The Influence of Toussaint Louverture on American...

With the advancement in irrigation technology by French engineers and the increase in the popularity of sugar, the French colony of Saint Domingue became one of the worlds largest sugar producers. With sugar came problems for the many enslaved Africans that were forced to provide manual labor for the colonys sugar harvesting efforts. Oppression, violence, inequality (of a caste-like system), and many other hardships led to hard feelings between the Africans and their white masters, the French. (Talk about here that the slaves in america were facing the same type of thing that was happening in Haiti but with cotton rather than with sugar) With such exploitation of the African slaves, which constituted a majority of the†¦show more content†¦Most believe that there is little to no correlation between Toussaint Louverture and the abolitionist movement of the American Civil War. The Abolitionists and the Pro-Slavery population of the United States each took the story of Toussaint Louverture and tried to use it to further their cause. The Pro-Slavery South often told of the story of the horrific Haitian Revolution. It told of vengeful African slaves committing unspeakable acts of violence against innocent and defenseless white men, women, and children. The pro-slavery press documented the horrors of Saint Domingue at great length. â€Å"Upwards of one hundred thousand savage people, habituated to the barbarities of Africa, avail themselves of the silence and obscurity of the night, and fall on the peaceful and unsuspicious planter, like so many famished tigers thirsting for human blood.†1 Bryan Edwards, a chief antagonist of slavery to British Parliament, wrote multiple narratives that provided the text for images of the revolution that would haunt generations of American slaveowners. The Abolitionists, unlike the pro-slavery population, told of the heroic Haitian Revolution. It was the story of an enslaved people who under the leadership of an extrao rdinary black man, a great man, vanquished their violent oppressors in an effort to secure both liberty and equality. This narrative was epitomized in the histories of MarcusShow MoreRelatedHistory And History Of Haiti810 Words   |  4 Pagesbest explains the modern scholarship in historiography of Haiti with his following statement, â€Å"The scholarship that does exist focuses on class and race structures, resistance of the enslaved and marronage, economic and political forces, and Toussaint Louverture.† Professor Joseph is recognizing the modern development by historians concerning the historiography of Haiti unlike the past, where Haiti was ignored and downplayed as an important event of the Age of Revolutions. It has the uncomfortable