41 pages • 1 hour read
C.L.R. JamesThe Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1938A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary: “The San Domingo Masses Begin”
In northern San Domingo, pressure toward revolution mounted; James characterizes the slaves working on the plains of San Domingo as “closer to a modern proletariat than any group of workers in existence at the time” (86). In July 1791, Voodoo high priest Dutty Boukman led thousands of slaves near Le Cap in a coordinated attack. Angry and desperate, Boukman’s forces destroyed property, killed planters, and raped women but were never as cruel, in James’s view, as the colonists. After weeks of fighting, Boukman died in battle, and the slaves paused to regroup. Tens of thousands of recruits flooded in, including 45-year-old Toussaint. His intellect, athleticism, and experience as a steward earned him a position of influence early on.
Three commissioners arrived from France, hoping to resolve the conflict. After four months of fighting without breaking the colonists’ defenses, Jean François, Georges Biassou, and Toussaint, leaders of the slave rebellion, wrote an eloquent letter offering to surrender, on condition that 400 leaders of the revolution be set free. Unwilling to negotiate, and confident that they could defeat the slaves, the colonists refused to meet with Toussaint, instead communicating in writing or sending the commissioners as mediators. After the colonists rejected Toussaint’s second offer, which asked for just 60 slaves to be set free, he resolved to fight for the “complete liberty of all” (108). Over the next few months, he drilled troops, devised tactics, and trained a small but elite force of fighters.
To the west, near Port-au-Prince, mixed-race individuals gathered under the leadership of André Rigaud, a Mulatto who had previously fought in the French army, to protest ongoing mistreatment by the small whites. Joining forces with royalists, they almost managed to pass an agreement granting political rights to Mulattoes before fighting broke out with the Patriots. Roused into action, the Mulattoes began to recruit slaves to their cause. In April 1792, a combined army of slaves, free Blacks, Mulattoes, and royalists defeated the Patriots at Port-au-Prince in a six-hour battle. Similar conflicts broke out further south. In France, after extensive debate, the new Legislative Assembly passed a decree granting political rights to the free Mulattoes, though it refused to even discuss slavery.
Chapter 5 Summary: “And the Paris Masses Complete”
Dissatisfaction with the moderate Legislative Assembly moved the “masses” of Paris to rise up on August 10, 1792 and establish the more radical National Convention in its place. The new regime, led by Maximilien Robespierre and his party, The Mountain, passed social reforms and executed political opponents, including King Louis XVI in January 1793. James describes this period as “one of the supreme epochs of political history” in which the common people had great influence on governmental proceedings (138). Fearful of similar uprisings, England and Spain soon declared war on France.
Upon arriving in San Domingo with 6,000 troops in September 1792, French commissioner Léger-Félicité Sonthonax was surprised to find minimal resistance to the decree granting Mulattoes rights. Together with the revolutionaries, Sonthonax defeated and deported thousands of royalist leaders and sympathizers at Le Cap. Their exodus marked the “end of white domination in San Domingo” (127). French forces also gained ground against the slave rebellion, but they soon had to withdraw to defend the island from English and Spanish attacks. When the Spanish offered the Black rebels an alliance, they happily accepted. Wanting support against the Spanish, Sonthonax decreed the abolition of slavery on August 29, 1793, but François, Biassou, and Toussaint refused to change allegiance.
In the south, insurgent slaves began to win battles against colonists and Mulattoes. In the west, near Port-au-Prince, property-owning Mulattoes claimed victory, ignored Sonthonax’s decree, and put 100,000 slaves back to work. The slave rebellion continued to welcome new recruits, including some royalist deserters from the French army, who praised Biassou but objected to Toussaint’s promises to free all slaves after the war. With shrewd tactics, Toussaint’s forces captured a line of cities stretching from the Spanish territory in the east to Gonaïves on the west coast.
British forces arrived in San Domingo in September 1793. Within a few months, they captured much of the colony, including Port-au-Prince, the capital. Many colonists welcomed them, hoping that they would restore the system of slavery. Though Toussaint maintained his alliance with the Spanish, who were allied to the British, he realized that neither power was likely to abolish slavery.
In January 1794, a delegation from San Domingo consisting of a White man, a Mulatto, and a free Black man addressed the National Convention in Paris. After the Black man, a former slave, spoke, the Assembly immediately issued a decree abolishing slavery, though some merchants complained that it had acted too quickly. When news of the decree reached San Domingo, French forces swelled with the support of the slave rebellion. Toussaint severed ties with the Spanish, winning back the same territory he had previously won for Spain, along with some British holdings, leading thousands of followers with him.
Chapter 6 Summary: “The Rise of Toussaint”
With Sonthonax deported to France, French General Étienne Laveaux took control of the island. Toussaint, acting as Laveaux’s subordinate, enjoyed virtually “unchecked command” of most of the army. His soldiers were mostly native Africans, unable to speak French. Though Toussaint struggled to feed and arm them, they remained loyal to him for his inspiring leadership and firm commitment to securing their liberty; he once dictated a letter that convinced a band of 3,000 “maroons” to join his cause after that same group had received offers from the British and property-owning Mulattoes. By 1796, “Toussaint’s word […] was law” to the Black forces in the north (154).
Hoping to maintain the economy, Toussaint put the former slaves back to work, now with wages. He treated the Whites generously, arranging for those who wished to return to direct work on their plantations under the new system. Thanks to Toussaint’s efforts, Spain signed a peace treaty in 1795, and the British forces suffered many setbacks. Laveaux and Toussaint’s relationship deepened to one of mutual admiration and trust.
Chapters 4-6 Analysis
In these chapters, James details the earliest days of the revolution. As before, he explains the slaves’ actions in ways that are sympathetic, even when they make questionable choices. For instance, when Boukman’s forces take violent action in the north, James reminds readers that they were “far more humane than their masters had been” (88). For James, the validity of any action can only be judged in context.
These chapters also see the beginning of some divisions within the revolutionary movement. Though Boukman invoked a Voodoo blessing before launching his attack, Toussaint, a Catholic, stamped out Voodoo practices wherever he found them. The tension between Voodoo, an African religion, and Catholicism, which was the religion of the French colonists, mirrors the dual nature of national identity in the West Indies, a theme that James develops in the Appendix.
These chapters also offer a strong critique of colonialism. Though a few Europeans worked to undo the harms of slavery, including Laveaux, Sonthonax, and Robespierre, these individuals were the exception to the rule. James makes it clear that, by and large, France, England, and Spain were motivated by greed. Within the colony itself, social distinctions between rich and middle-class Whites, as well as between Mulattoes and Blacks, all fed into partisan politics, with each faction primarily seeking its own empowerment at the expense of others. Because the slaves were the class most fully deprived of liberty, they could sense the benefits of equality more deeply than any other demographic.
These passages show Toussaint in his prime, as James expounds his admiration for the commander. Drawing on his letters and personal interactions, James characterizes Toussaint as a man of rare “ability, energy, and charm” (162). By showing how charismatic and friendly Toussaint could be, James endears him to readers and sets up a contrast with Toussaint’s later struggles.
