|
|||
|
| Revolutionary War 1791-1803 > |
Some notes made while researching my paper on Napoleon's plans.
The eventual paper that resulted from this research was:Napolean's West Indian Policy and the Haitian "Gift" to the United States
Bob Corbett
Haitian Studies Association meetings: Oct. 1991.Heinl: p. 99 ff.
p. 112. Napoleon's decision to seize Louisiana.
From Howard's book: Journals of a soldier. xviii
"This force (Toussaint's) aided by disease and political events in Europe, defeated Napoleon's ambition to build a great colonial empire in the Americas..."
Secret treaty of San Ildefonso, Oct. 1, 1800, ceded Louisiana to France from Spain.
Korngold xii-xiii for plot.
"It was not Toussaint's intention to help the United States of America acquire the Louisiana Territory, which doubled the area of the country and made possible further expansion westward; but there is reason to believe that but for the Negro general (Toussaint) the Territory might have remained a French colony.
"Napoleon's ambition was to build a great colonial empire. The keystone of that empire was of course to be the incomparable colony of St. Domingo, from which France is said to have derived more profit than all other nations derived from their combined colonies in Asia, Africa and America. As long as Toussaint Louverture remained in power, St. Domingo was a French colony in name only. In reality it was an independent state, having its own constitution, making its own laws, maintaining its own army and negotiating treaties with foreign powers. Even the last link, the Agent or Commissioner, had disappeared. The first step in Napoleon's colonial program was, therefore, to plan the elimination of Toussaint Louverture. The second was the retrocession by Spain, to the French Republic, of the Louisiana Territory, for--says Henry Adams--'St. Domingo, like all the West Indies, suffered as a colony under a serious disadvantage, being dependent for its supplies on the United States,--a dangerous neighbor both by its political example and its commercial and maritime rivalry with the mother country. The First Consul hoped to correct this evil by substituting Louisiana for the United States as a source of supplies for St. Domingo.'
"So, Auguest 1800, Napoleon sent Berthier to the Court of Madrid to negotiate the retrocession of the Territory. He received assurance that it would be ceded, and the following year sent his brother-in-law, General Leclerc, at the head of the most powerful army that had ever crossed the Atlantic, to St. Domingo to subdue Toussaint Louverture. Had Leclerc succeeded, Napoleon would have carried out his project, and the Louisiana Territory would have remained a French colony.
"But Leclerc did not succeed. Napoleon's plan suffered shipwreck as a result of Toussaint Louverture's stubborn resistance and his foresight in arming virtually the entire Negro and mulatto population of St. Domingo. 'Louisiana could not be made useful until St. Domingo should be thoroughly subdued,' says Henry Adams. Having lost St. Domingo, Napoleon lost interest in the Louisiana Territory and sold it to Jefferson. But it was Toussaint Louverture and the Negroes and mulattos of St. Domingo who gave Jefferson his opportunity.
"Salvador de Madariaga gives credit to the Jewish race for having produced the man who discovered America. If the United States of America stretches from Canada to the Gulf and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, som e credit for this is due to a member of the Negro race."
P. 94 . HAITI AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. April 30, 1803. Treaty of sell New Orleans to U.S.
Leyburn p. 28 footnote # 19 suggest this "American" plot for Napoleon.
"The part played by Toussaint for a brief moment in the history of the United States is full of significance. Certain historians are of the opinion that if Napoleon had been successful in the re-conquest of Saint-Domingue he would have turned his attention to America rather than to Europe, for he had great colonial schemes. His failure in the colony, according to this theory, made him try to withdraw gracefully from the New World by selling Louisiana to the United States."
Montague, p. 39. Seems to think the plot was concocted for American political purposes.
Note: People were for or against slavery. upshot: Napoleon abandoned aims on U.S. and sold Louisiana Territory in large measure because he lost Saint-Domingue (foothold). This put and end to any plot theory, if one every really existed.
P. 92 Logan HAITI AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. For the plot. 93 also. p. 94 Henry Adams on role of LA. territory. Bonaparte warned English of pending war.
ASSIMULATION AND ASSOCIATION IN FRENCH COLONIAL THEORY, 1890-1914. Raymond F. Betts. Columbia University Press, New York and London, 1961.
P. 17. "The successful growth of the idea of assimilation during the Revolution was soon stunted with the advent of Napoleon as ruler of France. Although interested in colonial matters, Napoleon remained sceptical about assimilation. At first glance this attitude would seem curious, particularly in face of his own continental imperial policy which resulted in the Grand Empire, parts of which were virtually assimilated to France and subjected to the Napoleonic Code. Actually, however, Napoleon's colonial policy was the result of practical concerns, not doctrinal ones. Napoleon thought that in granting the colonies the same laws as those of France, the colonists and natives would soon be able to gain control of local governmental machinery and would inevitably upset the economic regime of the remaining colonies, a regime dependent in his eyes on cheap slave labor. Assimilation was therefore rejected, as was obvious in the Constitution of 22 Frimaire, Year VIII, which stated that the colonies would henchforth be regulated by separate laws."
|