops arrived, they reinstituted slavery in areas they controlled.
Toussaint Louverture led the insurgent slaves allied with Spain, and demonstrated remarkable talent, militarily and politically. In 1794, he switched to the French Republic following the official abolition of slavery. The French soon promoted him to the rank of general. Spain quit the war in 1795, while Britain left in 1798. Expelling a new commissioner who had a more narrow view of emancipation than his predecessors, Louverture exercised broad autonomy in governing the colony. He convened a convention to write a constitution that banned slavery, but required former slaves to continue to work on plantations.
By the late 1790s there was a conservative reaction against the French revolution. Conservatives and planters spoke of reinstating slavery in the colonies. Napoleon came to power in 1801, and he was influenced by the former planters. He saw the new constitution in Saint-Domingue as a de facto declaration of independence and as a challenge to the whole colonial system. Consequently, he dispatched an army to the island that ultimately consisted of 80,000 men. Because Napoleon greatly underestimated the determination of ex-slaves to stay free, only 30,000 of his troops would survive
Napoleon’s goal was the remove black leadership and reassert French control. Though he supported slavery in the eastern half of the island and in Martinique, Napoleon claimed that he would preserve liberty in the western half. Immediately after his troops landed, however, some captured black soldiers were sold into slavery by French officials. Louverture recognized the deception and depicted the war as freedom versus slavery. Leclerc, the French commander and Napoleon’s brother-in-law, pronounced victory prematurely. He did obtain a negotiated surrender from Louverture, who was allowed to keep his rank and to retire. Leclerc later had him arrested and sent to France, where Louverture died in prison in 1803.
Resistance nonetheless continued, and yellow fever killed thousands of French troops, including Leclerc. Meanwhile France reopened the transatlantic slave trade to French ships, and blacks were prohibited from entering France.
“The racial egalitarianism of 1794 had been replaced by a reinvigorated racist regime.”
Shortly before Leclerc’s death, he advocated exterminating the black population so infected by liberty and replacing them with new slaves. Atrocities were committed by both sides. French forces surrendered in 1803. In 1804, Haiti declared its independence. The word Haiti came from an indigenous word for the land.
President Thomas Jefferson, the main author of the American Declaration of Independence and a slaveowner, refused to recognize Haiti, a policy that persisted until 1862. In 1825, Haiti agreed to pay an indemnity to France in return for diplomatic and economic relations. That led to a huge debt lasting into the mid-Twentieth Century.
Independence represented a rejection of European colonialism in the Americas. “I have avenged America,” declared Dessalines, Louverture’s successor. Its revolution led Napoleon to sell the Louisiana territory, and influenced abolition in the USA and the African liberation movement following WWII.
Haiti was invaded again, however. In 1915, the United States sent in troops that remained until 1934. ###
Columbus landed on Hispaniola in 1492, which was the first place Spain conquered in the New World. When Columbus arrived, the indigenous Taino numbered between 500,000 - 750,000. By 1514, only 29,000 were still alive. A priest documented what he called the extraordinary cruelty Spaniards inflicted. To replace the rapidly shrinking number of indigenous slaves, Africans were imported to work on the sugar cane plantations.
In 1697, Spain ceded the western half of the island to France, which already had a growing community there. By the time of the slave revolt, slaves comprised 90 percent of the colony’s population. Saint-Domingue was the world’s leading source of sugar and coffee and the world’s most profitable slave colony, making it “the centerpiece of the Atlantic slave system.”
While the capitalist slave economy was lucrative for planters, slaves had a miserable existence on Saint-Domingue. They were branded by their owners and rebranded when sold. Their death rate was high since they were easily replaced by a new shipment of Africans. Slaves who became free faced de jure racial discrimination in the colony.
The French Revolution starting in 1789 reverberated in the French colonies. The National Assembly in Paris adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Written by Marquis de Lafayette in consultation with Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration asserted the self-evident truth that human rights are universal and should be protected equally for all individuals.
In 1791 a slave insurrection erupted and received assistance from the Spanish on the eastern half of the island. In 1792, the National Assembly decided that legal equality for the free blacks was the only way to stop the insurrection and sent commissioners and troops to enforce the new decree. Conflict between free-coloreds and whites led to both sides recruiting and arming slaves.
In 1793, Spain and Britain declared war on the French Republic after the execution of King Louis XVI. Hoping to regain its former colony of Saint-Domingue, Spain made an alliance with the insurgents, giving them supplies. Meanwhile, the planters sought British intervention. The Republican forces then turned to slaves, promising freedom and equal citizenship to those who would fight for France. The policy undermined the old order. Soon slaves were also promised land confiscated from disloyal planters. Next the commissioners declared the emancipation of slaves who were bestowed with French citizenship. Shortly thereafter, the National Convention in Paris voted to end slavery in the French colonies. This immediate emancipation created a radical precedent at a time when leading abolitionists had been advocating a gradual approach. When British troops arrived, they reinstituted slavery in areas they controlled.
Toussaint Louverture led the insurgent slaves allied with Spain, and demonstrated remarkable talent, militarily and politically. In 1794, he switched to the French Republic following the official abolition of slavery. The French soon promoted him to the rank of general. Spain quit the war in 1795, while Britain left in 1798. Expelling a new commissioner who had a more narrow view of emancipation than his predecessors, Louverture exercised broad autonomy in governing the colony. He convened a convention to write a constitution that banned slavery, but required former slaves to continue to work on plantations.
By the late 1790s there was a conservative reaction against the French revolution. Conservatives and planters spoke of reinstating slavery in the colonies. Napoleon came to power in 1801, and he was influenced by the former planters. He saw the new constitution in Saint-Domingue as a de facto declaration of independence and as a challenge to the whole colonial system. Consequently, he dispatched an army to the island that ultimately consisted of 80,000 men. Because Napoleon greatly underestimated the determination of ex-slaves to stay free, only 30,000 of his troops would survive
Napoleon’s goal was the remove black leadership and reassert French control. Though he supported slavery in the eastern half of the island and in Martinique, Napoleon claimed that he would preserve liberty in the western half. Immediately after his troops landed, however, some captured black soldiers were sold into slavery by French officials. Louverture recognized the deception and depicted the war as freedom versus slavery. Leclerc, the French commander and Napoleon’s brother-in-law, pronounced victory prematurely. He did obtain a negotiated surrender from Louverture, who was allowed to keep his rank and to retire. Leclerc later had him arrested and sent to France, where Louverture died in prison in 1803.
Resistance nonetheless continued, and yellow fever killed thousands of French troops, including Leclerc. Meanwhile France reopened the transatlantic slave trade to French ships, and blacks were prohibited from entering France.
“The racial egalitarianism of 1794 had been replaced by a reinvigorated racist regime.”
Shortly before Leclerc’s death, he advocated exterminating the black population so infected by liberty and replacing them with new slaves. Atrocities were committed by both sides. French forces surrendered in 1803. In 1804, Haiti declared its independence. The word Haiti came from an indigenous word for the land.
President Thomas Jefferson, the main author of the American Declaration of Independence and a slaveowner, refused to recognize Haiti, a policy that persisted until 1862. In 1825, Haiti agreed to pay an indemnity to France in return for diplomatic and economic relations. That led to a huge debt lasting into the mid-Twentieth Century.
Independence represented a rejection of European colonialism in the Americas. “I have avenged America,” declared Dessalines, Louverture’s successor. Its revolution led Napoleon to sell the Louisiana territory, and influenced abolition in the USA and the African liberation movement following WWII.
Haiti was invaded again, however. In 1915, the United States sent in troops that remained until 1934. ###
March 7, 2023
The story of how Haiti became the first black republic - though it required years of insurgent warfare and the unfortunate militarization of society. Maintaining the plantation economy couldn't be achieved without severe labor discipline, which the former slaves were not happy to endure. Instead, the majority clamored for small plots of land where they could grow food for subsistence and sale. However, a society of yeomen farmers was never the solution that the rich and powerful (of all colors) desired for the island - their preferred economic model was based on large land-holdings by the wealthy few, and hard labor for those who lacked the resources to acquire the large tracts required for commercial plantations of sugar, coffee and indigo. Haiti was riven by years of invasion and insurgency that is the subject of this unique and interesting volume.
March 24, 2019
Picked this up at Heirloom Used Bookstore in Chicago. My stepbrother has been working with not-for-profits supporting education in Haiti for decades now, inspiring me to read what I find about the country and its history beginning with "The Serpent and the Rainbow" by Wade Davis and a biography of Citizen Louvertue, foremost among its emancipators. This book begins with Columbus and ends with the defeat of Napoleon's attempt to reinstate slavery--a defeat which led to our Louisiana Purchase. It's a complicated story of more than a decade of struggle between oft-shifting factions but author Dubois seems to tell it as clearly as one can, emphasizing the fact that the self-liberation of Haiti remains the only case of a successful slave revolt in human history.
November 24, 2021
A superb recollection of the he shouldn’t revolution which reads like a novel
I love this book from beginning to end. It perfectly balances being an informed read whilst simultaneously entertaining the reader. After reading the black Jacobins I really thought I had a grasp on the Haitian Revolution. However the more great books I read such as this the more that I realise the complexity and multi faceted nature of the Haitian Revolution.
I love this book from beginning to end. It perfectly balances being an informed read whilst simultaneously entertaining the reader. After reading the black Jacobins I really thought I had a grasp on the Haitian Revolution. However the more great books I read such as this the more that I realise the complexity and multi faceted nature of the Haitian Revolution.
December 4, 2024
Read this in anticipation for a class I'm taking next semester, great account of arguably the most complex revolution I've read about. The Haitian Revolution is principally known for being the only successful slave revolt, but Dubois also tackles its nuances and its greater significance in history from this time period. He did an excellent job at breaking down the variety of groups/people at play and their multi-faceted dynamics. Wish this was taught more in at least world history curriculums.
December 18, 2017
Read this for my weekly paper and it was actually fairly interesting and horrifically eye opening. This was such an important time in history and I’d never learned about it before and that’s a tragedy. The Haitian Revolution was a major turning point in the historical record and in the fight for equal human rights and freedoms for those of all races and colors.
October 9, 2021
For a number of people this might be too academic, in terms of the writing. That’s been noted and I understand. But the history itself is so fascinating that it was worth it for me to stick with it. Plus the way I heard of this book was a recommendation from Ta-Nehisi Coates in a podcast interview. If Coates was that enthusiastic about it, I had to check it out.
September 12, 2014
Not a pretty story, but a fascinating and important one.
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March 12, 2023
An engaging read and comprehensive overview of the Haitian Revolution from pre-Revolutionary years through 1805, this book gives us a better picture of both the struggles and living conditions of enslaved people in Saint Domingue and of the local, regional, and global events that impacted events in Saint Domingue. The first half of the book covers the Revolutionary period before Toussaint Couverture became a central figure, while the second half focuses (though not exclusively) on the impact of Toussaint.
The Haitian Revolution started when the French Revolution inspired both poor landless whites, enslaved people, and free coloreds to seek greater equality and rights. Poor landless whites achieved the right to vote, cementing democratization based on racism. Free-coloreds likewise sought equality, including through direct appeal in France's National Assembly, and by taking up arms. Enslaved people likewise revolted and as conflict between the whites and free-coloreds became more marked, both sides recruited enslaved people to help oppose the other side, in turn fueling further slave insurrections. When France declared full rights and equality for free coloreds, whites responded by resisting France and embracing royalism. France's abolition of slavery eventually drove many whites to ally with the British in opposition to the French, making the free coloreds the vanguards of the Republic in Saint Domingue.
The declaration of the Republic and the end of slavery also turned Toussaint Louverture and other free coloreds from alliance with Spain to reconciliation with France. While Louverture consolidated power in the north, he fought Rigaud who consolidated power in the south. Louverture ended up acting with greater autonomy than the metropole would have liked, including by negotiating with the British and the United States to ensure free trade in Saint Domingue. He even betrayed a slave uprising conspiracy in Jamaica to stay on good terms with Britain. Winning against Rigaud, he invaded Spanish Santo Domingo, consolidating power throughout Hispanolia and creating a new constitution to govern the realm. Dynamics in France again influenced events in Saint Domingue, however, when Napoleon took power and responded to Louverture's efforts to control Saint Domingue apart from France by launching a full-scale invasion (up to 80,000 men). Louverture died in prison in France, but the invasion was ultimately unsuccessful, leading other Revolutionary leaders (Dessalines, for the first couple of years) to (re-)take power.
The Haitian Revolution was one of the three great revolutions at the end of the eighteenth century (alongside the American and French Revolutions) and one that echoed across time as it inspired future slave uprisings in the United States and decolonization movements in the twentieth century. "Avengers of the New World" is an excellent treatment of the period and highly recommended for anyone seeking to understand the origins of the modern (mostly) post-colonial world.
The Haitian Revolution started when the French Revolution inspired both poor landless whites, enslaved people, and free coloreds to seek greater equality and rights. Poor landless whites achieved the right to vote, cementing democratization based on racism. Free-coloreds likewise sought equality, including through direct appeal in France's National Assembly, and by taking up arms. Enslaved people likewise revolted and as conflict between the whites and free-coloreds became more marked, both sides recruited enslaved people to help oppose the other side, in turn fueling further slave insurrections. When France declared full rights and equality for free coloreds, whites responded by resisting France and embracing royalism. France's abolition of slavery eventually drove many whites to ally with the British in opposition to the French, making the free coloreds the vanguards of the Republic in Saint Domingue.
The declaration of the Republic and the end of slavery also turned Toussaint Louverture and other free coloreds from alliance with Spain to reconciliation with France. While Louverture consolidated power in the north, he fought Rigaud who consolidated power in the south. Louverture ended up acting with greater autonomy than the metropole would have liked, including by negotiating with the British and the United States to ensure free trade in Saint Domingue. He even betrayed a slave uprising conspiracy in Jamaica to stay on good terms with Britain. Winning against Rigaud, he invaded Spanish Santo Domingo, consolidating power throughout Hispanolia and creating a new constitution to govern the realm. Dynamics in France again influenced events in Saint Domingue, however, when Napoleon took power and responded to Louverture's efforts to control Saint Domingue apart from France by launching a full-scale invasion (up to 80,000 men). Louverture died in prison in France, but the invasion was ultimately unsuccessful, leading other Revolutionary leaders (Dessalines, for the first couple of years) to (re-)take power.
The Haitian Revolution was one of the three great revolutions at the end of the eighteenth century (alongside the American and French Revolutions) and one that echoed across time as it inspired future slave uprisings in the United States and decolonization movements in the twentieth century. "Avengers of the New World" is an excellent treatment of the period and highly recommended for anyone seeking to understand the origins of the modern (mostly) post-colonial world.
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