Toussaint L'Ouverture

too'saN' loo'ver-tur', a patriot of Haiti. He was a fullblooded negro, the child of slaves. The details of his early life are unknown. In 1791 the Haitian negroes broke out into open revolt. Toussaint joined them, but not until he had exerted himself to secure the escape of the family of his old master. During the time of the French Republic, Haiti was a French possession. The leaders of the French Republic, recognizing his ability, placed him at the head of the negro troops in the island. Toussaint defended Haiti successfully against an invasion of the British, but, instead of remaining loyal to France, he declared the independence of the island. He framed a constitution under the provisions of which he was named president for life of the Republic of Haiti. Although a man of quiet habits and of controlled appetites, he deemed it necessary to maintain a court of considerable magnificence.

When Napoleon came into power, he sent a powerful force of soldiers to subdue the Haitian Republic. Toussaint showed himself a master of military strategy, but was overcome finally by overwhelming numbers. He took the oath of fidelity to France and retired to his estate, but later he was arrested on a charge of conspiring against the authority of France. He was sent to France in irons and died in prison. Napoleon has been charged with making away with him by means of poison, but there is no proof of the fact. The following quotation is from the pen of Wendell Phillips:

You think me a fanatic, for you read history, not with your eyes, but with your prejudices. But fifty years hence, when Truth gets a hearing, the Muse of history will put Phocion for the Greek, Brutus for the Roman, Hampden for England, Fayette for France, choose Washington as the bright, consummate flower of our earlier civilization, then dipping her pen in the sunlight, will write in the clear blue, above them all, the name of the soldier, the statesman, the martyr, Toussaint L'Ouverture.

See Haiti