Today, a strong leader has traits that drive others to success. For example, Abraham Lincoln was a strong leader due to his eloquence, his honesty, and his political skill among a myriad of other talents essential to being a strong, inspiring leader. Similarly, Toussaint used his strong skills as a military leader to establish himself as the ruler of St. Domingue. Toussaint was known as a strong military leader, the liberator of slaves, and the ruler of St. Domingue.
Toussaint should be remembered mainly as a strong military leader. His passion, military strategies, and inspiration helped to drive his people to success. Using creative military tactics, Toussaint was able to win the majority of his battles. “Toussaint gained a reputation for running an orderly camp and for training his men in both guerrilla tactics and the European shoulder to shoulder style of war." [Doc A.]. In Haiti, the terrain is not even and in fact very mountainous. Because of this, Toussaint’s soldiers had the advantage when the European troops travelled to Haiti to raid and pillage their towns. Document F states that "Toussaint and his generals at once abandoned the towns, and took themselves to the mountains, those citadels of freedom in st. Domingo, where the blacks have always proved too many much for the whites." With the mountainous terrain providing much cover to duck in and out of, Toussaint's soldiers were very familiar in terms of knowing how to navigate through them. On the contrary, Napoleon's soldiers were only used to fighting in classic, European style shoulder to shoulder warfare. This unorthodox way of fighting led to the Haitians triumph over Napoleon's troops. Prior to the attempted raiding by Napoleon's soldiers, Toussaint presented a very passionate and inspiring speech to help motivate his troops to persevere through the upcoming 2 years of war they were about to encounter. After nearly 26,000 french deaths, Napoleon eventually withdrew his soldiers from Haiti. This proves Toussaint’s legacy and remembrance as a strong military leader.
Furthermore, Toussaint should be recognized secondly as the Liberator of slaves. His strong self-establishment as a leader in St. Domingue allowed him to issue the Saint Domingue Constitution of 1801 [Doc C]. In this constitution, Toussaint states “There cannot exist slaves in this territory, servitude is therein forever abolished. All men are born, live, and die free and French.” [Doc C]. This statement alone forever banishes the concept of slavery on the island of St. Domingue. Complimenting his title as a strong military leader, Toussaint’s letter to the French Directory further shows how fearless and passionate he is about maintaining and protecting his people’s rights as free men and women. “But today when they have left it, if they had a thousand lives, they would sacrifice them all rather than be subjected again to slavery…” [Doc B]. This quote is a perfect example of Toussaint’s passive aggressive protection for his freedom. This quote essentially says that his people would rather lose their own life rather than be chained up and labeled a slave once more.
As a final point, Toussaint should lastly be remembered as the ruler of Saint Domingue. Despite being such a prominent title, it was not his most memorable trait or legacy. However, Toussaint did manage to powerfully establish himself as the ruler of St. Domingue. As mentioned above, Toussaint was single handedly able to establish an entire constitution as well as laws to restrict certain articles from their full freedom. “After having taken knowledge of the Constitution, I give it my approval… I shall pass it to the French government in order to obtain its sanction.” [Doc C]. This quote shows his complete approval and consent of the Constitution made only for Saint Domingue. Despite the Constitution granting seemingly total freedom, Toussaint’s Proclamation in 1801 established rules on top of the Constitution in order to kick start his new land. For example, “As soon as a child can walk, he should be employed on the plantation according to his strength in some useful work” [Doc D]. This quote helps to establish the minimum requirement for a child to begin working on any sort of plantation. Despite Toussaint establishing many freedoms and many rules, this was not his most prominent trait yet one of the top ways to remember Toussaint Louverture.
Although there were many ways to remember Toussaint Louverture, remembering him as a strong military leader is the most important way to remember him. Being such an inspiration to his troops, being so eloquent and being a masterful military strategist, his title as a commander in chief is nothing less than well deserved. His final stand against Napoleon’s troops proved victorious, however, he was capture and left for dead in prison by Napoleon’s soldiers. Louverture was never able to see St. Domingue become the independent island of Haiti that it is today. Toussaint’s legacy is forever remembered by those who were passed down from the times of the Haitian Revolution.
