Legacy of French Louisiana and slavery
Omar Guillon-Perez
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INTRODUCTION
The late 18th and early 19th centuries the United States was filled with contradictions. On
the one hand, the founders advocated the values of liberty and justice in the US constitution. At
the same time, the institution of slavery was thriving in the country. The country's polity was
divided between Jeffersonian, politicians and federalists who had different ideas about its place in
the world. Thomas Jefferson was the President at the beginning of the 19th century, - a loyal antifederalist who advocated for a weaker federal government, equality, and justice, while enslaving
people; he reflected the contradictions in the country. This was also the time for the nation's
westward expansion, beginning with the Louisiana purchase. This French territory had come into
conflict following the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte in France. Bonaparte sought to create a French
dominance similar to the English colonial empire, but in doing so, he didn't consider the
complexities of the lands far away from Paris. The Louisiana purchase can be seen because of the
Haitian Revolution. Still, instead of the freedom that Haitian Revolution ensured for Black people,
Louisiana's purchase maintained the status quo in the territory.
African slaves were imported in the US during the eighteenth century. Slaves were forced
to work on vast plantations, without any rights and without wages. With the Louisiana purchase,
slavery was extended to a new territory, which increased its number by two thirds. This gave
slavery a much larger reach that took it from Virginia to northern states such as Kentucky and
Missouri. The French Revolution triggered revolutions in Haiti and throughout the Caribbean
region, but with Louisiana it became a French-owned institution of racial exploitation. Slavery
existed everywhere in both North America and Europe by this time.
Thinking about Louisiana's purchase requires us to think about what Americans believed
about their nation's place in the world at that time. However, the history of Louisiana under French
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and Spanish colonies has largely been forgotten because the US wanted to erase its colonial past.
In addition to this, Sub-Saharan Africa's slavery was a part of the American imagination, as we
can see with Black Codes and Plantation management. Despite that, we cannot turn a blind eye to
the treatment of slaves in Louisiana even after its purchase by America.
Haitian Revolution
Seen as the first successful Black resistance movement in American colonies, the Haitian
revolution happened due to values of emancipation advocated in the French Revolution. In the
1790s, the French state abolished slavery in all its territories, declaring enslaved people as citizens
of the empire. Following the rise of Bonaparte, a status quo ensued as he considered slavery critical
to the economic expansion of France. The reversal of emancipatory laws created conflicts in the
Caribbean colonies of France, especially Saint-Domingue, which rose in rebellion under the
leadership of Toussaint Louverture. While historians have richly debated Louverture's labor
system during the emancipation period, he drafted a constitution in 1801, announcing the revolt
against the French state. The revolution can be seen in the context of the colonial policy of
Bonaparte and Louverture's desire to fight the establishment of slavery in the region.
Why was Louisiana Sold?
The answer to the question can be provided in a counter-historical manner. Would Bonaparte
have let the United States have Louisiana in 1803 if Haitian Revolution had not succeeded? From
1801-1802, Bonaparte sent thousands of troops to the region to re-occupy Saint-Domingue, but
his troops were either killed by black armies or fell to yellow fever. It has been calculated that
around 65,000 French troops were either killed or died in over two years. US President favored a
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French expedition to reclaim Saint-Domingue. In 1801, he told a French ambassador that
Louverture should be starved. The American interest in the territory can also be linked to the
Haitian revolution. It is estimated that 30% of the world's sugar was produced in Saint-Domingue
in 1791, which considerably declined in the next ten years; this led to an increase in sugar
production in Louisiana, which was home to both revolutionaries and counterrevolutionaries at the
time. The effects of slave resistance in Saint-Domingue were felt in the region. At the same time,
there were increased efforts to counter these resistances. In all this, Louisiana felt in United States'
hand out of sheer luck, as a moment in history that has astonished historians but has since been
explained.
Haiti and Louisiana: Slavery and Migration
The reaction to the Haitian Revolution in different parts of Louisiana varied. For instance,
Spanish Louisiana reacted in a paranoid manner. This did not help the case of people who were
looking to seek refuge in the region. Many refugees, including white ones, were arrested for
suspicious activities. The number of refugees only increased when America purchased the land in
1803. By 1806, there was a considerable increase as the United States government sought to
Americanize its newly purchased territory. It increased its efforts to provide refuge to the French
population. While migration was one theme that needed to be explored, slavery was another, which
had a contentious existence in the region soon after the Haitian Revolution.
After the Haitian Revolution, it can be seen that slavery became a critical aspect of United
States' political economy in the region. Since Louisiana was purchased for $15 million, many
people were convinced that freedom was cheaper than slavery. The sale of land to new settlers also
seemed to provide motivation for migration as more and more slaves were freed in the region.
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Slaves from Haiti crossed over into Louisiana, which coincided with an increase in black
population outside of it and a decrease of whites. This phenomenon affected the region's economy
and led to drastic changes. It was also the case that many whites did not have land. Thus, they
could not control their own labor force; they had a lower land value and so they became vulnerable
to slave-owners. It was in this context that the use of African slaves in agriculture increased as
white Americans looked to create a society without immigrants.
The Haitian Revolution's impact on American society is hard to determine, but the
revolution changed Louisiana's social structure. At the same time, the Haitian Revolution had a
huge impact on the region's culture. It was difficult for settlers to make sense of the revolution;
therefore, they interpreted it in different ways. The logical explanation was that the whites were
afraid of blacks because they did not want to lose their power and wealth. Other theories were that
black people were trying to reclaim lands that were taken away from them during slavery. This
could be true since many slaves had land in Haiti, but it is not known how much land this really
was after the revolution. Also, it is still a mystery why the slaves in Haiti did not kill the whites
and start their own government.
The Haitian Revolution caused thousands of black slaves to flee. Many of them migrated
to Louisiana, but slavery existed even before their arrival. It was during this time that the use of
slave labor in agriculture began to rise because plantation owners now had a source of cheap labor.
These people came from Africa and were forced into this kind of work. Before the slave trade
began, Africans lived in societies that were monarchical and tribal. However, as a result of slavery,
many Africans were separated from their families if they chose to leave their plantations or if they
were sold to different plantations.
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In Thomas Jefferson's Lost Cause: Land, Farmers, Slavery, and the Louisiana Purchase,
the author argues that the slaves' ability to escape was a result of how primitive the plantation
system was (Kennedy 2004). From 1720 to 1750, these plantations were rarely used for
commercial purposes and slaves were allowed to harvest their own crops. However, after the
Haitian Revolution, plantation owners began to use slave as forced labor. When slavery came back
from Haiti there were some people who saw it as a way of gaining power and land. Many people
began to believe that giving slaves rights would lead them to resist violently in a vain attempt at
revolutionizing plantation and achieving freedom. This view influenced the counter-revolution in
1803 when France sold Louisiana to the Americans for $15 million. Similarly, in Nicole Wilson’s
‘The Realm of Maiden Beauty’: Specters of Slavery, Rebellion, and Creolization in the Landscape
of Cable’s Louisiana, the author argues that the time before the Haitian Revolution was still "in a
sense," a kind of paradise (Wilson 2017). This is because during that period, "...no land had been
stolen, no one had been enslaved and no one had ever taken such an opportunity to be free." The
revolution is not the only reason for slaves' inability to resist. Between 1750 and 1945, numerous
revolts were carried out by slaves in Louisiana and most of them were defeated. However, thanks
to the Haitian Revolution, there was now a “specter” haunting Louisiana plantation owner.
The slave population in Louisiana was small before the revolution, but it started to grow
after the Haitian Revolution. This is because a large number of slaves were attracted to the region's
fertile soil and lack of white people. It is also possible that many slaves went to Louisiana in search
of freedom. Some slaves took advantage of the change in laws, while others didn't have legal rights
and so they couldn't be punished by the law. There were also political motivations since many
black Americans had a desire to get their freedom and autonomy back. It can be seen that Haiti's
role in western history is vast as it had a significant impact on the region's society and economy.
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The revolution not only helped African Americans in Louisiana gain their freedom, but it also
brought them to a new place where they could thrive. It is important to note that this was also true
for the migrants from France and other places in Europe.
CONCLUSION
Migration and slavery were two themes that were present in Louisiana after the Haitian
Revolution. Both had a significant impact on the region's social and economic structure, but
slavery became more important as time went on. It is clear that migration to Louisiana was driven
by European powers and they settled in the region after fleeing from Haiti. The revolution had an
enormous impact on the region's economy; it created an opportunity for white Americans who
benefited from slave labor while black Americans received their freedom.
To conclude, the Haitian revolution had an effect on almost all of the slaves in not just
Haiti but also in Louisiana. In order to understand the effects of slavery and how it affected the
region, it is important to look at how the slaves lived and the means by which they were able to
obtain freedom. The Haitian Revolution was a catalyst for slaves from Haiti to migrate and some
of them were able to gain their freedom.
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