Discuss the Importance of Toussaint Louverture in the Haitian Revolution
... revolution years later, served, inauspiciously at this point, as the link between these leaders and the system, carefully dissimulating his actual participation” (2004: 92) The island was united by Toussaint in 1801 with the conquest of Santo Domingo. His regime was autocratic, but no other alternative existed given the political background of the newly liberated population. Toussaint was unable to proclaim an over independence from France. His one goal had remained stable: freedom for the blacks. All his choices through the years had been made with an eye as to how he might best attain that goal. At the end of his career, he wavered. He was unable to take that final, necessary step, a declaration of independence. It had to be left to another to become the father of this country of Haiti. Toussaint was captured and imprisoned in France in June 1802 (Korngold 1945: 241) and died in 1803. Jean –Jacques Dessaline’s, led the final battle that defeated Napoleon’s forces. On January 1, 1804, Dessaline's declared the Nation independent, under its indigenous given name of Haiti. (Ott 1973). Thus, Toussaint was not involved in the final years of the revolution. Any description of Toussaint as a man must include the fact that he was ambitious, in the sense of attaining personal power, and certainly despotic as seen in the political institutions he sought. Concerning this, Leyburn writes: “His [Toussaint’s] own deep conviction of his special mission to lead his people from misery to security has always for his apologists excused the more dubious aspects of his character. (1941: 26) This statement leads us to the most interesting and distinguishing aspect of Toussaint – the fact that he was convinced that destiny had marked him out to play a certain role on history’s stage. James (1989), basing his interpretation of Toussaint’s career on modern revolutionary theories, develops the idea that Toussaint should have enlisted the support of the black masses by proclaiming independence as soon as he knew that Bonaparte’s expeditionary force was on its way. If he had mobilized the masses, “the French attack would have been broken at the first assault. His very desire to avoid destruction was what caused it. It is the same error that the moderates make when faced with the necessities of revolutionary struggle . . . The Black Revolution had gone over his head.”(James 1989: 278,299). James was correct in this. Toussaint was not a revolutionary of the extreme type. He was a scholar, diplomat and politician who wished to have his people become a nation that would fit into the mould of the Western Culture which had nourished him, and a nation that would enjoy the benefits of this culture. Had it not been for the intense hostility of the French under the Consulate, he might well have attained this result. Toussaint neglected the will of his people. He envisioned a nation of free blacks working in harmony with other races. The blacks, however, did not trust the whites, and with good reason. The result of their dissatisfaction with Toussaint’s policy was revolution, wide-spread over the Northern provinces...