Napoleon, Slavery and Haitian Independence

In 1802 Napoleon sent a large expedition under his brother-in-law, General Leclerc, to reassert French control of Saint-Domingue. A law of 20 May 1802 maintained slavery in colonies where abolition had not been applied, and slavery was restored in Guadeloupe that year. Toussaint was arrested by deception and deported. When news of the restoration of slavery elsewhere spread, resistance in Saint-Domingue intensified under Jean-Jacques Dessalines and others.

Yellow fever devastated the French troops, killing Leclerc himself, and the war became brutal on both sides. On 18 November 1803 the French were defeated at Vertières. On 1 January 1804 Dessalines declared the independence of Haiti, taking an Indigenous Taíno name for the island. Haiti became the second independent state in the Americas and the first founded by formerly enslaved people. In 1825 France forced it to pay a huge indemnity in return for recognition.