Book Description
Toussaint dared to challenge that, not just with the belief that slaves should be free, but with the far more radical concept that slaves had within themselves the power to break their chains and live free and independent. He dared to demonstrate that truth, not against a corrupt and decadent colonial government, but against the very same French military leaders and troops who had conquered Europe with ease. The defeat he and his people inflicted the French was so great that the nation abandoned its most valuable overseas possession for a pitance rather than risk another colonial war. That's why the United States owes its possession of all the land west of the Alleganies and east of the Mississipi River to a Haitian slave whose name most Americans have never heard.
When this book was published in 1853, slavery was in fighting for its existence. Modern Britain never permitted slavery on its shores and, after a long and bitter political struggle, banned slavery in its colonies. In the sort of unilateral projection of force that is the prerogative of superpowers, the navies of Britain and, oddly enough, of the United States sought to end the seaborne slave trade that remained, particularly that around the coasts of Africa. But in the United States, the 'peculiar institution' of slavery remained. This book was written to destroy the prejudices upon which that slavery was built, using as an example the marvelous life of Toussaint L'Overture.
This is the book to read if you want to be inspired by words out of the past, a book about a brilliant military leader, a far-sighted statesman, and a good and decent man.
