How should we remember Toussaint Louverture

Matt Weber A-block

How should we remember Toussaint Louverture?

Toussaint Louverture was the leader of the island known as Haiti. Toussaint would do anything and everything to abolish slavery in the world and that’s why he should best be remembered as a liberator of slaves. Toussaint should also be remembered as a supreme military leader and a ruler of Saint Domingue.  

The most important accomplishment Toussaint should be remembered for was his passion to abolish slavery in the world and a liberator of slaves.  In 1791, Toussaint became a doctor for the army when the slave revolt began in Saint Domingue.  It was during the war that Toussaint rose to power and became a military leader.  When the French abolished slavery on the island, Toussaint then started to support the French in abolishing slavery in Spain as well (Document A).  After the French reinstated slavery on the island, in 1797 Toussaint sent a letter to the French Directory. The letter stated, “We have known how to confront danger to our liberty, and we will know how to confront death to preserve it”. (A)  By stating this, Toussaint is telling the rulers of France that he and his people are willing to fight to their death to preserve their freedom and liberty and are not willing to give it up.  (Document B).  The reason that Toussaint’s letter to the French Directory was so admirable was because he is telling the French that they have to fight for freedom and not give it up. These are the qualities of a person that are willing to fight for what they believe in.  Toussaint also created a constitution that abolished slavery on the island of Saint Domingue.  In Document C, it states that Toussaint made a constitution that said, “There cannot exist slaves in this territory, servitude is therein forever abolished. All men are born, live and die free and French” (Document C).  Toussaint should be remembered first and foremost as the liberator of slaves due to of all the sacrifices he made and the dedication he had to fight for what was right.

Toussaint’s second most important contribution in his life was his role as a military leader. When Toussaint first became a military leader he taught his soldiers how to fight, both guerilla warfare and standard European tactics. The reason Toussaint did this was because he wanted to have his soldiers know how to fight in an organized fashion, like the French knew how to, and also to be able to fight in an unorganized chaotic way.  The French only knew how to fight the standard European style, so when Toussaint’s army started to fight guerilla warfare style, it put the French soldiers at a major disadvantage, (Document A).  What also made Toussaint a great military leader was his ability to put away his family ties.  In Document B, it tells the a story of how Toussaint gave the order to kill his own nephew after his nephew lead an attack on a bunch white plantation owners. The reason why Document B is such a good example of his role as military leader is because it shows that Toussaint put away his personal business and kept his army in check at all times.  Toussaint really shines as a military leader in Document F when they talk about his military tactics.  When Toussaint heard that the French were coming back to enslave his island, he made the smartest decision he could make.  Toussaint decided to burn down all the cities and retreat to the mountains.  The reason he did this was because the French would not be able to survive without any food or water, with their cities burnt down and because of these things, the French would start to slowly die off.  Another smart reason to bring his soldiers back to the mountains was because they were trained in guerilla warfare and the French were not.  If the French tried to encroach them on the mountains, they would be at an immediate disadvantage because you can not fight standard European warfare on a mountain.  You can only fight guerilla warfare style and that is what Toussaint’s army was trained in.  As a military leader, Toussaint was unbelievable.  He possessed far superior tactics then whomever he was fighting.

The final accomplishment Toussaint should be remembered for was his role as the leader of Saint Domingue.  As the leader of Saint Domingue, Toussaint was able to give the people of the island what they wanted, which was a constitution and freedom.  The constitution he created made it so that each inhabitant of the island was promised three things.  They were born free, they were born French and servitude was forever abolished.  This constitution was so important because it allowed the people of Saint Domingue to finally have what they wanted and what they had been fighting for for so many years (Document C).  Toussaint issued a proclamation that said people would be punished if they tried to flee from the owners on the plantations, but if they stayed, they would start being paid for their work.  The idea of this proclamation was to control the people who were refusing to work and punish them.  However, this gave the people on the island the feeling that they were still enslaved, and Toussaint did not want people to feel like they were still slaves (Document D).  What made Toussaint a good leader of the Island was his ability to provide for the island’s needs and make tough decisions that might hurt people, but be for the greater good.

Although Toussaint is remembered as a supreme military leader and the Ruler of Saint Domingue, he should be remembered most significantly as the man that freed the the Island of Saint Domingue as the liberator of slaves.