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220 PART 3 REVOLUTION AND REPUBLICAN CULTURE, 1754–1800

The Haitian Revolution The French Revolution inspired a revolution closer to
home that would also impact the United States. The wealthy French plantation colony
of Saint-Domingue in the West Indies was deeply divided: a small class of elite plant-
ers stood atop the population of 40,000 free whites and dominated the island’s half
million slaves. In between, some 28,000 gens de couleur — free men of color — were
excluded from most professions, forbidden from taking the names of their white rel-
atives, and prevented from dressing like whites. The French Revolution intensified
conflict between planters and free blacks, giving way to a massive slave uprising in
1791 that aimed to abolish slavery. The uprising touched off years of civil war, along
with Spanish and British invasions. In 1798, black Haitians led by Toussaint L’Ouver-
ture — himself a former slave-owning planter — seized control of the country. After
five more years of fighting, in 1803, Saint-Domingue became the independent nation
of Haiti: the first black republic in the Atlantic world.
The Haitian Revolution profoundly impacted the United States. In 1793, thou-
sands of refugees — planters, slaves, and free blacks alike — fled the island and
traveled to Charleston, Norfolk, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, while news-
papers detailed the horrors of the unfolding war. Many slaveholders panicked, fearful
Toussaint L’Ouverture, Haitian that the “contagion” of black liberation would undermine their own slave regimes.
Revolutionary and Statesman The
American Revolution of 1776 constituted U.S. policy toward the rebellion presented a knotty problem. Why was it so difficult
a victory for republicanism; the Haitian for U.S. political leaders to decide how to regard Saint-Domingue? Because the war
revolt of the 1790s represented a triumph stirred conflicting values. The first instinct of the Washington administration was
of liberty over slavery and a demand for to supply aid to the island’s white population. Adams — strongly antislavery and no
racial equality. After leading the black
army that ousted French planters and friend of France — changed course, aiding the rebels and strengthening commercial
British invaders from Haiti, Toussaint ties. Jefferson, though sympathetic to moral arguments against slavery, was himself
formed a constitutional government in a southern slaveholder; he was, moreover, an ardent supporter of France. When he
1801. A year later, when French troops became president, he cut off aid to the rebels, imposed a trade embargo, and refused
invaded the island, he negotiated a treaty to recognize an independent Haiti. For many Americans, an independent nation of
that halted Haitian resistance in exchange
for a pledge that the French would not liberated citizen-slaves was a horrifying paradox, a perversion of the republican ideal
reinstate slavery. Subsequently, the (see “America in the World,” p. 221).
French seized Toussaint and imprisoned
him in France, where he died in 1803. This
image, engraved in France in 1802, places The Rise of Political Parties
Toussaint on horseback to emphasize his
military prowess. Photo12/UIG/Getty Images. The appearance of Federalists and Republicans marked a new stage in American
politics — what historians call the First Party System. Colonial legislatures had
Haitian Revolution factions based on family, ethnicity, or region, but they did not have organized political
An uprising against French colonial rule in parties. Nor did the new state and national constitutions make any provision for polit-
Saint-Domingue (1791–1804) involving gens
de coleur and liberated slaves from the island ical societies. Indeed, most Americans believed that parties were dangerous because
and armies from three European countries. they looked out for themselves rather than serving the public interest.
In 1803, Saint-Domingue became the But a shared understanding of the public interest collapsed in the face of sharp
independent black republic of Haiti, in which
former slaves were citizens. conflicts over Hamilton’s fiscal policies. Most merchants and creditors supported the
Federalist Party, as did wheat-exporting slaveholders in the Tidewater districts of the
SKILLS & PROCESSES Chesapeake. The emerging Republican coalition included southern tobacco and rice
planters, debt-conscious western farmers, Germans and Scots-Irish in the southern
CAUSATION backcountry, and subsistence farmers in the Northeast.
How did events abroad during Party identity crystallized in 1796. To prepare for the presidential election,
the 1790s sharpen political
divisions in the United States? Federalist and Republican leaders called caucuses in Congress and conventions in the
states. They also mobilized popular support by organizing public festivals and proces-
sions: the Federalists held banquets in February to celebrate Washington’s birthday,
and the Republicans marched through the streets on July 4 to honor the Declaration
of Independence.
In the election, voters gave Federalists a majority in Congress and made John
Adams president. Jefferson, narrowly defeated, became vice president. Adams con-
tinued Hamilton’s pro-British foreign policy and strongly criticized French seizures
of American merchant ships. When American diplomats insisted that France respect
U.S. neutrality, the French foreign minister Talleyrand instructed his agents to
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