Significance of Haitian Revolution

Haiti was the most prosperous of all the French colonies during the period of slavery. The production of sugar, coffee and other agricultural products brought tremendous profits to the colonial landowners on the island of Hispaniola, which today encompasses both the Dominican Republic and Haiti. At the time of an uprising on Aug. 14, 1791, led by Boukman, more than 500,000 enslaved Africans and thousnads more free blacks and people of mixed race lived in Haiti. During the rebellion of 1791, more than 200 sugar plantations, 600 coffee plantations and 200 indigo plantations were liberated bythe haitian masses. Some 12,000 people died during this period, including 2,000 European settlers. For three centuries, French, Spanish and British colonialists competed for dominance over the island. At the time of Haiti's independence from France in 1804, Spain still controlled the island's eastern part.
The slave owners of the United States and of Britain's colonies in the Caribbean saw the haitian revolution as a serious threat to their system. In 1799, Edward Stevens, the U.S. consul general to France's colony there, wrote to Gen. Thomas Maitland, commander in chief of the British Expeditionary Force, warning that Britain's colony of Jamaica as well as the United States were in danger of an invasion by the armed forces of Gen. Toussaint Louverture.
After the proclamation of independence on Jan. 1, 1804, France and the United States both blockaded Haiti. France refused to recognize the Republic of of Haiti and in 1825 the Haitians had to begin paying "indemnity" to the former colonial ower for claims related to the destruction and seizure of the slave masters' property during the revolutionary period of 1791-1803.
France's defeat in haiti caused tremendous financial losses for the colonial power, prompting it to sell land -- the Lousiana Purchase -- that allowed the U.S. to expand its control over lare sections of North America.
The U.S. position at the time was ex-emplified by South Carolina Sen. Robert V. Hayne, woho said that "Our policy with regard to Haiti is plain. We never can acknowledge her independence." ("Haiti: A Slave Revolution," p. 104)
It was not until 1862, during the Civil War, that the U.S. recognized Haiti. However, France maintained economic dominance over Haiti during the 19th century. When the Haitian National Bank was established in the 1880s, it was overseen by French officers and financed