the embargo act of 1807

Description

Toussaint L’Ouverture was the best-known leader of the Haitian Revolution. His military and political acumen saved the gains of the first Black insurrection in November 1791. He first fought for the Spanish against the French; then for France against Spain and Great Britain; and finally, for Saint-Domingue (French name for the region) against Napoleonic France.

In February 1793 France declared war on the Kingdom of Great Britain. That war involved the French colony of Saint-Domingue then in the throes of various revolts and attack by the Spanish. Toussaint L’Ouverture was soon under attack from the British troops who had landed on Saint-Domingue in September 1793.

On 30 April 1798, Louverture signed a treaty with the British general, Thomas Maitland, exchanging the withdrawal of British troops from western Saint-Domingue for an amnesty for the French counter-revolutionaries in those areas. In August 1798, Louverture and Maitland signed treaties for the evacuation of the remaining British troops. On 31 August 1798, they signed a secret treaty which lifted the British blockade on Saint-Domingue in exchange for a promise that Louverture would not export the black revolution to Jamaica.

The United States had suspended trade with France in 1798 because of increasing conflict over piracy. The two countries were almost at war, but trade between Saint-Domingue and the United States was desirable to both Louverture and the United States. With the secret British promise not to interfere in hand, Louverture sent Joseph Bunel, a white French-born plantation manager and a member of Louverture’s administration, to negotiate with the government of John Adams. In early-December 1798, Bunel arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to try to end an American trade embargo against Saint-Domingue. He met and dined with Secretary of State Timothy Pickering and was later invited to meet President John Adams. In early-January 1799, he and his wife, the first person of African descent to attend a dinner with the President, dined with Adams.

President Adams, no friend of French royalty or revolutionaries, saw the benefit of trade with Haiti in the midst of conflict with the French in Europe. While the United States did not officially recognize the Haitian Revolutionary Government under Louverture, a trade agreement was announced by presidential proclamation on June 26, 1799: U.S. Proclamation Regarding Commerce with St. Domingo. The terms of the treaty were similar to those already established between Louverture and the British. New England ship captains were soon anchoring in Port-a-Prince Bay.

Following Jefferson’s 1800 election as president, official American support for Saint-Domingue diminished, but merchants continued to trade. Bunel returned to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1803 as a private citizen where he became a major exporter of contraband goods to Saint-Domingue for several years.

It wasn’t until the Embargo Act of 1807, a general embargo enacted by the United States Congress against Great Britain and France, that trade with Haiti was curtailed. The extent of trade during and after the Embargo is not understood because few records exist.

Your assignment is to research the Embargo of 1807 and the effectiveness of that embargo in reducing trade with Haiti. Then write an essay that explains the embargo’s affect and Jefferson’s attitude toward Brunel and Haitian trade. Your essay needs to be in the 5-paragraph format. More detail earns a better grade. The essay is due on Saturday, 09/26.