Haitian Revolution

The new Republic of Haiti was received negatively by Thomas Jefferson. In “Ignoring the Revolution Next Door,” Edwidge Danticat states, ““Something is not done, and soon done, we shall be the murderers of our own children,” Jefferson wrote about the potential impact of the Haitian uprising.” He was upset that Haiti became an independent country with independent slaves. He encouraged slavery since it helped the economy. He did not support the new Republic of Haiti because he thought it was going to have a negative effect on the economy. It is ironic that during the Louisiana Purchase, which helped the United States gain land for slaves to grow cotton on, Haiti was becoming an independent country. Thomas Jefferson benefitted at the same time as Haiti benefitted, even though Jefferson did not agree with the new Republic of Haiti.

            Haiti was impacted by this reaction because of their lack of protection from other countries. Slaves gained their independence in Haiti, which Thomas Jefferson was upset about. Since Jefferson was against the new Republic of Haiti, Haiti did not get protection from the United States. This caused France to be able to attack Haiti after a four year period of peace in Haiti. In “France's Debt of Dishonour to Haiti,” Isabel macdonald explains, “Following Haiti's independence, former French slave-owners submitted detailed tabulations of their losses to the French government, with line items for each of "their" slaves that had been "lost" with Haitian independence. In 1825, the French King, Charles X, demanded that Haiti pay an "independence debt" to compensate former colonists for the slaves who had won their freedom in the Haitian Revolution. With warships stationed along the Haitian coast backing up the French demand, France insisted that Haiti pay its former coloniser 150m gold francs – ten times the fledgling black nation's total annual revenues.” French demanded Haiti to pay them for becoming independent. No country stood up for Haiti to tell France that this was wrong, since other countries followed Thomas Jefferson’s beliefs. From the global reception of the new Republic of Haiti, Haiti lost protection.

 

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