Toussaint Louverture campaigned tirelessly on behalf of slaves during the Haitian Revolution, and his actions helped push France to abolish slavery in all its colonies in 1794. He wrote this letter in response to a speech in French parliament calling for slavery's restoration on Saint-Domingue. He warned the French that he would fight for Haitian independence if France ever revoked abolition. Help us transcribe this important letter written by a revolutionary.
Toussaint Louverture is thought to have been born on the plantation of Breda at Haut de Cap sometime around 1739-1746. His father, Gaou Guinou, was the son of the king of Arrada (Benin), and his mother, Pauline, was Guinou’s second wife. Alternatively, L’Ouverture could have arrived at Breda with an overseer who took over in 1772. L’Ouverture was freed in 1776 at the age of 33, and married Suzanne Simone Baptiste L’Ouverture in 1777. As a soldier, his skilled negotiating talent and reputation as an orderly leader of the fortified post La Tannerie lead to the French recognition of Louverture as a significant military leader. As the govornor he campaigned and fought and succeeded in abolishing slavery in Haiti. As a French colony, in 1802 Napoleon Bonaparte wanting to restore French authority leading to Louverture’s arrest and deportation to France. He died in prison in 1803.
Charles Humbert Marie Vincent (March 21, 1753 - July 27, 1831) was a French military officer who achieved the rank of brigadier general. From 1786 to 1791, he was stationed in Haiti (Santo Domingo). After spending a year in France, he was again sent to Haiti in 1792, but fled to the United States in 1793 after a series of riots. He returned to Haiti by early 1796 traveling back and forth to France. In 1801, he was charged with carrying the constitution of independent Haiti to France, where he advised the government to liberate the colony. He then spent the 1800s and early 1810s serving the expansion of the Napoleonic Empire in Europe. Vincent retired in 1815 and died in Bayonne, France, in 1831.