Toussaint Louverture (Issuing the First Constitution of Saint-Domingue [Haiti], 1801), Ulrick Jean-Pierre

Born a slave in Saint-Domingue, Toussaint Louverture (1743–1803) became one of the most well-known leaders of the Haitian Revolution. In 1793, he delivered a famous address forcefully advocating the elimination of slavery, declaring, “I want Liberty and Equality to reign in St. Domingue. I am working to make that happen. Unite yourselves to us, brothers and fight with us for the same cause.” Less than four months after this rallying speech,
slavery was abolished in Haiti until Napoleon threatened to reinstitute it by drafting a new constitution for France’s colonies, including Saint-Domingue. To prevent the return of slavery to Haiti, Louverture drafted his own constitution that established his authority as “Governor-for-Life” over the entire island of Hispaniola. Although this document did not explicitly declare independence
from France, it did guarantee the end of slavery and cemented Louverture’s status as a symbol of Haitian freedom.

Toussaint Louverture was born as Toussaint Bréds, a slave in 1743 in Saint-Domingue. The Haitian Revolution officially began in 1791 shortly after the Vodou ceremony of Bois Caïman (depicted in the painting around the corner to your left) where Louverture assumed a leadership role as both a military strategist and diplomatic negotiator. At some point in 1792 or 1793, he adopted the surname Louverture meaning “opening” or “the one who opened the way” in French, most likely in reference to his acumen in battle. After years of carefully shifting his allegiances between the French, British, and Americans, Louverture was eventually arrested. Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Louverture’s one-time lieutenant and another figure in the fight for Haitian independence whose portrait also appears in this exhibition, was at least partially responsible for Louverture’s extradition to a prison in France, where he died in 1803 on the eve of Haitian independence.