Toussaint L’Ouverture was born in 1743
By: Cerone White
On this day in Caribbean history May 20, 1743, Francois-Dominique Toussaint L’Ouverture, most well-known and prolific Haitian leader of the Haitian revolution, was born on the Breda plantation in Saint-Domingue. The revolution was an anti-slavery and anti-colonial insurrection that took place in the French Colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) that began in August 1791 and ended January 1804, lasting a total of twelve years, one week and four days. This revolution helped preserve the freedom and rights of Haitians, and turned what was the most prosperous slave colony of its time into the first free colonial society. The Haitian Revolution is said to be the greatest slave uprising since Spartacus.
While there is no evidence to prove that L’Ouverture was formally educated, his writing would suggest that he was an very educated man. The letters that he wrote tells us that he had a great command of the French language, and was also familiar with Epictetus, the Stoic philosopher. L’Ouverture’s work, according to biographers, shows familiarity with the writings of Machiavelli.
On August 29, 1954 the Haitian ambassador to France, Léon Thébaud, inaugurated a stone cross memorial for Toussaint L’Ouverture who in 1800 had been proclaimed Governor for life by the colony’s constitution following the revolution. Toussaint L’Ouverture, however, was forced to resign in 1802 by armed forces sent by Napoleon Bonaparte to restore the French authority. L’Ouveture was then deported to France, where he died in 1803. The Haitian Revolution continued under his lieutenant, Jean-Jacques Dessalines who declared independence on January 1, 1804.
Did you know?
- In 1782, Toussaint married Suzanne Simone Baptiste L’Ouverture, who is thought to have been his cousin or his godfather’s daughter.
- He told French general Caffarelli that he had fathered 16 children, of whom 11 had predeceased him.
