Haitian Connections: Recognition after Revolution in the Atlantic World by Julia Gaffield

Abstract

Haitian Connections: Recognition after Revolution in Atlantic World. By Julia Gaffield. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2015. ISBN 978-1-4696-2562-1. 274 pp. $29.95 US. Paperback.Since Julius Scott's 1986 dissertation A Common Wind: Currents of AfroAmerican Communication in Era of Haitian Revolution, scholars have recognized and highlighted complicated web of connections that existed among various empires, nations, and colonies of Atlantic World in late eighteenth century.1 Scott's original argument was that ships traversing Caribbean transported more than just agricultural products and manufactured goods. The workers on these ships, many of whom were of African descent, carried ideas, news, and rumors of equality and liberation from port to port and created a Caribbean sense of identity. This eventually contributed to slave rebellions in plantation societies throughout Atlantic. Countless books have adopted this interpretation of Caribbean history and used it as a lens through which to view era and region, but none until now have tested usefulness of common wind interpretation for understanding Haiti's early diplomatic history. In fact, story of Haiti after independence usually emphasizes opposite of interconnectedness; it is often characterized as a nation of isolation. Julia Gaffield's new book Haitian Connections: Recognition after Revolution in Atlantic World acknowledges Scott's influence and pushes beyond Haiti's 1804 declaration of independence to examine how connections around Atlantic shaped diplomatic realities of new Haitian nation. Her book provides an interpretation characterized by nuance and careful detail as she examines ways that Haiti's leaders interacted with European powers, neighboring slave colonies, and newly independent United States of America. Their efforts, while not entirely successful, were able to minimize Haiti's isolation to a certain degree.In order to build her argument, Gaffield focuses on ways that Haiti asserted its independence and methods that Atlantic powers adopted in order to control region. Prior to revolution, SaintDomingue's ports represented a major hub for Caribbean trade. In spite of revolution's disruption of colony's plantation economy, Atlantic nations saw great economic value in restoring trade networks between their ports and those of Haiti. Ideological and diplomatic concerns complicated these efforts, however. Haiti was first Black republic, and granting official recognition indicated tacit support of both slave insurrection and colonial revolt. US and British officials were understandably reluctant on one or both counts. Drawing on work of Lauren Benton, Gaffield finds evidence to underscore the complicated and layered process through which decisions were made, arguing that outcomes that resulted not always add up coherently (125-126). At multiple times throughout country's first twenty years of independence, Haitian leaders negotiated trade relationships with various ports but failed to convince anyone to award them full recognition until after 1825. It was not until American Civil War that United States did so. Still, such trade opportunities from those who withheld official diplomatic relationships helped to sustain Haiti through difficult first years of independence, and it was through these connections with Atlantic powers that Haiti made a case for acceptance.When General Charles Victoire Emmanuel Leclerc and his troops exited Haiti in 1803, they did so without surrendering. Intending to reinvade their former colony once fighting in Europe subsided, French leaders were unwilling to admit that rebel fighters had in fact defeated metropole. They believed that regaining control of their colony was essential since wealth of nation was largely dependent on production of its Caribbean plantations. …