Since the beginning of time, leaders have emerged in every situation and society. The greatest and most memorable leaders have all had similar qualities such as moral leadership and toughness. In the late 1700s and early 1800s in what is modern-day Haiti, Toussaint Louverture stepped forward and acted as the leader of the most successful slave revolution in world history. Louverture was born in the 1740s in Haiti, which was then the French colony of Saint Domingue. As a young man, he served as a slave, being a herder, a coachmen, and eventually, an overseer of his fellow slaves working in the fields. Louverture was taught to read and write, and was later granted freedom by his owner. Louverture then bought his own coffee plantation and acquired about a dozen slaves of his own. By 1789, the news of the French Revolution reached Saint Domingue, and slaves became interested in the revolutionaries’ ideas of “Liberty, Fraternity and Equality”, for themselves. Since the white population of Saint Domingue refused to end slavery, slaves rebelled by burning thousands of plantations and killing hundreds of their white and mixed-race owners. It was then that Louverture decided to work behind the scenes with his former fellow slaves, to lead them to freedom. Louverture’s hard work paid off, and slavery was abolished in Saint Domingue. After he had got what he wanted, he pledged allegiance to the mother country of France, and was named the commander-in-chief of the army in Saint Domingue. When Napoleon Bonaparte took power of France, he sent an army of 21,000 troops to Saint Domingue, threatening to reinstate slavery. Louverture’s skilled army fought hard against the French, but Louverture ended up being captured and taken back to France. Louverture’s army kept fighting without him, and Napoleon and his army eventually gave up and retreated to France, ultimately allowing Saint Domingue to declare itself as the independent country of Haiti in January of 1804. Unfortunately, Louverture died of pneumonia before that, but his legacy still lives on in Haiti today. Out of Louverture’s many important successes, he should be remembered the most as a liberator of slaves, a military commander, and the ruler of Saint Domingue.
Louverture’s most admirable accomplishment was being a liberator of slaves. In a document created from various sources(A), it states that in 1791, when the slaves first rebellion took place, Louverture was a free man, but decided to join the rebellion against the slave owners, and served as a doctor and a small commander of a group of slave soldiers. The leader of France, Robespierre, was dealing with both the revolution in his country of Haiti, and the slave revolution in his colony of Saint Domingue, so he decided to abolish slavery in Saint Domingue so he could have less on his plate. In 1797, Louverture wrote a letter to the French Directory(B). The French Directory was the government that replaced Robespierre’s government that had abolished slavery in Saint Domingue, so many former slaves, including Louverture, feared that slavery would be restored. In his letter, Louverture states that his men had a thousand lives, “they would sacrifice them all rather than be subjected again to slavery”. He also mentions that his troops know how to fight for their freedom already, and are not scared to lose their lives or kill their enemies, thus threatening the French Directory. In 1801, The Constitution of Saint Domingue was established, and was signed by its ruler, Louverture. In section II, titled “The Inhabitants”, it states that “There cannot exist slaves in this territory, servitude is therein forever abolished. All men are born, live and die free and French”. In section VI, titled “Of Culture and Commerce”, it states that each cultivator and each worker in the essential agricultural industry is entitled to share the revenues. Louverture was not only a leader, but was the liberator of the slaves that took part in the most successful slave revolution.
The slave soldiers conquered some of the world’s most tough armies to get what they wanted and deserved, and were lead by the military commander, Louverture. In a recent biography written by Madison Smartt Bell, titled Toussaint Louverture: A Biography(E), it tells the story of the feud between Louverture and his nephew, Hyacinthe Moyse. Moyse considered Louverture’s labor policy to be wrong and cruel, and was also suspicious of the friendliness between Louverture and the white planter class. Moyse challenged Louverture’s agricultural policies, and ordered a rebellion against him. This was after slavery was abolished, but Moyse and his men went to the Northern Plains of Saint Domingue, and killed many whites. Moyse’s ideas began to influence other former slaves, and enraged Louverture. Louverture entered the rebel zone, and summoned many rebels to step forth and commit suicide, and later brought his own nephew, Moyse, in front of a firing squad, and made Moyse give them the order to shoot. Although Louverture’s execution of his nephew seems harsh, he needed to make it clear to all of the people of Saint Domingue that rebellions are not acceptable, and he can’t have his own soldiers going against him. In 1863, a man named William Wells Brown wrote “A Description of Toussaint Louverture”(F). Brown says that Louverture possessed many traits that enabled his soldiers to trust and respect him, like his superior knowledge of his race, his humanity, courage and generosity. In 1801, Louverture believed that Napoleon and his troops were coming back to Saint Domingue to reinstate slavery, so Louverture and his troops burned down the city of Samana on the Spanish part of the larger island, where the French would be landing. Louverture and his troops then fled into the mountains, where they could use their skillful guerilla tactics, and where the French were unfamiliar with. Louverture also gave a speech to his men as the French landed in their territory, speaking eloquently about the courage that all members of their African race possess. The slave rebellion of Saint Domingue would have been the opposite of successful if Louverture had not been the commander of the military.
Louverture’s role of the ruler of Saint Domingue eventually lead to the independence of the colony, because of all of his impressive accomplishments. In the Saint Domingue Constitution of 1801(C), Louverture established many rules that helped Saint Domingue maintain the qualities of an orderly land. In section VI, titled “Of Culture and Commerce”, article 14, it is stated that the colony could not suffer the least disruption in cultivation, since the colony’s biggest industry was the agricultural harvesting of 40% of the world’s sugar, and more than half of the world’s coffee. The next article stated that each plantation was to be considered as a constant family, in which the owner would be the father, and all of the revenue was to be shared. In section VIII, titled “Of the Government”, article 28 states that Louverture was nominated as the ruler of Saint Domingue and the chief general of the army for the duration of his life. Article 28 of section VIII was a risk, because the policy promised the rule of Louverture to continue until the day he died, which would’ve been a great disadvantage if Louverture proved to be a horrible leader, which luckily, he turned out to be the polar opposite. In a proclamation made by Louverture to his people of Saint Domingue on November 25th, 1801(D), he established a law that enforced the agricultural work previously stated in the constitution to be done. The law was that any worker that refused to work was to be arrested by the plantation police, and then brought before a court martial and punished. In just four months after the constitution, Louverture had to make this proclamation because workers were rebelling against his fair working provisions. Louverture had to make hard choices as the ruler of Saint Domingue, like this law, because his land had to make money by farming without slavery. With Louverture as the ruler of Saint Domingue, the colony was more stable than it had ever been with different rulers.
Although Toussaint Louverture’s legacy included being both an extremely tough military commander and incredible ruler of Saint Domingue, his most impressive and important role was being the liberator of slaves in the most successful slave revolution of all time.
