15080: Corbett: Toussaint/US/Louisiana Purchase and all

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

>From Bob Corbett

Charles Arthur is correct to argue that the previous poster's claim that
Toussaint could be regarded as a "founding father" of the U.S. is quite
exaggerated.

However, from the perspective of historical causality it is the case that
the Haitian Revolution -- and not Toussaint alone -- was the key
responsible agent in bringing Napoleon to the position of selling
Louisiana.

I have written a detailed essay demonstrating this with a great deal of
documentation.  That may be seen at:

http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/history/revolution/revolution4.htm

In a very short summary:  Napoleon was quite worried about the economy of
France without the colony of Saint Domingue.  The colony was, in total,
responsible for nearly 75% of the gross national product of France in
1791.  France had given up Louisiana to Spain in the 1760s.  However, it
reaquired the territory in a secret treaty in October of 1800 but Spain
continued to administer the territory and the "ownership" was kept secret.

Napoleon's plan with General Leclerc's expidition was to put down the
rebellion, re-establish slavery and then take possession of Louisiana in
order to us it as a place from which to SUPPLY Saint Domingue with food to
free all the land of Saint Domingue for the more exotic crops grown there.

It is a bit unclear if he had aspirations to move east from Louisiana into
U.S. territory, however, it was CLEARLY part of the strategy of both
Spain and France to contain the westward growth of the U.S. to the
eastern bank of the Mississippi River.

Once France lost Saint Domingue, then all of a sudden Louisiana was a MUCH
LESS interesting property than it had been before.  Napoleon needed funds
to carry on his European wars and thus in December 1803, just WEEKS after
the final defeat of the French in Saint Domingue, France announced its
ownership of Louisiana, thought France didn't take formal physical control
of it until March 9, 1804 and on March 10, 1804 officially turned it over
to the United States.

Thus the defeat of Napoleon's forces in Saint Domingue was dirctly and
immediately causative of the Louisiana Purchase.

At the same time, where Charles' current sense of political correctness
likes it or not, Thomas Jefferson and the United States was a very
important ally of Toussaint Louverture.  As I show in my paper, Jefferson
had a very difficult job. On the one hand he had to "officially" denounce
the Saint Domingue revolution and the behavior of the slaves in order to
keep the southern planters happy -- and he himself was one of those
southern planters.  On the other hand, a significant portion of the
New England economy was based on the molasses it received from Saint
Domingue in order to run the rum factories of New England.

Jefferson carried on a critical secret trade with Tousssaint:  guns and
ammunition for molasses.  The relations between the two, which I document
in my paper, were quite cordial, and Toussaint regarded the U.S. as his
most important ally.

Things definitely changed after liberation and the birth of Haiti.  No
doubt.  But TOUSSAINT himself did have a corial and critical trade with
the U.S. under Jefferson.

Bob Corbett