The Haitian Declaration of Independence: Creation, Context, and Legacy

by Julia Gaffield (Editor)

Overview

While the Age of Revolution has long been associated with the French and American Revolutions, increasing attention is being paid to the Haitian Revolution as the third great event in the making of the modern world. A product of the only successful slave revolution in history, Haiti’s Declaration of Independence in 1804 stands at a major turning point in the trajectory of social, economic, and political relations in the modern world. This declaration created the second independent country in the Americas and certified a new genre of political writing. Despite Haiti’s global significance, however, scholars are only now beginning to understand the context, content, and implications of the Haitian Declaration of Independence.

This collection represents the first in-depth, interdisciplinary, and integrated analysis by American, British, and Haitian scholars of the creation and dissemination of the document, its content and reception, and its legacy. Throughout, the contributors use newly discovered archival materials and innovative research methods to reframe the importance of Haiti within the Age of Revolution and to reinterpret the declaration as a founding document of the nineteenth-century Atlantic World.

The authors offer new research about the key figures involved in the writing and styling of the document, its publication and dissemination, the significance of the declaration in the creation of a new nation-state, and its implications for neighboring islands. The contributors also use diverse sources to understand the lasting impact of the declaration on the country more broadly, its annual celebration and importance in the formation of a national identity, and its memory and celebration in Haitian Vodou song and ceremony. Taken together, these essays offer a clearer and more thorough understanding of the intricacies and complexities of the world’s second declaration of independence to create a lasting nation-state.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813937878
Publisher:	University of Virginia Press
Publication date:	01/11/2016
Series:	Jeffersonian America
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Julia Gaffield, author of Haitian Connections in the Atlantic World: Recognition after Revolution, is Assistant Professor of History at Georgia State University.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction: The Haitian Declaration of Independence in an Atlantic Context David Armitage Julia Gaffield 1

Part I Writing the Declaration

Haiti's Declaration of Independence David Geggus 25

"Victims of Our Own Credulity and Indulgence": The Life of Louis Fé;lix Boisrond-Tonnerre John Garrigus 42

The Debate Surrounding the Printing of the Haitian Declaration of Independence: A Review of the Literature Patrick Tardieu 58

Living by Metaphor in the Haitian Declaration of Independence: Tigers and Cognitive Theory Deborah Jenson 72

Part II Haitian Independence and the Atlantic

Law, Atlantic Revolutionary Exceptionalism, and the Haitian Declaration of Independence Malick W. Ghachem 95

Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Norbert Thoret, and the Violent Aftermath of the Haitian Declaration of Independence Jeremy D. Popkin 115

Did Dessalines Plan to Export the Haitian Revolution? Philippe Girard 136

Part III The Legacy of the Haitian Declaration of Independence

"Outrages on the Laws of Nations": American Merchants and Diplomacy after the Haitian Declaration of Independence Julia Gaffield 161

The Sovereign People of Haiti during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Jean Casimir 181

Thinking Haitian Independence in Haitian Vodou Laurent Dubois 201

Revolutionary Commemorations: Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Haitian Independence Day, 1804-1904 Erin Zavitz 219

Appendix: The Haitian Declaration of Independence 239

Bibliography 249

Notes on Contributors 267

Index 269

Editorial Reviews

This collection of essays showcases some of the most recent conceptual innovations in Haitian Revolution scholarship, as well as some of the more prominent ongoing debates among scholars of this era.... [T]his volume represents many of the best trends in the growing field of Haitian history. It is broad, engaging, and innovative enough to belong on the shelf alongside comparable collections.

Journal of Social History

Julia Gaffield has gathered a diverse collection of essays that both engage with extant historiography on the Haitian Revolution and, crucially, push discussions forward into state making after 1804.... The collection is a harbinger that a rich body of literature may now look more steadily forward into postrevolutionary decades.

Early American Literature

A terrific book—timely and original. The boom in Haitian revolutionary studies (which has been shaped in critical ways by many of the authors in this collection) is producing a new wave of English-language work on post-independence Haiti. This book addresses this growing interest in the early Haitian state and the legacies of the Haitian Revolution not just in the Atlantic World but in Haiti itself. A very strong, interesting collection with broad appeal.

Ada Ferrer

This landmark collection offers the first detailed examination of one of the most neglected documents in modern world history. Julia Gaffield and the other contributors offer a comprehensive account of the creation, meaning, and legacy of the Haitian Declaration of Independence. The essays demonstrate both Haiti’s deep links with the Atlantic World and the distinctiveness of the Haitian case.

Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall

The contributions to this wonderful collection confirm the Revolution’s significance on a global stage and also reckon with Haiti on its own terms. Put another way, [this volume] compellingly testifies to the vast amount of material work still to be done on Haiti’s early years. The essays in this volume not only make significant inroads into this work but also indicate useful directions and methods for further scholarly inquiry. As such, Gaffield’s collection both offers a fascinating aperture into reconfigurations of comparative studies and serves as an extremely helpful guidebook for scholars interested in the Haitian Revolution.

Small Axe

"A terrific book—timely and original. The boom in Haitian revolutionary studies (which has been shaped in critical ways by many of the authors in this collection) is producing a new wave of English-language work on post-independence Haiti. This book addresses this growing interest in the early Haitian state and the legacies of the Haitian Revolution not just in the Atlantic World but in Haiti itself. A very strong, interesting collection with broad appeal. "——Ada Ferrer, New York University, author of Freedom's Mirror: Cuba and Haiti in the Age of Revolution

"This landmark collection offers the first detailed examination of one of the most neglected documents in modern world history. Julia Gaffield and the other contributors offer a comprehensive account of the creation, meaning, and legacy of the Haitian Declaration of Independence. The essays demonstrate both Haiti’s deep links with the Atlantic World and the distinctiveness of the Haitian case. "—Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall, California State University San Marcos, editor of Haitian History: New Perspectives

"The contributions to this wonderful collection confirm the Revolution’s significance on a global stage and also reckon with Haiti on its own terms. Put another way, [this volume] compellingly testifies to the vast amount of material work still to be done on Haiti’s early years. The essays in this volume not only make significant inroads into this work but also indicate useful directions and methods for further scholarly inquiry. As such, Gaffield’s collection both offers a fascinating aperture into reconfigurations of comparative studies and serves as an extremely helpful guidebook for scholars interested in the Haitian Revolution. "—author of Small Axe

"This collection of essays showcases some of the most recent conceptual innovations in Haitian Revolution scholarship, as well as some of the more prominent ongoing debates among scholars of this era.... [T]his volume represents many of the best trends in the growing field of Haitian history. It is broad, engaging, and innovative enough to belong on the shelf alongside comparable collections. "—author of Journal of Social History

"Julia Gaffield has gathered a diverse collection of essays that both engage with extant historiography on the Haitian Revolution and, crucially, push discussions forward into state making after 1804.... The collection is a harbinger that a rich body of literature may now look more steadily forward into postrevolutionary decades. "—author of Early American Literature

From the Publisher