The Condition of Workers in Saint Domingue

La condition des travailleurs à Saint-Domingue by Hénock Trouillot is yet another study of Haitian history exploring a specific topic or theme, that of labor and workers. While brief and often relying on the works of Debien as well as the usual primary source materials from the 18th century (Labat, d'Auberteuil, Moreau de Saint-Mery, etc.), Trouillot actually raised a few interesting questions about the future leadership of Haiti and its origins among the artisans and skilled workers of the affranchis and black slave populations of Saint Domingue. It is a topic Trouillot also explored in another work we have not yet found, but is raised occasionally in La condition des travailleurs à Saint-Domingue. Most of the text is really an overview of white, free people of color, and enslaved workers of various types, including the white petit blancs, free people of color who worked in a variety of trades and occupations, and enslaved people who were "skilled" or domestics who were often able to flout the colonial/slave system. In some ways, it was rather paradoxical since rich free people of color and some "privileged" slaves sought to emulate whites. However, their very position and the contempt of the petit blancs for such people (particularly as blacks were favored for labor, even in skilled positions, while free people of color who became wealthy could become objects of scorn for less successful whites) display how unstable the system was. The degree to which a nègre à talent and other enslaved people working as domestics of various sorts or in all the trades could similarly live as "free" people in towns and cities through a number of means represented another blow to the colonial system's strict racial hierarchy. 

Petion's Republic and the Haitian People

La République de Pétion et le peuple haïtien by Hénock Trouillot is important to read when considering Trouillot as a historian of early Haiti. Juxtaposed with his study of the government of Henri Christophe, Trouillot establishes, quite convincingly, how the model of a modern state was more likely to be achieved under the northern king than the republican government in the South and West. Unlike Christophe, whose state was more successful at maintaining large-scale plantation production and ensuring the state possessed significant reserves, the southern republic was cash-strapped, lawless or crime-filled in the capital, notably corrupt, and delivered the economy of the country into the hands of foreign merchants. Christophe's state, which inherited some of the the practices of Toussaint Louverture and the Dessalinien Empire, was more successful at protecting national commerce and industry and was, if given the time, more likely to lead to a stronger state.

Unfortunately, Petion's republic became the model for Haiti after the reunification under President Boyer. Even though Boyer himself had to repudiate or distance himself from some of his predecessor's actions, the mold was already cast. Thus, the regular abuse of power by the executive against the legislative branch and Petion's intervention in the courts was inherited by subsequent presidents. In addition, the incompetence of Petion during his war with Christophe helped ensure the fall of General Lamarre. Deficits, corruption, mishandling of government revenues, and politicians or functionaries cheating the state were regular affairs that sadly plague Haiti to this day. Even Petion himself encouraged the production of counterfeit Haitian currency as his administration looked the other way as Pigny, the director of the Hotel de la Monnaie, enriched himself by printing extra cash and the government accepted counterfeit money at a percentage of its value. 

Petion's republic embraced liberalism to detrimental consequences, too. For instance, his republic weakened national commerce by ending many of the protections of Dessalines and the state's role in commerce, ultimately favoring foreign merchants with access to capital, credit and international markets. Some examples of foreign merchants who enriched themselves during this time included the Frenchman Frederic Martin, who violated laws and received special treatment due to his friendship and partnership with the Bonnets. These foreign merchants often sold on credit to detaillants, who were often women (wives or mistresses of prominent Haitian functionaries or military leaders) who then resold imported goods to petite marchandes from their boutiques. This system, however, led to greater dependence on foreigners (French, English, German and American) who had access to credit, capital, and wielded a great influence on the commerce of the nation. Even attempts to protect local commerce often fell short since those in the upper echelons of the republic's administration were often landowners with an interest in grand commerce that entailed partnerships with these important merchants. These same individuals, including the president were willing to look the other way when foreigners violated laws that restricted their activities. 

Even on the land question, an area in which Petion is sometimes praised for recognizing the merits of small-scale proprietorship, the reality was quite different. According to Trouillot, he actually sold or made concessions to land to upper ranks of the military while saving the best lands for high-level functionaries or himself. However, the lack of capital, absence of technicians and loss or destruction of machinery during the Haitian Revolution meant that the land was often parceled or resold multiple times. This was the beginning of the de moitie system since those who held property needed some system in which labor could be found to produce something for export or national markets. However, it was not necessarily the intent of the president to provide land directly to the cultivateurs on a large scale, nor was his government able to protect them from the abuses of the corvee system or even from beatings by their employer. Indeed, even soldiers were sometimes forced to work on lands owned by their superior officers! What often occurred was a type of serfdom for the cultivateurs, especially when landowners were high-ranking functionaries or military generals with the means to abuse the corvee system or their power to exploit the cultivateurs who received little or no pay or medical benefits from their de moitie contracts. 

What about the population of Haiti? Sadly, Trouillot's sources did not allow him to delve deeply into this matter. However, Petion was, through demagogy, a popular ruler. He regularly gave alms to the poor during national celebrations and, perhaps due to his fears of sparking disturbances because of the color question, he went out of his way to treat noirs well (or at least that's what some sources suggest). Nonetheless, despite his popularity, popular discontent and hostility directed against the French was palpable. Disorder, theft, and anti-French violence in Port-au-Prince were common enough to spark fears among some of the foreign merchant colonies in the capital. Likewise, even the dance societies (tied to Carnaval?) which included titles like president, king, queen and general for their leadership sparked fears of political disorder and revolts. The fact that the government expressed fears of the masses i the city and the ongoing revolt of Goman in the South was never defeated by Petion suggest the masses reacted to Petion with overt and covert resistance. The crimes targeting the goods of foreign merchants and the French, for instance, were undoubtedly a reflection of the populace's anti-French sentiments and fear of a European takeover or invasion. Similarly, Goman's state lasting so long in the Sud showed the appeal of his movement to people in that region as well as its ability to establish a functional community with agricultural exports to Christophe and abroad to furnish itself with weapons and ammunition. Whether or not a noir had tried to assassinate him right before Petion's death is unclear, but the fears of the French that a massacre of the "mulattoes" or themselves was possible in the transition to Boyer's government definitely points to the republic's instability and weakness. Petion, in short, failed to establish stable institutions while encouraging the state against nation paradigm so expertly elucidated by Trouillot's nephew.

Le Devenir du Métissage Racial en Haïti

Le Devenir du Métissage Racial en Haïti, a brief essay on racial mixing in Haiti, is too short to be of much substance. However, as an early work of Haitian historian Henock Trouillot, it is interesting for providing insight into how Trouillot viewed race, Haitian culture, and the fate of the nation in 1948. Viewing race broadly as types of human beings not solely defined by pigmentation, the mainly African and French (the Indian mostly disappeared or left little genetic presence in Haiti, although Trouillot cites Jacob to reference the possible survival of pockets of Indians in different parts of Haiti) components in the making of the Haitian people are portrayed as the fundamental racial mixing in Haiti. While most Haitians were and are not "mulattoes" like some of the other Caribbean populations, this broader conception of "race" means that Haitians, the product of so many different types of African and French populations, are a highly mixed population. Indeed, this diversity is even praised as one of the benefits of not having a genetically isolated population. Furthermore, Trouillot's thoughts on Vodou and Creole present a mix of progressive and derogatory views. Creole, in Trouillot's mind, should be used to make the Haitian masses literate and, by extension, elevate the intellectual, social, and economic conditions of Haiti. Vodou, however, is seen as part of the primitive mentality of mysticism. This brings to mind Trouillot's later work on Vodou and the need to modernize Haiti by elevating the Haitian masses culturally. Overall, Trouillot's brief essay is more enlightening for demonstrating how Haitian intellectuals of the 1940s defined race and conceived the Haitian ethnie (though Trouillot adopts a historico-cultural model rather than a strictly bioanthropological methodology). One also sees in Trouillot how some Haitian historians and ethnologists, infused with a nationalist spirit and racial pride, sought to use education and the creation of a national mystique propagated by education and the state, to build a stronger state. One sees the influence of the Griots and Price-Mars here, albeit from a historical perspective. 

The Government of King Henri Christophe

Hénock Trouillot's Le gouvernement du roi Henri Christophe offers a broad overview of the kingdom of Haiti under Henri Christophe. Based on archival sources, newspaper accounts written in the Republic to the South, and the descriptions of travelers and writers like Dumesle, Trouillot endeavored to reconstruct the history of Christophe's state. Recognizing that most of our writings on Christophe from the Republic were authored by ideological and political opponents of the kingdom, Trouillot attempted to offer a balanced assessment of Christophe's government. Instead of seeing him as a bloodthirsty tyrant, Christophe's state was a totalitarianism avant la lettre which sought to build a modern black nation through a strong economy and well-ordered polity. One sees this through Christophe's fortifications and national defense policy, protection of national commerce and promotion of Haitian industry and labor, and economic, educational and political policies that regulated social life while creating clear hierarchies in which the rights of the cultivateur were, at least on paper, protected. 

Due to Trouillot's desire to shed a more positive light on Christophe's kingdom, one can see how every policy pursued by Christophe, even before the death of Dessalines, was connected to establishing a firm foundation for a wealthy, civilized, and well-defended state. Surrounded by slaveholding powers in a hostile world, Christophe, like Toussaint and Dessalines, believed the island's fate lied in reestablishing agriculture and industry. Christophe accomplished this with a system in which the large estates were preserved and distributed to a nobility appointed by him. Paying 1/4 of the proceeds of the estates to the state and 1/4 to the laborers, Christophe instituted a system of taxation and strict controls to ensure the recipients of land grants performed their duty of producing sugar, coffee, and other exports. Christophe's state relied on the military and police to ensure the laborers did not leave the estates without permission, too. However, the laborers were, at least in theory, the recipients had access to government redress in cases of exploitation. In addition, Christophe's state was wealthy. The successful system of production adopted in the kingdom, based on that of the earlier system used by Dessalines, Toussaint and Sonthonax, left about 30 million gourdes in the state treasury. This wealth came from sound economic policies and a system of land tenure in which the state was ever-ready to ensure consistent production and pursue international trade (most favorably with Britain). 

In addition to Christophe's system of land administration, he promoted national industry and commerce. Christophe spent dearly for foreign teachers, artisans, expertise and technicians to train local Haitians. His educational policy, which appears to have still been in a limited form by the time of his death in 1820, included an ambitious program that would have, if he had the time, probably reached all corners of the state. Nonetheless, his policies did succeed in promoting the training of a cadre of Haitian artisans and technicians. Indeed, even what at first seems like a waste of funds on Christophe's fine palaces, chateaux and monuments, was actually an expenditure that mostly employed Haitian labor and artisans. This further encouraged the development of Haitian skilled labor while also ensuring that the appointed nobility would also employ or seek the services of Haitian skilled laborers on their own projects. Christophe's success in this regard, combined with the success of higher agricultural production, ensured his state was far wealthier than the southern republic. One can see how his lavish palaces and monuments were spent in ways that could support local industry and the development of a local economy.

Sadly, the lack of additional sources, particularly on taxation and imports and exports, prohibits a deeper understanding of Christophean state's political economy. Nonetheless, with what has survived and made it into the Haitian National Archives, Trouillot's analysis affirms the kingdom's economic wealth. It was exactly the type of state which, despite its internal problems (the use of forced labor, the limitations on the movement of cultivateurs and the attempts to prohibit Vodou) was likely to build and consolidate a strong nation-state in a sea of hostile powers. Unlike the republic to the south, Christophe's kingdom was a centralized administration in which the state played a direct role in nearly every area. Christophe's success could be seen in that his treasury contained an estimated 30 million gourdes when he died, with most of it looted and pillaged by his disloyal subjects, leaving only an estimated 9 million for Boyer's government (according to Trouillot). His grandiose vision had even included a plan to recruit 40,000 African recaptives through negotiations with the British, presumably using these Africans to supplement his army. This was a brilliant strategy that, if there had been sufficient time, could have helped save Christophe from the rebels who pushed him to commit suicide. Lamentably, Christophe's regime perished and a reunified Haiti, under Boyer, agreed to the onerous indemnification of France.

Trouillot and Ardouin

Since we try to read something relevant to Haiti at least once per month, we decided to finally read the short pamphlet on Beaubrun Ardouin by Haitian historian Hénock Trouillot. Trouillot's short study of one of the major 19th century historians of the island briefly covers his background, political career and historical writings. Due to its brevity, one looking for anything like a detailed biographical or critical study will be disappointed. Nonetheless, it's an interesting read, particularly when compared to more recent revisionist scholarship on 19th century Haiti. Trouillot doesn't dwell on what Nicholls calls the "mulatto legend" of Haitian history allegedly promoted by Ardouin. However, due to his familial background, connections, and professions of liberalism, Ardouin definitely did emphasize the role of anciens libres and was clearly an important figure in the illiberal Boyer administration. Nonetheless, Trouillot does not place too much emphasis on color per se, instead seeing the errors and problematic assertions in Ardouin's historical writings as part of his own political biases, social background, or the lack of adequate sources. We hope to revisit Ardouin's Etudes sur l'histoire d'Haïti as well as the works of Thomas Madiou in the future.