41 pages • 1 hour read
C.L.R. JamesThe Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1938A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 7-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary: “The Mulattoes Try and Fail”
To the west and south, Mulatto leaders, including Rigaud, felt threatened by Toussaint’s growing influence. Most were “uneasily pro-British,” hoping to gain independence from France while maintaining class superiority over the slaves. Toussaint and Laveaux came to rely on each other for support against the Mulattoes.
On 20 March 1796, a group of Mulattoes arrested and imprisoned Laveaux at Le Cap, installing their leader, Commandant Villate, as governor in his place. Pierre Michel, a nearby officer who reported to Toussaint, gathered those who opposed the change in leadership with the rallying cry, “Power to the law!” (170). Upon hearing the news, Toussaint dispatched two battalions to Le Cap, where Laveaux was soon restored to his position.
Wanting to avoid further conflict, Laveaux chose not to punish Villate, ignoring Toussaint’s request that he do so. After a complimentary speech, Laveaux appointed Toussaint as his official assistant. His request to France for reinforcements was answered by a commission of five leaders, including Sonthonax, accompanied by lots of weapons and a few men.
Chapter 8 Summary: “The White Slave-Owners Again”
In France, the new bourgeoisie came into power following the decline of the radical Jacobins. Maritime merchants and colonists pushed for the restoration of slavery. With Toussaint’s encouragement, Laveaux returned to France as an elected representative of San Domingo. Sonthonax renewed command of the colony with an emphasis on liberty and labor that made him popular among the Blacks. Fearing that officials in France would restore slavery, he considered returning but chose to stay in San Domingo at the urging of several prominent leaders.
Rigaud continued to gain power and advocate for independence in the south. Against Toussaint’s advice, Sonthonax sent a commission with orders to arrest Pierre Pinchinat, a popular Mulatto leader, for his involvement in the earlier conspiracy to depose Laveaux. The commission’s actions only led to greater unrest, including the massacre of “scores of whites” by a combined force of Blacks and Mulattoes (184). Officially recognizing Rigaud’s leadership restored calm, but the tension between France and the Mulattoes reached a new high point. Rigaud reached out to Toussaint to make his case.
In August 1797, Toussaint visited Sonthonax at Le Cap and requested that he leave the colony at once. His reasons for doing so are not clear: Toussaint claimed that Sonthonax had plans to massacre Whites and declare independence, though there is no additional evidence of this. Sonthonax resisted at first but agreed to go when Toussaint threatened to use force. Toussaint sent him with a complimentary letter thanking him for his service. After considering Toussaint’s potential motives, James suggests that Toussaint’s expulsion of Sonthonax reflected his unease at political developments in France, where pro-slavery officials were regaining power.
Those officials willfully disregarded positive reports from the colony and took Toussaint’s dismissal of Sonthonax as a sign that he wanted independence. Aware of their intentions, Toussaint dictated a rousing letter to the Directory, the highest governing body at the time, which James ranks as a masterpiece alongside “Pericles on Democracy, Paine on the Rights of Man, the Declaration of Independence, [and] the Communist Manifesto” (198).
Chapter 9 Summary: “The Expulsion of the British”
Under pressure from the colonists in France, the Directory appointed Gabriel Hédouville, a former nobleman, as general and governor of the colony with instructions to reduce Toussaint’s power if possible. British losses in the San Domingo continued to accumulate, with the death toll surpassing 80,000 in three years. After a series of decisive victories for Toussaint, British Colonel Thomas Maitland negotiated a truce to evacuate Port-Républicain (formerly Port-au-Prince). Toussaint granted amnesty to those who supported the British. In the south, the British made one more attack, which Toussaint and Rigaud repelled together.
The two then traveled north to meet with Hédouville at Le Cap. Hédouville struck a deal with Rigaud and pressured Toussaint to go to France, but he refused. Toussaint carried on negotiations with Maitland for the evacuation of the remaining British holdings. Maitland, perhaps hoping to make Toussaint jealous, started secret negotiations with Hédouville, which he then revealed to Toussaint. Toussaint responded with a scathing letter to Hédouville. Maitland then met with Toussaint and invited him to rule the island as a king, promising him British protection, an offer Toussaint refused. Recognizing defeat, the British abandoned the island completely by the end of 1798.
Turning to administrative matters, Toussaint and Hédouville argued about how to treat the émigré Whites; Toussaint wanted to allow them to return after taking an “oath of fidelity” (215); Hédouville wanted to take stricter measures. Tired of fighting, and hoping the conflict was over, Toussaint resigned his position as commander-in-chief and prepared to retire.
Hédouville soon attempted to introduce a system of apprenticed labor and placed coastal areas under the control of White troops. Questioning his intentions, Blacks grew suspicious. When a private fight broke out among soldiers, Hédouville seized the chance to depose the commanding officer, Hyacinthe Moïse, Toussaint’s adopted nephew and one of his trusted commanders. In retaliation, Toussaint and his forces moved to arrest Hédouville, who fled to France. Upon arrival, Hédouville sent a letter to Rigaud, authorizing him to take possession of the south and act against Toussaint.
Chapters 7-9 Analysis
These middle chapters reveal Toussaint in peak problem-solving form. Each highlights a different challenge to his goals for the colony from the Mulattoes, the reactionary forces in France, and the British. They also show Toussaint taking on greater responsibility: No longer under Laveaux’s benevolent protection, he takes it upon himself to expel Sonthonax from the colony. Throughout, James generally vouches for Toussaint’s judgment, as when Toussaint contradicts Laveaux in wishing to condemn Villate. He also points out Toussaint’s wisdom in warning Sonthonax not to arrest Pinchinat. Though James finds Toussaint’s decision to expel Sonthonax more problematic, labeling the episode an “unsolved enigma to this day” (188), he goes on to interpret Toussaint’s actions as a sign of his foresight.
James takes Toussaint’s interactions with Hédouville as an opportunity to further explore the hypocrisies of colonialism. After allowing Toussaint to remain in power long enough to expel the British from the island, which was in keeping with French interests, Hédouville turned on Toussaint at once. Even after returning to France, Hédouville sought to destabilize Toussaint by empowering Rigaud in his place. What made Toussaint such an effective leader for these times, according to James, was not merely his military prowess, but his ability to see through the deceptions and shortsighted offers of both the British and the French. James compares Toussaint’s clairvoyance in such matters to Rigaud’s susceptibility: On two separate occasions, Rigaud was taken in by empty offers from British and then French officers.
James also continues to develop Marxist themes. Like Karl Marx, a German philosopher who emphasized the role of the peasants in social reform, James says that it was the San Domingo “masses” who “saved” Toussaint from Hédouville’s subversive intentions. So great was their unrest at Hédouville’s attempts to tip the island toward slavery that he remained unable to accomplish his aims.
