Contradictory Connections: Commercial Currents and Political Perspectives of Haitian Independence in the U.S. South

On January 1, 1804, Haiti declared independence from France, becoming the first Black-led nation outside of Africa and a country whose creation was the culmination of the most successful slave revolution in history. Haiti’s independence underscores what scholar Marlene Daut calls the “1804 Principle,” or the idea that “racism, colonialism, and slavery are the greatest evils of any time.” But Haiti’s nationhood depended on its commercial recognition by the Atlantic world’s other nations; nations that promoted the racism, colonialism, and slavery that the new Haitian state opposed. This thesis explores the tensions of Haitian mercantile relations in one of those slave-holding spaces: the United States South. It argues that commercial recognition in the U.S. South varied by geographic location. In the Upper South, Baltimore, Maryland, was Haiti’s top trading partner between 1804 and 1806. At the same time, Charleston, South Carolina, saw a dramatic decrease in ships trading with Haiti between 1803 and 1805. In 1803, 57 ships arrived in the South Carolina port from Haiti. In 1805, only three ships came from the Black nation. Political leaders in South Carolina reconciled their desires to spread slavery with their fears of the Haitian Revolution. As a result, white South Carolinians viewed Haiti through a more racially sensationalist lens before the United States officially interdicted trade with the country in 1806. While people in the Deep South viewed Haiti through a primarily racially sensationalist lens, Haiti conjured a more complex image in the Upper South. In places like Baltimore, Haiti represented economic opportunity, and the city’s merchant community went through great lengths to continue trading with the country.