Global InformationToussaint Louverture information
Toussaint Louverture | |
|---|---|
 Posthumous 1813 painting of Louverture | |
| Governor-General of Saint-Domingue | |
| In office 1797–1802 | |
| Appointed by | Étienne Maynaud |
| Preceded by | Léger-Félicité Sonthonax |
| Succeeded by | Charles Leclerc |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 20 May 1743 Cap-Français, Saint-Domingue |
| Died | 7 April 1803 (aged 59) Fort de Joux, La Cluse-et-Mijoux First French Republic |
| Spouse(s) | Cécile Suzanne Simone Baptiste Louverture |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  Spain France Haiti |
| Service/ | Spanish Army French Army French Revolutionary Army Armée Indigène[1] |
| Years of service | 1791–1803 |
| Rank | General |
| Battles/wars | Haitian Revolution |
François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture (French: [fʁɑ̃swa dɔminik tusɛ̃ luvɛʁtyʁ], English: /ˌluːvərˈtjʊər/)[2] also known as Toussaint L'Ouverture or Toussaint Bréda (20 May 1743 – 7 April 1803), was a Haitian general and the most prominent leader of the Haitian Revolution. During his life, Louverture first fought and allied with Spanish forces against Saint-Domingue Royalists, then joined with Republican France, becoming Governor-General-for-life of Saint-Domingue, and lastly fought against Bonaparte's republican troops.[3][4] As a revolutionary leader, Louverture displayed military and political acumen that helped transform the fledgling slave rebellion into a revolutionary movement. Along with Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Louverture is now known as one of the "Fathers of Haiti".[5][6]
Toussaint Louverture was born as a slave in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, now known as Haiti. He was a devout Catholic, and was manumitted as an affranchi (ex-slave) before the French Revolution, identifying as a Creole for the greater part of his life. During his time as an affranchi, he became a salaried employee, an overseer of his former master's plantation, and later became a wealthy slave owner himself; Toussaint Louverture owned several coffee plantations at Petit Cormier, Grande Rivière, and Ennery.[7][8][9] At the start of the Haitian revolution he was nearly 50 years old and began his military career as a lieutenant to Georges Biassou, an early leader of the 1791 War for Freedom in Saint-Domingue.[10] Initially allied with the Spaniards of neighboring Santo Domingo, Louverture switched his allegiance to the French when the new Republican government abolished slavery. Louverture gradually established control over the whole island and used his political and military influence to gain dominance over his rivals.[11]
Toussaint Louverture's ideals played a key role in his own reconciliation, about the Spanish Empire, his sole purpose was to his people, along with keeping the peace if necessary, but the whole constructive point of view that Toussaint was dealing with is the negotiations of the peaceful transition of governmental ownership, as Sudhir Hazareesingh, author of Black Spartacus, says, "Even though uncertainty remains about the exact date of Toussaint's transfer of allegiance from Spain to France, it is manifest that by early May 1794 he was in close contact with the colony's authorities, and by the middle of the month he had clearly signaled his embrace of the French cause." (Hazareesingh pg.64)
Throughout his years in power, he worked to balance the economy and security of Saint-Domingue. Worried about the economy, which had stalled, he restored the plantation system using paid labor; negotiated trade agreements with the United Kingdom and the United States and maintained a large and well-trained army.[12] Louverture seized power in Saint-Domingue, established his own system of government, and promulgated his own colonial constitution in 1801 that named him as Governor-General for Life, which challenged Napoleon Bonaparte's authority.[13]
In 1802, he was invited to a parley by French Divisional General Jean-Baptiste Brunet, but was arrested upon his arrival. He was deported to France and jailed at the Fort de Joux. He died in 1803. Although Louverture died before the final and most violent stage of the Haitian Revolution, his achievements set the grounds for the Haitian army's final victory. Suffering massive losses in multiple battles at the hands of the Haitian army and losing thousands of men to yellow fever, the French capitulated and withdrew permanently from Saint-Domingue the very same year. The Haitian Revolution continued under Louverture's lieutenant, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who declared independence on 1 January 1804, thereby establishing the sovereign state of Haiti.
- ^ Fombrun, Odette Roy, ed. (2009). "History of The Haitian Flag of Independence" (PDF). The Flag Heritage Foundation Monograph And Translation Series Publication No. 3. p. 13. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
- ^ "Toussaint l'Ouverture". Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Pearson, 2023.
- ^ Chartrand, René (1996). Napoleon's Overseas Army (3rd ed.). Hong Kong: Reed International Books Ltd. ISBN 0-85045-900-1.[permanent dead link]
- ^ White, Ashli (2010). Encountering Revolution: Haiti and the Making of the Early Republic. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-8018-9415-2.
- ^ Lamrani, Salim (30 April 2021). "Toussaint Louverture, In the Name of Dignity. A Look at the Trajectory of the Precursor of Independence of Haiti". Études caribéennes (48). doi:10.4000/etudescaribeennes.22675. ISSN 1779-0980. S2CID 245041866.
- ^ Mocombe, Paul C. (2018). Identity and Ideology in Haiti: The Children of Sans Souci, Dessalines/Toussaint, and Pétion. Routledge. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 August 2023. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
- ^ Marcus Rainsford (2013). An Historical Account of the Black Empire of Hayti. Duke University Press. p. 310.
- ^ John P. McKay; Bennett D. Hill; John Buckler; Clare Haru Crowston; Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks; Joe Perry (2011). Understanding Western Society, Combined Volume: A Brief History. Macmillan. p. 608.
- ^ Jeff Fleischer (2019). Rockin' the Boat: 50 Iconic Revolutionaries — From Joan of Arc to Malcom X. Zest Books. p. 224.
- ^ Vulliamy, Ed, ed. (28 August 2010). "The 10 best revolutionaries". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:3was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cauna, pp. 7–8
- ^ Popkin, Jeremy D. (2012). A Concise History of the Haitian Revolution. John Wiley & Sons. p. 114. ISBN 978-1405198219.