Toussaint Louverture and the American Civil War : the promise and peril of a second Haitian revolution / Matthew J. Clavin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Clavin, Matthew J.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Toussaint Louverture, 1743-1803--Influence.

Toussaint Louverture.

Antislavery movements--United States--History--19th century.

Antislavery movements.

African Americans--Race identity--History--19th century.

African Americans.

White people--Race identity--United States--History--19th century.

White people.

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Social aspects.

United States.

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Causes.

Haiti--Foreign public opinion, American--History--19th century.

Haiti.

Haiti--History--Revolution, 1791-1804--Influence.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (247 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

At the end of the eighteenth century, a massive slave revolt rocked French Saint Domingue, the most profitable European colony in the Americas. Under the leadership of the charismatic former slave François Dominique Toussaint Louverture, a disciplined and determined republican army, consisting almost entirely of rebel slaves, defeated all of its rivals and restored peace to the embattled territory. The slave uprising that we now refer to as the Haitian Revolution concluded on January 1, 1804, with the establishment of Haiti, the first "black republic" in the Western Hemisphere.The Haitian Revolution cast a long shadow over the Atlantic world. In the United States, according to Matthew J. Clavin, there emerged two competing narratives that vied for the revolution's legacy. One emphasized vengeful African slaves committing unspeakable acts of violence against white men, women, and children. The other was the story of an enslaved people who, under the leadership of Louverture, vanquished their oppressors in an effort to eradicate slavery and build a new nation.Toussaint Louverture and the American Civil War examines the significance of these competing narratives in American society on the eve of and during the Civil War. Clavin argues that, at the height of the longstanding conflict between North and South, Louverture and the Haitian Revolution were resonant, polarizing symbols, which antislavery and proslavery groups exploited both to provoke a violent confrontation and to determine the fate of slavery in the United States. In public orations and printed texts, African Americans and their white allies insisted that the Civil War was a second Haitian Revolution, a bloody conflict in which thousands of armed bondmen, "American Toussaints," would redeem the republic by securing the abolition of slavery and proving the equality of the black race. Southern secessionists and northern anti-abolitionists responded by launching a cultural counterrevolution to prevent a second Haitian Revolution from taking place.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1. "The Insurrection of the Blacks in St. Domingo": Remembering Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution

PART I. Opening the Civil War of Words

Chapter 2. "He patterned His Life After the San Domingan": John Brown, Toussaint Louverture, and the Triumph of Violent Abolitionism

Chapter 3. "Contemplate, I beseech you, fellow-citizens, the example of St. Domingo": Abolitionist Dreams, Confederate Nightmares, and the Counterrevolution of Secession

PART II. A Second Haitian Revolution?

Chapter 4. "Liberty on the Battle-field": Haiti and the Movement to Arm Black Soldiers

Chapter 5. "Emancipation or Insurrection": Haiti and the End of Slavery in America

PART III. Nations Within a Nation

Chapter 6. "Many a Touissant L'Overture Amongst us": Black Identity

Chapter 7. "A Repetition of San Domingo?": Southern White Identity

Chapter 8. "Do we want another San Domingo to be repeated in the South?" Northern White Identity

Conclusion

Notes

Index

Acknowledgments

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

ISBN:

9781283890014

1283890011

9780812201611

0812201612

OCLC:

802049526