584

From the 18th century onwards, slavery held a consistent place in the
Western intellectual heritage. American, Haitian and Greek Revolutionaries
used the term slavery to describe their conditions under the colonial powers
they were living in. According to their ideological and intellectual position,
we can analyze how slavery was used in different ways. This research aims
to explore how pro-slavery advocates used rhetoric linked to slavery to
bolster their racial prejudices towards the Haitian revolutionaries and the
Ottoman Empire. It underlines that due to their intellectual foundation,
some Western intellectuals chose to retain hierarchies regarding Black
individuals. On the other hand, some Western intellectuals chose to aid
Greek revolutionaries due to their disenfranchised conditions under the
Ottoman Empire.
Keywords: Slavery, French Revolution, Haitian Revolution, American
Revolution, Greek Revolution, Orientalism, Rhetorical Slavery
ii
ÖZET
SESSIZLIĞIN İHANETI: 18 VE 19. YÜZYIL DEVRIMLERINDE SIYASI
PROPAGANDA OLARAK KÖLELIK YANLISI VE KARŞITI RETORIĞIN
KULLANIMI

18. yüzyıldan itibaren kölelik, Batı’nın entelektüel mirasında tutarlı bir
yer tutmuştur. Amerikan, Haiti ve Yunan Devrimcileri, içinde yaşadıkları
sömürgeci güçler altındaki koşullarını tanımlamak için kölelik terimini
kullanmışlardır. İdeolojik ve entelektüel konumlarına göre, kölelik teriminin
nasıl farklı şekillerde kullanıldığını analiz edebiliriz. Bu araştırma, kölelik
yanlısı politikacıların, Haitili devrimcilere ve Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’na
yönelik ırksal önyargılarını desteklemek için kölelikle bağlantılı retoriği
nasıl kullandıklarını araştırmayı amaçlamaktadır. Bazı Batılı entelektüellerin
eğitim temelleri nedeniyle Siyah bireylerle ilgili hiyerarşileri korumayı tercih
etmişlerdir. Öte yandan, bazı Batılı aydınlar, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’ndaki
haklarından mahrum bırakılmış koşulları nedeniyle Yunan devrimcilere
yardım etmeyi seçmiştir.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Kölelik, Fransız Devrimi, Haiti Devrimi, Yunan Devrimi,
Amerikan Devrimi, Oryantalizm, Retoriksel Kölelik
iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Slavery in the Atlantic sphere, from my undergrad years, became a
personal interest of mine. Especially coming from my shock of many 18th
century intellectuals silence towards this issue, I wanted to analyze this
power dynamic. Interestingly many revolutionaries were using a similar
narrative to describe their conditions. It came to my surprise that almost
no one tried to analyze differences between usages of slavery in history.
I want to thank my advisor Assist. Prof. Dr. Owen Miller for showing
me the importance of other Atlantic Revolutions. It not only opened my
scholarly perspective, but his dedication to global history influenced me to
include Greek and Haitian Revolutions in my intellectual interests. Without
your advice, this project wouldn’t be here today. I want to thank Assist.
Prof. Dr. Kenneth Weisbrode for constantly influencing me to broaden my
knowledge of American history. Thank you for continually pushing me to
see other sides of common perspectives. Without my friends Merve Günal,
Cansu Yılmaz, Su Candemir, Süleyman Bölükbaş, and Burcu Kocakurt, this
project would never end. I want to thank Assist. Prof. Dr. Luca Zavagno
for always supporting me through my every step. Thank all of you for your
never-ending supports. It not only pushed me through the most challenging
times of my life to continue what I love to do. I want to thank everyone who
spent some of their time making this project better. By constantly reading
and giving comments, you pushed me to be better. I cannot possibly show
iv
my gratitude for their dedication. Lastly, I want to thank my dad from the
bottom of my heart. Without your constant emotional support for 27 years,
I wouldn’t be where I am today. Thank you for always believing in and
trusting me.
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii
ÖZET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
LIST OF FIGURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
CHAPTER 1: Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3 Thesis Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
CHAPTER 2: Atlantic Dynamic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1 Slavery in Atlantic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2 American Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2.1 Rebel With a Cause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3 Haitian Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.3.1 New Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3.2 Post-Colonial Assembly Haiti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.4 Greek Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.4.1 Intellectual Crossover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.4.2 Poets and Rebels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
vi
CHAPTER 3: Atlantic Alliances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.1 Haiti and France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.1.1 Women of the Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.1.2 Abbé Grégoire and Société des Amis des Noirs . . . . . . 39
3.1.3 Free Citizen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.2 Haiti and United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.2.1 Economic Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.2.2 Propagandizing Slavery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.2.3 Political Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
CHAPTER 4: Mediterranean Alliances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.1 Minorities in Ottoman Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.1.1 Ottoman Empire and Slavery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.2 Philhellenism in the West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4.2.1 American Philhellenism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.3 Greek Enlightenment and Diaspora Literature . . . . . . . . . . 69
CHAPTER 5: Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
APPENDICES
A MAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
B PORTRATIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
C TIMELINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
vii
LIST OF FIGURES
1. Jacques Nicolas Bellin, A Map of the French Part of Saint
Domingo, 1800, Boston Public Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
2. William Faden, Map of Greece, Archipelago and part of Anadoli, 1791 93
3. Touquet, J.-B. (Jean-Baptiste-Paul), and Raban. ”Chart
shewing the tracks across the North Atlantic Ocean of Don
Christopher Columbus.” Map. 1828. Norman B. Leventhal
Map & Education Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4. Pierre Joseph Célestin François, Portrait de l’Abbé Grégoire, 1800 . 94
5. Unknown, Adamantios Korais, unknown date . . . . . . . . . . . 94
viii
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Literature Review
Few intellectual topics influenced the Western hemisphere as much as
the study of Greek antiquity. Not only did it provided a foundation for
the Western intellectual sphere, but at the same time, its immerse history
provided a solid starting point for Western civilization. Thus, 18th century
societies and scholars prioritized Greek and Roman political ideas in their
daily politics. As this link between the study of antiquity and education,
emphasized by Caroline Winterer in her The culture of classicism: ancient
Greece and Rome in American intellectual life, 1780-1910, shows that many
politicians and intellectuals idealized ancient Roman and Greek figures.
Academies expected every scholar in the 18th century to know Greek and
Latin and to be cognizant of the histories of the ancient Mediterranean.
However, parts of the United States society learned the history of Greek and
Roman civilization via plays and stories.
The centrality of slavery in Roman and Greek societies enabled
pro-slavery advocates to make arguments rooted in long-standing ’Western
1
traditions.’ However, between the mid-18th to the early-19th centuries,
political interest in Greek and Roman antiquity fluctuated among Western
societies. These differences were emphasized by both J. R. Berrigan in his
The Impact of the Classics upon the South and Carl J. Richard in his The Golden
Age of the Classics in America. As they claimed, reaction to ancient history in
political terms was different in northern and southern states. As Northern
states disagreed with the incorporation of slavery as an institution in the
Roman and Greek social sphere, southerners disagreed with the idea of
democracy that actively supported the inclusion of many in the political
sphere in Greek antiquity.
As abolitionism slowly grew in the wake of the US revolutionary
war, pro-slavery advocates cherry-picked historical evidence from
ancient societies of the Mediterranean world to make their case. Many
politicians, including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, and
John C. Calhoun, believed society was not ready to abolish slavery. The
Haitian Revolution intensified the pro-slavery rhetoric. As analyzed by
Rayford Whittingham Logan in his The diplomatic relations of the United
States with Haiti, 1776-1891, most of the American public and politicians
perceived the insurrection in Saint Domingue to be violent and brutal. This
perception was not entirely wrong. However, using the spectre of violence
to defer anti-slavery movements in the Western sphere plays a crucial
role in pro-slavery rhetoric. However, the southerners feared a possible
insurrection such as that in Saint Domingue, the lucrative sugar and coffee
trade between the United States and Saint Domingue proved too valuable to
cut off. As Edward S. Corwin’s analysis in his French policy and the American
Alliance of 1778 shows, both the British and French Empires aimed to control
the trade between these two colonies. As emphasized by Eric Williams in
his Capitalism and Slavery, C. L. R. James in his The Black Jacobins: Toussaint
2
L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution and Laurent Dubois in his
Avengers of the New World: the story of the Haitian Revolution, sugar was one
of the primary commodities of 18th century. It aided the French economy so
much so that the French colonies in Carribeans became a lifeline for them.
Thus, neither the Haitian or French politicians were willing to lose the sugar
trade. However, the productive assets of the sugar trade were financially
influencing all Atlantic powers. Thus, any political disruption on the island
affected adjent nations. As conditions in the Caribbean colonies became
common knowledge among French citizens in the 18th century, anti-slavery
advocates started to voice their opinions. For members of the Society of
Friends of Blacks, the French Revolution meant to change the conditions
in the colonies. Especially for Abbé Grégoire, egalitarianism was more
important than the economic conditions of post-revolutionary France.
Post-revolutionary Europe was in political and financial chaos. In an
attempt to create a balance of power, the Great Powers created the Concert
of Europe. Research conducted by A. K. Kyrou in his “From Russia with
Love, from the West with Ambivalence: Orthodox Christian Relief during
the Greek Revolution and the New Historiography on Humanitarian
Intervention” and Yousef Hussein Omer in his “France’s Policy Towards
the Greek Independence (1828-1830): A Study in the Light of Unpublished
British Documents” shows that the Great Powers were reluctant to support
another political insurrection. However, ideas of equality and independence
were already influencing various communities in the Mediterranean.
Molly Greene analyzed the influence of bourgeoisie revolutions in her
The Mediterranean in History, and A Shared World: Christians and Muslims in
the Early Modern Mediterranean. According to Professor Greene, although
Western empires were distancing themselves from the Ottoman Empire,
Balkan Greek Christians known as the Rum Milleti by Ottoman officials
3
had strong trade relations with the Western world. Greek merchants were
known for their trade abilities in both the Atlantic and Mediterranean seas.
Primarily motivated by their treatment in the Ottoman Empire and with
the influence of diaspora writings of Greek intellectuals, Greeks revolted
against the Ottoman Empire. As analyzed by Douglas Dakins in his British
and American Philhellenes During the Greek War of Independence 1821-1833, W.
C. Woodhouse in his The Philhellenes, Paul Pappas in his The United States
and the Greek War for Independence 1821-1828, Maureen Connors Santelli
in her The Greek Fire: American-Ottoman Relations and Democratic Fervor
in the Age of Revolutions and Petros Pizanias in his The Greek Revolution of
1821: A European Event, Western intellectuals were influenced by the Greek
revolutionary rhetoric against the Ottoman Empire.
The dominant group of Western intellectuals found the conditions of
Greek scholars and merchants under Ottoman Empire unacceptable. As
Western intellectuals described the Ottoman Empire’s treatment of Greeks as
tyrannical, they started to collect financial aid for the Greek Revolutionaries.
These notions of orientalism and racism were analyzed by Gregory Jusdanis
in his Belated modernity and aesthetic culture: inventing national literature and
Edhem Eldem in his “The Ottoman Empire and Orientalism: An Awkward
Relationship”. They claim that such descriptions of Ottomans were made
with nationalistic intentions. One question that remained was why the
Western world was interested in Greek Revolutionary’s rhetorical slavery
rather than the chattel slavery in the Caribbean. It would be an easy answer
to call every Early-Modern intellectual and politician racist. However,
individuals such as Edward Everett, Daniel Webster, John Quincy Adams,
Adamantios Korais, Abbé Grégoire, and Samuel Gridley Howe show that
there is no simplistic answer regarding the Western perspective on slavery.
4
However, most American politicians from the 1770s until the 1860s
openly used slavery to favor their political stances. Although certain
intellectuals organized anti-slavery societies such as Slavery and the
Abolition Society and The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully
Held in Bondage, their influence on daily politics was limited. Especially
the power of Southern politicians held in the political arena was enough
for intellectuals to stay silent on this issue. With the news of the Haitian
Revolution, usages of slavery in the Atlantic political sphere completely
changed. Through their violent insurgency against the slave system,
Haitian Revolutionaries aimed to change the social hierarchies on the
island. Although slavery had financial roots for colonial powers, many
hierarchical-minded politicians used this connection to bolster anti-slavery
rhetoric. Moreover, pro-slavery advocates used the violence of the Haitian
Revolution as a political propaganda tool for their ideologies. Although
many individuals discussed in this research accepted the idea of revolution,
they were against changing hierarchies for everyone.
Some revolutionaries, such as Thomas Paine to Germaine de Staël,
had an egalitarian worldview. On the other hand, intellectuals such as
Thomas Jefferson limited their espousal of egalitarian ideals to mere rhetoric.
Instead, they acted according to their material interests. Although many
could be characterized as ’revolutionaries,’ they differed dramatically on the
extent they wanted to change the status quo. Not all revolutionaries wanted
to transform their societies. Some individuals promoted demolishing
hierarchies for everyone. Others tried to support these hierarchies.
Hierarchical-minded politicians held forced many egalitarians to stay
silenced on social issues. These hierarchial-minded people used Haiti to
reinforce racial biases. The same thinkers, however, chose to ignore the
violence of the Greek Revolutionaries. As Greek revolutionaries’ violence
5
was deemed “natural” by Western scholars, the violence of Haitians was
not. Underlying all of this was exactly who could be legitimated as a
’revolutionary.’ For many, this legitimacy fell along the color line.
This study aims to analyze how revolutionaries in the Atlantic world
were often measured not according to their ideals but the color of their
skin. Although intellectual and political analysis of the 18th-century racial
thought is a common topic for Early American scholars, I aim to showcase
that certain Western intellectuals actively chose to support hierarchical
policies that support their political and financial desires. This research aims
to show that not every revolution has a common aim. Most importantly,
all revolutions created politicians who supported hierarchial-minded or
egalitarian policies according to their materialistic interests. One of the most
significant anti-revolutionary phenomena produced after the 18th-century
revolutionary period was Western intellectual’s silence towards slavery. I
aim to explore these rhetorical differences for the United States’ perspective
towards the Haitian and Greek Revolutions and French, Haiti, and Greek
intellectual’s reactions to each other’s revolutions and rhetorics.
1.2 Methodology
This research predominantly uses private letters and public works of
Edward Everett, Abbé Grégoire, Adamantios Korais, Thomas Jefferson,
John Adams, Toussaint L’Ouverture, and Jean-Pierre Boyer, John Quincy
Adams between mid-18th to mid-19th centuries. To understand Greek,
Haitian and American political and intellectual connections, I analyzed the
private letters at Founders Archive, American State Papers in Library of
Congress, and United States National Archives. For newspaper analysis,
I used Readex’s America’s Historical Newspaper’s database. I used Duke
6
University Library’s Sylvanus Bourne papers and Columbia University’s
Rare Book and Manuscript Library to analyze reactions of the Westerners in
Haiti. For Greek primary sources, I used Access Gallica, The Digital Library
of Greek Studies, and the digital archives of the Academy of Athens. For the
majority of the secondary sources, I used Bilkent Library’s Early Modern
depository.
This research makes allowances for possible biases of politicians
and scholars in their political works. I understand that certain works
may include particular political perspectives written to influence certain
political groups. Unless it is a blatant political statement, as it can be
seen in Adamantios Korais, Edward Everett, and John Quincy Adams’
public papers, it is hard to analyze whether a writer is genuine in their
work. However, this research assumes that all authors mentioned in this
research propose their perspectives. Old age and political grievances
may cause biased or wrong accounts. Thus, this research leaves space for
discrepancies between their versions and the actuality of events mentioned.
Any additional discrepancies will be noted either in text or in footnotes.
1.3 Thesis Outline
Chapter 2 shows the fundamental differences and similarities between
the three principal revolutions this dissertation seeks to analyze. The
American revolutionaries, compared to other Atlantic Revolutions, had a
more hierarchal mindset. The Greek revolutionaries, in comparison to other
bourgeoisie revolutions, had a similar mindset regarding the outcome of
their revolution. On the other hand, the Haitian revolutionaries tried to
break down the racial hierarchies by creating the first Black government in
the Atlantic.
7
Chapter 3 aims to analyze the intellectual and political relationship
between the Haitian, French and American revolutionaries during the 18th
century. The sugar trade created one of the primary economic commodities
in the Atlantic. However, due to the post-revolutionary depression, Haitian
and French revolutionaries wanted to use the sugar trade to support
their revolutions. This chapter analyzes the clash of economic and ethical
problems the French, American, and Haitian revolutionaries faced during
the Haitian Revolution.
Chapter 4 analyzes how Philhellenism transformed the Greek
Revolution. It examines the role of Orientalism in Western intellectual’s
approach against the Ottoman Empire. Moreover, it analyzes how
Philhellenism enabled financial aid to Greek Revolutionaries.
8
CHAPTER 2
ATLANTIC DYNAMIC
Man is the subject of every history; and to know him
well, we must see him and consider him, as history
alone can present him to us, in every age, in every
country, in every state, in life and, in death…
—John Adams, Discourses on Davila, 1805
2.1 Slavery in Atlantic
Adamantios Korais, approximately thousands of miles away from his
homeland, was writing his version of the history of the Greek civilization.
In his work titled Mémoire sur l’état actuel de la civilisation dans la Grèce,
Korais was presenting the influence of the Ancient Greek scholarly work
over the Western intellectual heritage. He claimed most of the Greek
Christians forgot about their past. Similarly, the Western intellectual
memory overlooked the Ancient Greek past until the 17th century. From the
Roman occupation of Greece in 31 BC to the fall of Constantinople in 1453,
Greek populations in the Mediterranean lived under three different Empires.
The 17th century Western traveler accounts and the lack of translated
Ancient Greek scholarly works pushed the Greeks aside in the Western
9
intellectual spheres. As a scholar of Ancient Greece, Korais wanted to prove
the opposite. Echoing the French Enlightenment intellectuals, Korais was
dedicated to the re-education of the Greek masses. As he underlined the
Greek Christians lack of education for their ignorance, Korais claimed
that “the small number of books, the ignorance of printing, the lack of
communication formerly prevented peoples from being enlightened or
from recovering the enlightenment they had lost”.1 He believed that as the
Greek Christians become aware of the 18th century revolutionary ideals, they
would be willing to change their social statuses.
In a letter to Edward Everett – then to be the Representative of
Massachusetts and the Secretary of the Boston Philhellenic Society –
Thomas Jefferson mentioned Korais’ fears regarding the Greek Christians
under the Ottoman Empire. Jefferson claimed that, Korais “expresses a
melancholy fear for his nation by saying, ‘qui a montré jusqu’à ce moment
des prodiges de valeur, mais qui, delivrèe d’un joug de Cannibals, ne
peut encore posseder les leçons d’instruction, ni celles de l’experience.”.2
As Korais agreed with Western fears concerning the future of Modern
Greece, he emphasized the importance of Western financial and political
aid. As the Greek revolutionary ideas progressed, Philhellenism became a
lifelong passion for Adamantios Korais. To spread Philhellenism, Korais
was in connection with multiple Western intellectuals that he became
friends over his stay in France. From Thomas Jefferson to Abbé Grégoire,
Edward Everett, and Lord Byron, Korais’ intellectual circle filled many
1. “Le petitnombre de livres, l’ignorance de l’imprimerie, le défaut de communication
empéchoient autrefois que les peuples fussent éclairés ou qu’ils recouvrassent les lumières
qu’ils avoient perdues.” Adamantios Korais, Mémoire sur l’état actuel de la civilisation dans la
Grèce [in fr] (F. Didot, 1803)
2. ‘who has so far shown wonders of worth, but who, delivered from a yoke of
Cannibals, cannot yet possess the lessons of instruction, nor those of experience.’ ”From
Thomas Jefferson to Edward Everett, 27 March 1824”, Founders Online, National Archives,
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/98-01-02-4143
10
revolutionaries and intellectuals willing to aid the Greek cause. With the 18th
century translations of Homer’s works by Alexander Pope, the ”Greek Fire”
was starting to transform the Western intellectual sphere and gather interest
over the Ancient Greek scholarly works.
Created to support the rebirth of a separate Greek state, Philhellenism
became one of the predominant intellectual movements of the 18th
century. Influenced by the 18th century bourgeoisie revolutions, the Greek
Revolutionaries aimed to create an independent nation that upheld the
political values of the French Enlightenment. The main political issue Greeks
emphasized in their political works was based on the Ottoman Empire’s
treatment of non-muslim —- Rum Milleti — population in the Ottoman
Empire. Describing the Empire’s treatment of the non-muslim population
as ‘slavery,’ the Greek revolutionaries demanded political and economic aid
from Western Philhellenes. As they likened the Ottoman Empire’s treatment
of the non-muslim population to tyranny, Western intellectuals agreed with
the Greek Christian’s demands of liberty. As some Greek Enlightenment
figures, such as Adamantios Korais, used slavery to describe the Greek’s
treatment under the Ottoman Empire, Western intellectuals put themselves
on a humanitarian mission to save them. Although Western society’s
commitment to egalitarianism was remarkable, their treatment of other
revolutionaries was different. Especially the Atlantic sphere’s treatment
of the Haitian Revolution was distinct. Most of the anti-revolutionary
reactions came from pro-slavery sanctions that supported slavery and the
sugar trade in Haiti. Although both the Haitian and Greek revolutionaries
used slavery to describe their conditions, the Haitian revolutionaries were
deemed undeserving of revolutionary change by the hierarchial-minded
revolutionaries.
11
The 18th and 19th century intellectual sphere gave many opportunities to
Atlantic intellectuals to start a common response against slavery. Starting
two years after the Estates-General of 1798, the Haitian Revolution was a
slave rebellion aimed to change the social hierarchies in Saint Domingue.
Haitian revolutionaries sought to gain the right to represent themselves in
their governments to develop the first black-lead republic in the Caribbean.
Thus, slavery played a deterministic role in both revolutionary and
post-revolutionary Haiti. However, Haiti wasn’t the only revolutionary
place that fermented its reaction to the American and French Revolutions.
During the second phase of the Haitian Revolution, another revolution was
sprouting out in the Mediterranean. The Greek Christians were rebelling
against the Ottoman Empire.
Created by the different descriptions of slavery in the 18th and 19th
centuries, two different usages of it can be used. In the pre-18th century
juristical texts, slavery was described as “… a product of the ius gentium,
whereby someone against nature is made subject to the ownership of
another”.3 However, this description made by the Roman jurist Iavolenus
Priscus was insufficient for modern slavery. Especially in 18Th century,
Enlightenment thought, scholars believed that every man in the “state
of nature” is free. However, conditions of freedom was different for the
captives of war “ … and of those upon whom deprivation of liberty was
inflicted, as a punishment for their crimes”.4 Such individuals had no
personal rights in law. Later similar descriptions of slavery were rephrased
3. “Servitus est constitutio juris gentium, qua quis dominio alieno contra naturam
subiicitur.” cited in John W. Cairns, “The Definition of Slavery in Eighteenth-Century
Thinking,” in The Legal Understanding of Slavery, ed. Jean Allain (Oxford University Press,
September 27, 2012), 61
4. Lord Andrew MacDowall Bankton, An Institute of the Laws of Scotland in Civil Rights:
With Observations Upon the Agreement Or Diversity Between Them and the Laws of England. In
Four Books. After the General Method of the Viscount of Stair’s Institutions ... [in en] (R. Fleming,
1751), 67.
12
by Johann Gottleib Heineccius as the difference between persona and homo
where homo does not have any civil status in the society.5 His differentiation
between homo and persona can be seen in many 18th century political and
philosophical debates regarding the human rights laws. From John Locke’s
Second Treatise of Civil Government to Adam Ferguson’s The Progressive
Character of Human Nature, numerous canonical Age of Enlightenment
works emphasizes the difference between civil status and state of nature.
Indeed, if we consider a slave as an individual without any civil status,
previous accounts prove Adamantios Korais, Toussaint L’Ouverture, and
Samuel Adams’ description of their social conditions. However, the social
conditions of these three individuals are different. L’Ouverture and his
people were a byproduct of years of inhumane conditions under the French
Empire in Saint Domingue. Similar conditions were alive in the United
States that Samuel Adams was living in.6 Adamantios Korais knew that
the conditions in the French colony of Saint Domingo and southern states of
the United States were different than the Greek Christian’s conditions under
the Ottoman Empire. However, one notable difference between these three
individuals is that Western judicial systems would consider American and
Greek revolutionaries as persona. On the other hand, Ottomans and Haitians
would be considered lesser beings due to oriental and racial prejudices.
Throughout the Orientalism, Edward Said claims that most of the Western
discourse reflects European colonialism and their lack of factual information
on the Orient.7 Especially most of the travel accounts of Westerners on the
Orient reveals that travelers tend to position themselves against the Orient
5. Cairns, “The Definition of Slavery in Eighteenth-Century Thinking,” 63.
6. Although Adamses did not actively participate in slavery in the United States by either
buying or selling slaves, slavery was still alive in Massachusetts colony where they lived
throughout their lives.
7. Edward W. Said, Orientalism [in English], 25th Anniversary Ed with 1995 Afterword
Ed edition (London: Penguin Books, 2003).
13
and highlight everything different to the Western culture. Although it is
not a revelation that Western travelers carry their personal biases in their
writings, the Ottoman Empire’s geopolitical position puts the Empire in
a distinct place in the European political scene. Throughout the 15th and
18th centuries, Ottoman Empire held an important position among the
Mediterranean and Atlantic empires. Participating in multiple Western
conflicts, the Ottoman Empire was an important player among the European
empires. However, the dominant Arab/Muslim image of the Ottoman
Empire was already canonical in European scholarship. As late as the 18th
century, Ottoman diplomats tried to break this perspective. However,
Muslim Turk’s savage, despotic and barbarous image became a common
description of the Ottoman Empire in Western intellectual works.
As the silence of individuals silences some opinions, it amplifies others.
Although the silence thesis among the Early American scholarship is a
common perspective, the most interesting aspect is the usage of silence by
pro-slavery sanctions. Most of the responses from the post-revolutionary
governments amplify the idea that slavery is a necessary evil for their
economic survival. Although not every Western intellectual supported this
claim, it was still one of the main arguments against the abolition of slavery
by American and French intellectuals. Although most of the abolitionists
were prominent in their political arenas, they got silenced by the 18th century
pro-slavery politicians to the point that pro-slavery arguments became a
central political idea in the late 18th century Atlantic political sphere. To
understand the creation of the hierarchial-minded rhetoric that kept slavery
alive until the mid-19th century, we start this research by going back to the
summer of 1776.
14
2.2 American Revolution
Primarily known as one of the first instances of an armed rebellion against
a colonial power, American Revolution stays as an exemplary incident
for all the Atlantic revolutions. As a product of the Seven Years War, the
American Revolution’s progress starts as a small-town rebellion against the
British colonial officials. As it progresses, it turns into a revolutionary war
between colonial powers and American rebels. With its less violent nature
than the French and Haitian Revolutions, American Revolution became a
favorite example among the early-modern politicians and historians. From
the enslavement of thousands of Africans to the massacre of Indians, in
reality, American Revolution was further than peaceful. In comparison to
French Revolution, it lacked the political violence between the Jacobins and
Girondins. It still encapsulated the violence between colonials and local
forces in the Haitian Revolution. The harsh realities of mid-18th century
American lifestyle shaped their reaction. The revolutionaries fought with
everything they had against the politically and economically superior British
colonial officers. From children to women, conditions forced them to be a
part of the ongoing war. The economic and political conditions that created
the American Revolution were simple. Every political conflict created its
financial problems, and after the Seven Years War, Great Britain was going
through an economic depression.
After parliamentary sessions, George Grenville (1712-1770) was finding
himself in a conundrum. For decades, British officials refrained from
introducing new taxes to the North American colonies. Especially after
the introduction of Molasses Act of 1733, evasion of colonial laws was still a
constant concern for the British Empire. The monetary rates of the colonial
currency were so low that many American merchants opted to obtain sugar
15
and spices from other Atlantic colonies illegally. While smuggling was
aiding the North American merchants, it was hurting the British revenues.8
Starting with the Navigation Acts (1651, 1660), British officials tried to force
every good imported by the colonists to go through the British ports. It
enabled the British to control the illegal trade between Atlantic colonies
and helped them tax valuable goods that entered the American colonies. It
was the first parliamentary move that severed ties between North American
colonists and the British Empire. Later, in 1764, the British parliament, in
hopes of curbing the illegal importation of sugar cane between Haiti and
North American colonies, passed the Sugar Act (1733).9 These acts influenced
the mercantile class of the North American society against the British Empire
profoundly. While the North American merchants were affected to publish
pamphlets, such as the Boston merchant Oxenbridge Tatcher’s The Sentiments
of a British American (1764) or the Rhode Island governor Stephen Hopkins’
The Rights of the Colonies Examined (1764), their reaction to the recently
introduced acts was muted than expected. Colonist’s dull response to acts
influenced Grenville and the British Parliament to introduce more taxes on
commercial goods.
On March 9, 1764, Grenville announced his intentions to introduce
another bill to raise stamp duties on the North American paperwork.10
While reactions to the Currency and Sugar acts were muted than expected,
North American colonist’s response to the Stamp Act was catastrophic. As
Randolph G. Adams claimed in his Political Ideas of the American Revolution
that,
8. Ernest Cassara, “The intellectual background of the American Revolution” [in eng],
Revue Internationale de Philosophie 31 (-01-01 1977): 438–452.
9. Alan Taylor, American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804 [in English], 1st
Edition edition (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, September 2016).
10. Peter Thomas, George III: King and Politicians 1760-1770 [in English], 1st edition
(Manchester : New York: Manchester University Press, October 2002), 105.
16
In the third stage of the controversy, the colonies
admitted the right of Parliament to act as a quasi-imperial
superintending power over them and all the dominions,
but denied that Parliament had any legislative authority
over the colonies as a general proposition, on the ground
that the colonies were not represented in Parliament.11
The Stamp Act emphasized the unjust treatment of American colonists by
British officials. As many North American colonists thought they were equal
with other British subjects, new acts introduced by the British officials prove
the exact opposite sentiment.
2.2.1 Rebel With a Cause
Most of the revolutionary activity was coming out of Boston, Massachusetts.
From pamphlets to open rebellions against the tax collectors, Boston’s
political sphere was open and alive. In communication with printers,
rebels used newspapers, pamphlets, and political stages to promote their
political ideas. Especially coffee houses were the main political stages
where the rebels can talk about their opinions openly. While most of the
published work was propaganda against the colonial forces, they were
highly influential in shaping society against colonial taxes. As rebels insisted
that recently introduced taxes will deprive North American subjects of
their self-evident rights, it would put them in a state “ … of the most abject
slavery, whose property may be taken from them under the notion of
right…”12 Underlining the unjust conditions put by the British officials,
North American colonists were comparing their social conditions to slavery
to prove their righteous cause. Such mobilization tactics worked well
11. Randolph Greenfield Adams, Political Ideas of the American Revolution.. [in eng]
(Durham, N.C., Trinity college press, 1922), 69.
12. John Dickinson, “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, to the Inhabitants of the
British Colonies” [in English] (1767).
17
enough to create a negative consensus towards the British taxes.13
As colonial governors such as Thomas Hutchinson tried to suppress
individuals against the British policies, he was fighting against the political
propaganda of Samuel Adams. As a son of Boston brewer, Samuel Adams
was a well-known individual in Boston and a prominent member of the Sons
of Liberty. Starting with the Boston Tea Party at the Boston bay, the Sons
of Liberty managed to revert British taxes and create a political movement
against monarchy and despotism. However, none of the participants
expected that their movement would be influential enough to change the
hierarchical order of the Atlantic sphere. Revolutionaries influenced by the
American Revolution changed their social and political realities and altered
their connection to daily politics.
2.3 Haitian Revolution
Located in the Greater Antilles archipelago on the Caribbean Sea, Haiti has a
tremendous history. Peninsula the island was standing on projected into one
of the most strategic points of world history; Winward Passage as known
as the Gibraltar of Carribean. From Columbus’ First Voyage to the creation of
the first Black nation, Haiti continues to prove its importance throughout
the 18th and 19th centuries. Control over the island was so prized for the
Spanish, British, and French Empires that the French minister to Spain
Marquis d’Ossun, in his memoir dated February 10, 1774, declared that;
It [Saint Domingue] is the finest and richest colony
that remains to the French after the considerable losses
that they sustained in America; and it is their principal
resource for the maintenance of a navy that because more
13. Ruma Chopra, “Loyalist Women in British New York City, 1776–1783,” in Women in
Early America, ed. Thomas A. Foster (New York: NYU Press, 2015), 210–224.
18
necessary every day to counterbalance the formidable
power of the English.14
On the eve of the French Revolution, Haiti was still one of the primary
economic sources for the French Empire. According to the French national
financial tables of 1788, Saint Domingue exported 205$ millions of livres in
the currency of Saint Domingue as a commodity to France.15 Thus, keeping
a good trade and political relation with the island, according to Colbert, was
required to keep the economic power of France against their neighbors.16
Code Noir, or as known as The Negro Code, created by Louis XIV, aimed
to introduce more humane conditions to the island of Saint Domingue.
Codes ordered that “two pots and a half of manioc, three cassavas, two
pounds of salt beef or three pounds of salted fish” be given every week
to every slave on the island.17 However, in most cases, slave owners only
provided slaves with half of what is obligated by the French law. On most
days, tired of the working conditions, slaves would not have any will
to cook or even eat their food. Slaves who refused to work on the fields
received the most brutal punishments. These conditions made armed
uprisings common occurrences in Haitian history. Between 1679 to 1704,
multiple slave rebellions occurred in places under Spanish and French
control. As much as the soul and real deaths were a part of daily life in Saint
Domingue, the island was still constantly booming with new merchants
every day. Like tobacco in Virginia, sugar cultivation was the primary
source of wealth for the white colonists on the island. After planting the
cane, it required special attention for the first four months and to grew up
14. Rayford Whittingham Logan, The Diplomatic Relations of the United States with Haiti,
1776-1891 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011), 3.
15. Logan, 3.
16. Stewart Lea Mims, Colbert’s West India Policy (Palala Press, September 2, 2015), 69.
17. C. L. R. James, The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution
(1989), 11.
19
for 18 months until it reached its maturity.18 Due to the peculiar nature of
the plant, it had to be harvested and carried as quickly as possible to keep
the plant fresh. This required slaves to work all day, and in most cases even
through the night, to harvest enough sugar cane to sell. Thus, the production
of the sugar cane required intimate care and time investment to be efficient.
As sugar became the primary commodity of the 18th century, the slave
population on the island grew to 9,082.19
Division among the society in Saint Domingue followed the dichotomy
between the white slave owners and black slaves. However, the mulattoes
or free-blacks had a peculiar status in Haitian society. Forced to enter
a mandatory three-year military establishment known as maréchaussée,
they were responsible for the island’s security. Their governmental duty
alienated them from both white and black classes of Haitian society. It was
forbidden for them to own property on the island. These economic and
societal differences bound them to work alongside the white slaveowners.
Thus, they saw themselves as superior to black slaves due to their official
status. However, according to the White settlers, their societal status was
lower than white colonists due to their skin color. These social circumstances
put them in a peculiar position, almost a persona non grata in Haitian
society. As the slave population grew, societal differences among the Black
community of Haiti became more and more complex. Especially societal
differences between free-blacks categorized as ” “Noirs,” “Noirs affranchis,”
and “Nègres libres” became more and more apparent through the mid-18th
century.
Although prior slave insurrections influenced French officials to
18. James, The Black Jacobins, 10.
19. Laurent Dubois, Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution, Includes
index (Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2004), 19.
20
change their policies regarding Haiti, none of them influenced the Atlantic
perspective towards the island as much as Riviere’s rebellion. Romaine
Riviere, a free black coffee plantation owner with Spanish ancestry,
organized an armed uprising surrounding two port cities; Leogane and
Jacmel. Claiming that they are in a personal connection with the Virgin
Mary, Riviere promised their followers that Virgin Mary would guide their
cause and help them win the fight against white slave owners on the island.
As they ordered the mass killings of white residents of the island, affranchis
— or as know as mulâtres, libres de couleur, or free-coloreds — had their
plans for the leadership of the island.
Starting with the Makandal conspiracy in 1750, which started as a
religious reaction to the French colonial power on the island, had one
of the first networks of resistance where multiple slave groups revolted
at the same time to become the ”new masters of Saint-Domingue.”20
According to Carolyn Fick, Makandal Conspiracy was one of the first natural
slave resistance where black slaves fought to become their masters by
overthrowing white settlers. At the same time, it was a reaction where they
showed ”political notions of independence” expressed in messianic tones.21
On January 1785, Makandal aimed to kill all white plantation owners
by collectively aiding slaves with poison. Although Makandal couldn’t
accomplish his resistance plans, his name became a political and religious
symbol for blacks and whites in the colony.22 While Makandal Conspiracy
20. Terry Rey, “The Virgin Mary and Revolution in Saint-Domingue: The Charisma of
Romaine-La-Prophétesse,” Journal of Historical Sociology 11, no. 3 (1998): 342.
21. Carolyn E. Fick, The Making of Haiti: Saint Domingue Revolution From Below (University
of Tennessee Press, 1990), 62.
22. Although some historians claim that Makandal did not used Voodoo because he was
essentially a sorcerer rather than a priest. Thus, it creates a contradiction between the West
and Central African religious traditions. More on this in David Geggus, “Marronage,
Voodoo, and the Saint Domingue Slave Revolt of 1791,” Proceedings of the Meeting of the
French Colonial Historical Society 15 (1992): 22–35
21
was influential enough for French colonial powers to take cautious steps in
the colony, Romaine-la-Prophetess’ influence on the Haitian Revolution was
more permanent. Romaine Riviere, a free black coffee plantation owner with
Spanish ancestry, managed to organize and create an armed rebellion in the
area surrounding Leogane and Jacmel.
Romaine established a military camp in her coffee plantation, Trou
Coffy.23 While she followed the same tracks with Makandal on creating
a connection with religion and politics in her message, her relationship
with Catholicism was much more apparent. Claiming that she is Virgin
Mary’s godson, she distinguished himself from other cult leaders by creating
central connectivity to Catholicism. Rise of Romaine-la-Prophetess’ in every
aspect connected to how she used the political dynamics of his day and
how he used religion in her favor. Observers noted that Léogâne, where
Romaine’s coffee plantation Trou Coffy stood, was in a deep, narrow valley
with only limited foreign interaction.24 Parallel to previous slave revolts,
Romaine’s cult not only demanded freedom from colonial hierarchy but
at the same time terrorized the region by instructions of mass murder of
whites.25 Although her insurgence, as Makandal’s, crushed by French forces,
they managed to inspire many to follow their steps to revert the social and
political hierarchies on the island.
2.3.1 New Leadership
Most Haitian revolutionaries were fighting under Georges Biassou, an
African-Spanish general loyal to the Spanish forces controlling the island’s
23. Fick, The Making of Haiti, 127.
24. Terry Rey, The Priest and the Prophetess: Abbé Ouvière, Romaine Rivière, and the
Revolutionary Atlantic World (2017), 28.
25. Fick, The Making of Haiti, 127.
22
northern region.26 As the social stress between different sanctions of the
Haitian society grew, controlling the revolutionary masses got harder. While
other revolutionary leaders failed, two notable names stood out among them
and kept the revolutionary masses under their control; Geroge Biassou and
Toussaint L’Ouverture. While Biassou was aligning with the Spanish forces
of the island, L’Ouverture was controlling the French revolutionary groups
in Saint Domingue.
The leadership of Toussaint L’Ouverture started with the Trou Coffy
insurgency. As a fairly educated individual, Toussaint L’Ouverture was
appearing as a natural leader among his contemporaries. Lucky enough
to know how to read and write, he joined among the ranks of Bissou and
was appointed as the Physicians of the Armies.27 As he quickly climbed
through military ranks among the Black Auxiliaries of Charles IV28, his
influence on rebel forces grew. In 1791 commissioners sent by the French
Colonial Assembly arrived at Saint Domingue as a solution to the slave
insurrections on the island. While the news of the insurrection in Haiti was
arriving in other Atlantic nations, commissioners only learned the state
of the Revolution in Haiti when they arrived on the island. They claimed
that the National Convention of France ordered “the king [to] have control
over the “exterior regime” of the colonies, notably trade policies, the “laws
concerning the state of unfree persons and the political status of men of
color and free blacks””29 While the declaration of the National Convention
26. Crystal Nicole Eddins, “Runaways, Repertoires, and Repression: Marronnage and the
Haitian Revolution, 1766–1791,” Journal of Haitian Studies 25, no. 1 (2019): 4–38.
27. James, The Black Jacobins, 94.
28. the Black Auxiliaries of Charles IV was an army organization contained the leadership
of most crucial rebel leaders of Haitian Revolution like Georges Biassou, Jean-François
Papillion, Toussaint L’Ouverture. As it was named after Georges Biassou’s alliance with
Spain, Spanish forces gave freedom to rebel forces in exchange for their alliance against
French forces in the Northern Region in the island.
29. Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 125.
23
gave overpowering joy to the white citizens on the island, it couldn’t be
more disappointing to the rebels and rebel leaders who expected a different
outcome.
News of the new constitution of France reached the colony in the
late 18th century. The new constitution granted many rights to French
citizens. As the Revolution in France was changing the social status
of French citizens, Haitian slaves were excluded from these changes.
Moreover, due to their insurgence, the new French Empire charged the
Haitian Revolutionaries with the “revolutionary activities” that caused
enormous damage to the French economy. As previously demanded by
the National Convention, French officials expected the rebel slaves to
return their position immediately. The broken French economy already
damaged the post-revolutionary political status of France, and the French
Caribbean colonies were seen as the life support of the nation. Like many
Atlantic nations, France was bound to the booming sugar trade of the 18th
century. However, Haitian revolutionary leaders aimed to keep this trade
to support their cause. The introductory offer made by the revolutionary
leaders promised a more regulated version of slavery on the island. In an
anti-revolutionary fashion, they pledged to the National Convention that
slaves would continue to work in plantations. Claiming that previously
white slaveowners committed atrocious crimes against the black slaves
on the island, in exchange, they demanded a portion of the sugar trade
and stricter laws against slavery. While most of the acts French officials
committed were forbidden by the Code Noir, French officials’ duty was
to regulate the white slave owners’ cruel actions against their slaves.
However, French officials refused to regulate it fairly. Asserting that slaves
won’t return to their field duties if these conditions were not fulfilled, they
announced their decisions to the Colonial Assembly commissioners. On
24
April 24, 1792, the National Convention of France declared that free colored
as the same political rights as their white contemporaries. Claiming not
only do they have a right to vote in their local elections, but at the same
time, they can be eligible for French citizenship. While this declaration gave
new political and social rights to free-coloreds, it only created more tension
between free-coloreds and black slaves in the colony.
2.3.2 Post-Colonial Assembly Haiti
New orders from the National Convention highlighted the social segregation
between free and slave populations. While the new declaration favored the
free-coloreds and their demands, most Black slaves were forced to stay in
bondage. Enraged by the decision made by the National Convention, masses
of slaves started to gather in Port-au-Prince. At the same time, whites
encouraged free-coloreds to join in their ranks to fight against black slaves.
Antonie Lajard, a French merchant who was living in Port-au-Prince during
that time, described the atrocities committed by both sides as ”...the murder,
looting, arson; since that time every day has seen these crimes reappear, to
which it is impossible to fix an end, and the northern plain, once so rich,
so fertile, is no more than a heap of ashes watered with the blood of our
brothers...” ” 30 Nonetheless, numbers of slaves fighting against the whites
and free-coloreds were much more significant in numbers.31 By late 1792,
colonial and slave forces burnt most of the plantations in Saint Domingue.
Most of the island was either destroyed or damaged.
As they continued to voice their demands on the abolition of slavery,
30. ”…le meurtre, le pillage, l’incendiel’incendie; depuis ce temps tous les jours voient
renaître ces crimes auxquels il est impossible de fixer un terme, et la plaine du Nord,
autrefois si riche, si fertile, n’estn’est plus qu’unqu’un monceau de cendres arrosé du sang
de nos frères…” Jacques Cauna, “La Révolution à Port-au-Prince (1791-1792) vue par un
Bordelais” [in fr], anami 101, no. 185 (1989): 178
31. Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 136-138.
25
neither insurgence leaders nor rebel slaves were in a desire to abandon their
cause. As the second Civil Commission arrived on the island under the
leadership of Sonthonax, Polverel, and Ailhaud on September 18, 1792, they
found a destroyed colony.32 As they were adamant opposers to slavery in
France, ideals they brought to the island signaled a direct change in political
and social affairs. Rebel forces were still hesitant to trust the new Civil
Commission due to their prior experience with the National Convention.
Under the leadership of Sonthonax, the Committee declared certain social
realities for the colony. Committee claimed that sugar cultivation was crucial
for the island. Thus, conditions that created this commodity must continue
their existence. However, they denied the racial prejudices in Haitian
society. As Sonthonax claimed, “... [they recognized] only two classes of
men in the French part of Saint Domingue: free men without any distinction
of color, and slaves”.33
As the political conditions in France developed into a complete
revolution, the Committee of Public Safety took total control over the
French Republic. Proportionately to these radical changes, the Second
Civil Commission’s duties and power on Saint Domingue grew. In late
October 1792, three commissioners decided to divide their control over
Saint Domingue among themselves. However, as the political problems
between whites and blacks grew apart, Ailhaud left Saint Domingue and
his powers to Polverel and Sonthonax. To bring two sides of the society,
with the help of General Rochambeau, Sonthonax declared that the Haitian
army has to include individuals from every status in the Haitian society. As
news of the declaration spread throughout the island, white slaves owners
32. Justin Chrysostome Dorsainvil and Frères de l’instruction chrétienne, Manuel d’histoire
d’haïti [in français] (H. Deschamps. [Port-au-Prince], 1934), 84-85.
33. Cited in Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 144.
26
opposed the decision based on the allegations of massacres of whites.
As they claimed that free-coloreds would create another massacre on the
island, they revolted against the Commissioners. As the continuous fight
between slaves, free-coloreds, and whites continued, the new governor
of Saint Domingue François-Thompson Galbaud du Fort arrived in Saint
Domingue in early 1793.34 His arrival gave hope to the white settlers as
he supported white’s rights over the land. The dichotomy between the
Commissioners and Galbaud reflected the two sides of the late 18th century
Haitian society.35 As Galbaud’s followers started an open war against the
slave rebels, the Commissioners invited any able man to fight against the
Galbaud forces for the French Republic. Fifteen thousand individuals voted
for the emancipation of slaves on August 24, 1793, in an open meeting
in Le Cap. As the island re-joined the French Republic in 1794, Toussaint
L’Ouverture took the task of protecting the freedom and the rights of the
Black individuals on the island.
2.4 Greek Revolution
After the French, American, and Haitian Revolutions, most of the Atlantic
powers were ready to bring back their fallen economies. Especially French
and British Empires, from the Seven Years War to the early 19th century,
went through a catastrophic decade that changed the Atlantic political
sphere. However, bourgeoisie revolutions continued to influence other
revolutionaries. In places where trade creates the primary economic income,
merchants play one of the most critical roles in creating new revolutionary
movements. Almost creating a melting pot of ideologies, merchants carry
contemporary ideas to their homelands. Thus, for the Greek independence
34. Galbaud was issued as the new governor of Saint Domingue by the French National
Convention.
35. Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 155.
27
movement, trade cities like Odessa play a foundational role. From the
creation of “Society of Friends” (Philiki Etaireia -Φιλική Εταιρεία) to the
influence of Philhellenes in the Western sphere, merchants from both
Atlantic and European nations plays a vital role in the fermentation of
Greek independence movement. While it is certain that Greeks were
unhappy with their social status in the Ottoman society, the influence of
the bourgeoisie revolutions plays a deterministic role in the outcome of the
Greek Revolution.
2.4.1 Intellectual Crossover
The Ottoman society was a mix of individuals from many different
ethnicities and religions. However, apart from the other Empires, Ottoman
society was divided into two classes. The military class included individuals
working for the sultan and the rest of the society known as re’âyâ.36 Amount
of tax an Ottoman subject paid was one of the main denominators of their
status in the Ottoman society. Non-Muslim members had to pay a certain
amount of additional taxes known as cizye and haraç. Moreover, they had
special societal conditions where they cannot bear arms and cannot defend
themselves against Muslims in courts. Additionally, many Christian groups
were obligated to give a certain proportion of their children to be raised
as janissaries for the Ottoman army. While some sources underline that
certain Christian individuals resented this obligation, there is also evidence
regarding the Christian parents who actively enroll their children for a
position in the government.37
36. Halil İnalcık, Osmanlı ve Avrupa: Osmanlı Devleti’nin Avrupa tarihindeki yeri [in tur], 1.
baskı, Osmanlı tarih dizisi 4 (İstanbul: Kronik Kitap, 2017), 36.
37. Richard Clogg, “Aspects of the Movement for Greek Independence” [in English], in
The Struggle for Greek Independence: Essays to Mark the 150th Anniversary of the Greek War of
Independence, 1st ed. 1973 edition, ed. Richard Clogg (Place of publication not identified:
Palgrave Macmillan, October 2015), 1.
28
In contrast to merchants from other Western nations, Greeks had a
familiarity with the Ottoman trade procedures.38 This not only made the
Greek merchants one of the primary sources of information for foreign
merchants to gain information regarding Ottoman procedures but at
the same time, put Greeks under constant connection with the Western
merchants. Thus, it is not a surprise that Philiki Etaireia (Society of Friends)
decided to open their headquarters in Odessa, one of the main Ottoman
port cities, where they can have a constant intellectual connection with the
Western world.
In the 18th century Ottoman Empire was losing its central power. As a
result, toprak ağaları and ayanlar were continuously growing more powerful.
Identical to societal changes in the Atlantic societies, class differences in
Ottoman society changed in favor of middle-class citizens. Aligned with
these changes, Greeks had considerable power over the land and had
trade ties with the Western nations. Thus, such societal changes gave a
political opportunity to the Greek population in the Ottoman Empire. As the
news of other revolutions reached the Ottoman Empire, Christian groups
such as Greeks became more and more interested in the revolutionary
rhetoric of bourgeoisie revolutions. Numerous Greek merchants sent
their kids to European countries to study in major Western cities where
revolutionary ideas flourished. These opportunities not only enabled
them to read recent philosophical works but, at the same time, put them
in direct communication with both French and American revolutionaries.
Educated in similar conditions, Adamantios Korais’ first two pamphlets on
Greek revolutionary movements “Paternal Instruction” (Patriki Didaskalia
- Πατρική Διδασκαλία) and “Fraternal Instruction” (Adelfiki Didaskalia -
38. Evrydiki Sifneos, “Preparing the Greek Revolution in Odessa in the 1820s: Tastes,
Markets and Political Liberalism,” Historical Review 11, no. 0 (December 2014): 146-147.
29
Αδελφική Διδασκαλία) became famous among the “Society of Friends”.39
Underlining the sentiment of slavery under the Ottoman Empire, Korais
claimed that;
The so long and shameful slavery cannot of course correct
us. It is a feature of slavery not to correct but further
corrupt human soul. Correction was only hoped from our
own holy religion, because it is the only religion which
requires from its followers brotherly love and concord, but
we came to the point of corrupting even that religion.40
His call immediately influenced the Western intellectuals. The notion of
slavery under the Ottoman Empire was when many Greek and Western
intellectuals found their common cause.
While Greeks had fundamental political freedom in places they lived,
their liberty was bound to Ottoman laws.41 Obtaining a significant amount
of land and militia, Greeks had a tremendous amount of political and
economic power in their hands. However, the pre-18th century Ottoman
Empire had a stronghold on places they conquered. Moreover, their good
relationships with other foreign powers and stability of their own political
and financial systems made them a strong force in the Mediterranean.
However, with military and political changes of the 18th century, Ottoman
Empire lost a significant portion of its power. Especially after surrendering
Crimea to Russians, Greeks and other minority groups recognized the lack
of global power the Ottoman Empire had. As the Ottomans ought to accept
Tsar’s right to protect the Orthodox Church, this decision put Greeks under
39. Adamantios Korais in American and French archives known as Adamantios Coray.
40. Adamantios Korais, Γνώμαι Αδαμάντιου Κοραή [Opinions of Adamantios Korais]
(Athens: Ioannis Sideris [Ιωάννης Σιδέρης]) cited in Ioannis N. Grigoriadis, “Religion
and Greek Nationalism: From Conflict to Synthesis” [in en], in Instilling Religion in Greek and
Turkish Nationalism (New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, 2013), 3
41. Professor Paul Pappas, The United States and the Greek War for Independence 1821-1828 [in
English] (Boulder : New York: East European Monographs, October 1985), 2.
30
the Russian heir’s de facto religious protection. Later as Napoleon seized
the Ionian Islands from Venetians and tried to attack Ottoman Empire from
Egypt, Ottoman Empire was left open to rebellions.
2.4.2 Poets and Rebels
Philiki Etaireia’s first move was to side with the international powers to
collect support for their revolutionary cause. While Greeks had their
wealth, it was not enough to fully aid a revolution against an empire.
Although Aleksandros Ypsilantis and Ali (Tepedelenli) of Epirus gave their
military aid to the Greek cause, Ottoman naval power was more substantial
than the Greek forces. As the war between Greek and Ottoman forces
continued, the Greek political forces got divided into two sanctions under
the Achaean Directory of Patras and the Messenian Senate of Kalamata. To
bring these two sides together, The Peloponnesian Senate was formed in
early June 1821. Later Philiki Etaireia sent Demetrios Ypsilantis as the leader
of the Revolution against Theodoros Kolokotronis to prove their power.
However, as Koloktronis’ power over Peloponnesian Senate grew, a political
separation between the Senate and Society of Friends grew.
As the Civil War between Greek revolutionaries continued,
Peloponnesian Senate declared a national election and established the
Greek National Assembly in December 1821. However, the creation of
the Assembly didn’t solve the ideological separation between the two
sides. With the help of the famous Philhellene Lord Byron, British society
collected a loan to aid the new Greek government. However, another Civil
War broke out regarding which government this aid will fund.42 As a
result, two governments were created under the leadership of Theodore
42. George Gordon Byron, known as Lord Byron, was one of the most influential British
Philhellenists of his time. He not only helped in the collection of economic aids to Greek
rebels but also, due to his fame, put the Greek cause under an international spotlight.
31
Kolokotronis and George Koutouriotes.43 While dichotomy between the
two sides continued to affect the pace of the movement, Greek individuals
in Europe were in constant connection with American, French, and Haitian
Revolutionaries to gain their political aid for the Greek cause.
Following the American, French and Haitian Revolutions and later
Napoleonic Wars, Europe wanted to establish an institution to stabilize
the balance of power in the Atlantic. Thus, in 1815 the Congress of Vienna
established the Concert System to stabilize Europe.44 Bound to the new
diplomatic realities, most of the reaction from Western empires came from
individuals who had an intellectual bound to Greek history with passion.
Philhellenism, as a movement, became one of the mainstream intellectual
movements in the early 19th century. The two most influential diaspora
Greeks who collected aid for the Greek cause were Adamantios Korais and
Spero Vitalis. They constantly communicated with Western intellectuals
such as Edward Everett, Daniel Webster, and Jeremy Bentham that put the
Greek independence movement in French, American, and British political
scenes. These intellectuals helped the Greek Revolutionaries support their
revolution financially and put political pressure on the Ottoman officials to
reform their policies. As a result, Great Britain called on Russia to neutralize
political discrepancies between the Ottoman Empire and Greek minorities.
Both empires signed the protocol of Saint Petersburg on April 4, 1826.
43. Like many other post-revolutionary governments, the two governments of Greece
created two different approaches to nation-building. Koutouriotes aimed to create a
more centralized government where the wealthy majority controlled the monetary and
military operation of the new government. On the other hand, the Kolokotronis government
supported a more de-centralized government that gave power to the local administrations.
Such instances of separation among revolutionaries can be seen in the French and American
Revolutions. Pappas, The United States and the Greek War for Independence 1821-1828, 9-10
44. A.k. Kyrou, “From Russia with Love, from the West with Ambivalence: Orthodox
Christian Relief during the Greek Revolution and the New Historiography on Humanitarian
Intervention” [in English], Review of Faith and International Affairs 14, no. 1 (2016 / 01 / 02 /):
35.
32
Russians aimed to secure Greek Christians’ social position as Orthodox
Christians under the Ottoman Empire.
As the Greek Revolution progressed, the Ottoman army started to
regain its lost positions with the military aid sent by Muhammad Ali
Pasha. When Mossolonghi, one of the most strategic towns in the southern
Aetolia-Acarnania, fell under Ottoman control, France and Great Britain
decided to sign another treaty to neutralize the region entirely. London
Treaty signed on July 6, 1827, aimed to grant political sovereignty to Greeks
under the Ottoman Empire.45 As the treaty promised Greeks an independent
state, it kept their connection to the Ottoman Empire by declaring the
Ottoman sultan as the supreme leader of Greece. However, the Ottoman
Empire declined the London Treaty due to its superior naval and military
power. As the treaty suggested, three Western powers–France, Russia, and
Great Britain– interfered on behalf of Greece. On October 20, 1827, during
the Battle of Navarino, the Ottoman-Egypt fleet was destroyed by three
powers, and an independent Greek state was created.
Using slavery as political propaganda was undoubtedly a popular
tactic in the late 18th century political arena. However, the conditions all
rebels lived under differed their motives behind the usage of this term.
Indeed, conditions under chattel slavery were much more dire and ruthless.
However, by no means the Greek revolutionaries’ social conditions were
less valid than the Haitian ones. Moreover, it only proves that the unequal
treatment made by the Ottoman Empire was a social reality for them. The
most interesting aspect is that while most of the European empires chose to
stay silent towards the chattel slavery that was alive in the United States and
45. Yousef Hussein Omar, “France’s Policy Towards the Greek Independence (1828-1830):
A Study in the Light of Unpublished British Documents,” Osmanli Mirasi Arastirmalari
Dergisi 3, no. 7 (November 30, 2016): 2.
33
Haiti, they aided Greek revolutionaries due to their slavery-like conditions
under the Ottoman Empire. One of the most well-known causes of this
phenomenon was to protect their post-war economic and political statuses.
However, the most interesting difference is that while supporting the Greek
Revolution was an ethical issue for the Western intellectuals, similar ethical
problems regarding slavery were not a conundrum.
34
CHAPTER 3
ATLANTIC ALLIANCES
La liberté est le pouvoir qui appartient à l’homme de
faire tout ce qui ne nuit pas aux droits d’autrui : elle a
pour principe la nature ; pour règle la justice ; pour
sauvegarde la loi ; sa limite morale est dans cette
maxime : Ne fais pas à un autre ce que tu ne veux pas
qu’il te soit fait.
—Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen
3.1 Haiti and France
By the beginning of the French Revolution, more than six million Africans
were carried out to the Caribbean islands to produce sugar to support
the French economy. As many European intellectual spheres in the 18th
century did, French abolitionists were starting to voice their opinions against
Caribbean slavery and the slave trade. The abolition of slavery in the French
empire was a byproduct of years-long political debates between monarchists
and Revolutionaries. As political differences regarding the future of the
French Empire turned into a discussion between Jacobins and Girondins in
the late 18th century, the development of an abolitionist movement settled
on the understanding of the economic stability of post-revolutionary France.
35
Emphasized in Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen of 1789,
revolutionaries believed that every French citizen under the law was equal.
Equality among commoners meant equality for all Frenchmen; this included
Frenchmen in West Indies like Saint-Domingue, Grenada, Tobago, and
Dominica. Places where most of the population were black slaves under
white French slave-owners.
Many property-owning French citizens found the lucrative sugar trade
in West Indian colonies quintessential for the French economy. However,
the existence of slavery in the West Indies clashed with the equality claims
that Third Estate used in their revolutionary rhetoric. As economic problems
clashed with the financial alignment of the property-owning revolutionaries,
the financial question regarding West Indies became “who has the right to
decide the economic policies on the island?”.1 In years proceeding to the
Revolution, the French Crown was in a state of budgetary crisis over the
Seven Years War (1756-1763) and American Revolution (1765-1783). The
immediate reaction to the monarchy’s fiscal problems was first solved by
deciding how “authority over taxation and expenditure” should be split.2
Both Jaques Necker, Charles-Alexandre de Calonne, as finance ministers
of the Crown, offered their separate plans on possible changes on taxation.
While Necker offered to pay only the interest payments of the new debt,
Calonne wanted higher tax rates for the wealthier classes. Both of the
proposals got strong reactions from both sides. Necker’s solution required
a consistent fiscal policy and a stable government. On the other hand,
Calonne’s proposal required raising taxes for the wealthier classes, which
was previously declined by the clergy and nobility.
1. Peter McPhee, Liberty or Death (Yale University Press, May 2016).
2. Eugene Nelson White, “The French Revolution and the Politics of Government
Finance, 1770-1815,” The Journal of Economic History 55 (1995): 229.
36
Conditions set by Louis XVI did not transfer a proper economic system
for the revolutionaries to reform. Under the stress of economic and political
problems, France tried to hold on to any financial possibilities to strengthen
their economy to actualize their cause. As the Convention 1794’s decree
gave equal rights to ex-slaves, Napoleon Bonaparte re-introduced slavery
to Saint Domingue eight years later. Between those eight years, abolitionist
revolutionaries fought for the equal treatment of blacks in the French
dominion. Especially the activities of the French abolitionist group Société
des Amis des Noirs (Society of Friends of the Blacks) from its founding in
1788 to 1790 set an example for the post and proto-revolutionary abolitionist
movements.
3.1.1 Women of the Revolution
Members of the Society of Friends of the Blacks were certain of their
abolitionism in French dominion. With their political activism on paper
and political scenes, they were adamant supporters of breaking social
hierarchies in favor of disenfranchised individuals. Examples of such
political and intellectual works are Olympe de Gouges and Germaine de
Staël’s writings that favored abolition in French dominion. Although the
18th and 19th century political and intellectual sphere were de facto closed
to women intellectuals, they managed to raise interest in feminism and
abolitionism in 18th century France and created an international web of
intellectuals to find solutions for disenfranchised minorities. Mostly known
as the author of La Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne,
Gouges was one of the most prominent feminist writers of her time. Along
with her 18th-century contemporaries, she believed that the conditions of
women in France resemble slavery-like conditions. Mostly following British
proto-feminist Mary Astell’s steps on the condition of women after marriage,
37
Gouges thought that marriage traps women into slavery by claiming that
...the buying and selling of women was a kind of industry
taken for granted in the first rank of society, which,
henceforth, will have no credit. If it did, the revolution
would be lost, and under the new order we would remain
ever corrupt. Still, can reason hide the fact that all other
routes to fortune are closed to woman, whom man buys
like a slave on the African coast? The difference is great,
as we know. The slave commands the master; but if the
master sets her free, without compensation, at an age
when the slave has lost all her charms, what becomes of
this unfortunate creature?3
Later she underlined the unfortunate conditions of slavery in her play
titled Zamore et Mirza ou l’Esclavage des Noirs that was republished one year
before her death in 1792. Similarly, another revolutionary abolitionist,
Germaine de Staël, used her political and social status to accentuate the
social conditions of slaves in the West Indies. As the daughter of Louis
XVI’s finance minister Jacques Necker, she followed her father’s steps on
anti-slavery politics.4 In one of her later works titled Historie de Pauline,
where she describes the conditions of slaves in Saint Domingue, she claims
that “These scorching climates where men, solely occupied with a barbaric
trade and gain, seem, for the most part, to have lost the ideas and feelings
which could make them recoil in horror from such a trade.”5 She claimed
that Haitian violence comes from their decades-long disenfranchisement.
She foregrounded their violence to their victimhood.
Along with Gouges, she claimed that French Empire must abolish
3. Olympe de Gouges, “Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen”
(September 1791).
4. Karen de Bruin, “Romantic Aesthetics and Abolitionist Activism: African Beauty in
Germaine de Staël’s Mirza Ou Lettre d’un Voyageur” [in en], Symposium: A Quarterly Journal
in Modern Literatures 67, no. 3 (July 2013): 135–147.
5. Germaine de (1766-1817) Auteur du texte Staël-Holstein, Oeuvres Complètes de Madame
La Baronne de Staël-Holstein. Oeuvres Posthumes de Madame La Baronne de Staël-Holstein,
Précédées d’une Notice Sur Son Caractère et Ses Écrits. T.2 [in EN] (1871).
38
such a trade throughout their dominion. However, just like the Friends
of the Blacks, they were faced with opposition by pro-slavery members
of the French parliament. Although Gouges was guillotined years before
Napoleon’s coronation, Staël’s post-revolutionary works directly addressed
Napoleon’s politics regarding Saint Domingue and France. As her house
became an attraction for post-revolutionary politicians, Napoleon accused
her of conspiring against the French government. As her abolitionist
contemporaries, she spent most of her final years exiled in Germany.
3.1.2 Abbé Grégoire and Société des Amis des Noirs
Many generations of French intellectuals expressed their thoughts
on the anti-slavery movement and the inhuman nature of the slave
trade. As the conditions of slaves in Saint Domingue become a piece of
common knowledge among the French society in the 18th century, French
intellectuals’ concerns over it become more apparent. Influenced by the
narrative of the Declaration of Independence, French revolutionaries with The
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen aimed to emphasize equality
between individuals. Most importantly, Article 3 of The Declaration of the
Rights of Man and of the Citizen states that “all men are equal by nature and
before the law”. As it gave hope to Haitian Revolutionaries, it underlined
the decades-long problem among French society on citizenship.
Main members of the Society of Friends of the Blacks by the beginning of
1794 included prominent names such as Marquis de Lafayette, Marquis de
Condorcet, the Duke de Rochefoucauld, Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve, and
Abbé Grégoire. The Society by no means was the first abolitionist group
in the Atlantic sphere. In constant connection with the British abolitionist
group Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, they aimed to abolish
the slave trade in the Atlantic. As a member of the Society of Friends
39
of the Blacks and the French National Convention in 1789-1790, Abbé
Grégoire stood as the champion of the anti-slavery movement in the late
18th century. As he defended the freedom and voting rights of mixed-blood
(mulattoes) and free-blacks in the National Convention and during the
Directory period, he fought for the emancipation of blacks in Haiti. As he
supported the emancipation throughout the Atlantic, his most considerable
intellectual interest was over Haiti. Meticulously working on their freedom,
he underlined the importance of Haiti by claiming that;
Free Haiti is a beacon raised on the Antilles towards
which the slaves and their masters, the oppressed and the
oppressors turn their eyes, some sighing, others roaring;
it is not given to anyone to lift the veil of the future and
to conceal from it the secrets which God has kept for
himself, but according to the data acquired by previous
and contemporary events, we see approaching the time when
the sun in America will illuminate only free men, where its rays
will no longer fall on irons and slaves.6
However, against his Haitian contemporaries, Grégoire was against the
independence of Haiti. Supporting the inclusion of Black slaves in French
society, he believed that Saint Domingue could become a part of the French
Empire. As representation issues in Haiti turned into a representation
issue of colonies in the National Convention, Grégoire stood in front of a
turning point. Were free-black individuals should be represented in the
Constitutional Assembly? According to French metropolitan laws based
on the Declaration of the Right of Man and the Citizen, there was no racial
6. “Haïti libre est un phare élevé sur les Antilles vers lequel les esclaves et leurs maîtres,
les opprimés et les oppresseurs tournent leurs regards, ceux-là en soupirant, ceux-ci en
rugissant ; il n’est donné à personne de soulever le voile de l’avenir et d’y dérober les secrets
que Dieu s’est réservés, mais d’après les données acquises par les événemens antérieurs
et contemporains, on voit approcher l’époque où le soleil en Amérique n’éclairera que
des hommes libres, où ses rayons ne tomberont plus sur des fers et des esclaves.” Henri
Grégoire, De la Liberté de conscience et de culte à Haïti, par M. Grégoire,... [in fr] (1824), 42
40
distinction between voters.7 Thus, on a legal basis, the French empire
couldn’t separate or retain French citizens from voting in elections. This
situation was applicable if Haitian free-coloreds were considered French
citizens. However, conditions created for free-coloreds were so limiting that
even sending their children to France to get an education created a political
problem for them in the colony.
Certain free-coloreds from Haiti, including Vincent Ogé and Julien
Raymond, were sent to France to secure certain humanitarian rights
for the Haitian free-coloreds. Raymond, the chosen spokesperson of
the free-coloreds in Haiti, stated in his first petition that mulattoes and
free-coloreds are not invited to the National Convention because “… an
unjust and barbarous prejudice has seen to it that until this day we have
been repulsed not only from all civil employment but even from the parish
assemblies…”.8 Indeed, the free-coloreds were pushed aside by both white
slave owners and black slaves in Haitian society. Moreover, the free-coloreds
were forbidden to hold assemblies in French colonies. Thus, Raymond was
required to obtain political aid from white French citizens to make his case
again for the unjust treatment of the free-coloreds. Raymond met with the
politicians from the Friends of the Blacks in 1789 to further develop his ideas
and compose a cahier for the political rights of free-coloreds.9 While the
Friends of the Blacks were enthusiastic about aiding the free-coloreds, the
Club Massiac – a French pro-slavey political organization — were equally
7. Jean-François Brière, “Abbe Gregoire and Haitian Independence,” Research in African
Literatures 35, no. 2 (April 2004): 2.
8. Julien Raimond, Observations Adressées à l’Assemblée Nationale, Par Un Député Des Colons
Amériquains [in EN] (1789), 14 cited in Mercer Cook, “Julien Raimond,” The Journal of Negro
History 26, no. 2 (1941): 5
9. Cahiers are a list of political grievances drawn up by each estate of French society.
These lists mainly consist of the political aims and problems of each class. They were
required to be drawn up between March and April 1789 following the Estates-General of
1789.
41
against the abolition of slavery and slave trade in Haiti.
Mainly including slave-owning planters, the Club Massiac members
were against the inclusion of free blacks and mulattoes in electoral
processes. Basing their resentment on agricultural fears, they underlined
the importance of keeping French laws in France.10 Economic system of
French colonies was vastly different from the financial system in France.
Driven mainly by mercantilistic desires, many individuals who invested in
the slave trade or had property on the island wanted to keep slavery alive
in Saint Domingue. Thus, the Club Massiac’s narrative quickly influenced
many slave-owning individuals in the National Convention. Underlining
the hardships of the post-revolutionary economy, Club Messiac members
claimed that such sudden political changes would hurt the pace of the
cause. Indeed, the economic difficulties were the biggest obstacles in front
of the Friends of the Blacks.11 Main objective of revolutionaries during this
period was “... to justify the Revolution, to acquit it of crimes, to explain
away its criminals”.12 Lack of answers to the questions proposed by the
Club Massiac was one of the essential argumentative errors the Friends of
the Blacks had in their narrative. In a letter published in Journal de Paris in
1790, one of the Nantes’ deputies of commerce, Jean-Baptiste Mosneron de
l’Aunay, directly addressed Condorcet by claiming that “... abolishing the
slave trade, ... would in a short time put an end to a business that feeds 5
to 6 million men…”.13 Against the Club Messiac, the Friends of the Blacks
was underlining the importance of colonies as an inseparable part of the
10. Brière, “Abbe Gregoire and Haitian Independence,” 35.
11. White, “The French Revolution and the Politics of Government Finance, 1770-1815.”
12. Stanley Mellon, Political Uses of History: a Study of Historians in the French Restoration
(Stanford University Press, January 1, 1958), 3.
13. Journel de Paris, no. 24, 17 January 1790. cited in Fayçal Falaky, “Reading Rousseau in
the Colonies: Theory, Practice, and the Question of Slavery” [in en], Small Axe: A Caribbean
Journal of Criticism 19, no. 1 (March 2015): 5–19
42
empire. They supported the idea that this interconnected web of interests
would eventually lead to the actualization of revolutionary political aims.
As slavery and the slave trade in the colony continued, Antoine Barnave,
on March 8, 1790, announced that colonies could hold their election and
manage their domestic affairs.
3.1.3 Free Citizen
Self-government meant little to nothing to black slaves in Saint Domingue.
While this decision was favored by free-coloreds that planned to send
representatives to the French parliament, it wasn’t favorable among
many Haitian revolutionaries. Most of them was considering Raymond’s
politics as self-serving and limited. Raymond did not ask to eliminate
previous colonial laws but proposed a lighter version by suggesting special
political statuses to light-skinned, wealthy free-coloreds.14 Unhappy by the
conditions created by Raymond and National Convention, revolutionaries
and Black slaves started to become vocal about their disappointment.
However, revolutionaries and Black slaves were not the only ones who
were disappointed by the decree. Property-owners and colonists tried to
persuade members of the National Convention by claiming that France
should not dictate colonies on the subject of race relations. To bring down
the negative responses from the French colonies, members of the National
Convention decided to keep the bill racially ambiguous. The final version
of the bill passed and was later re-established in March 1792. However,
certain members of the Friends of the Blacks were unhappy with this
decision. Alongside the Haitian revolutionaries, Grégoire was fighting for
the total abolition of the slave trade. However, unknown to him, Haitian
revolutionaries were about to declare their independence and abolish
14. John D Garrigus, “Opportunist or Patriot? Julien Raimond (1744–1801) and the Haitian
Revolution” [in en], Slavery & Abolition 28, no. 1 (April 2007): 6.
43
slavery in 1794.
Sonthonax’s sudden declaration of the abolition of slavery on the island
shook the French parliament. Abbé Grégoire noted his opinions towards this
sudden change in his De la traite et de l’esclavage des Noirs as;
In the north of the island, Blacks have a completely
organized government. Last June, the civil, criminal,
and military rights were in the press; work, done by free
hands, is protected and compensated, education and
the arts are making progress. On January 1, the annual
celebration of independence, they renew the oath never to
tolerate the return of slavery.15
Sudden declaration changed every plan Friends of the Blacks had for the
colony. Unpredictable declarations emphasized the unreliable nature of the
Haitian Revolution in the eyes of the Atlantic revolutionaries. As the French
Revolution progressed, most of the Society of Friends of the Blacks members
were either dead or in jail for conspiring against the National Convention.
After losing the majority of their power in the National Convention, none of
the new politicians favored their aims for Haiti. Reputation tarnished by his
vote in favor of the execution of Louis XVI, Abbé Grégoire was turned into a
persona-non-grata among the French politicians.
3.2 Haiti and United States
From the early 18th century onwards, the United State’s financial
relationship with Haiti played a significant role for the American merchants.
Predominantly based on the sugar trade between British and French
15. “Dans le nord de l’île, les Noirs ont un gouvernement complètement organisé. En juin
dernier, les codes civil, criminel, militaire étaient sous presse; le travail, fait par des mains
libres, est protégé et récompensé, l’éducation et les arts font des progrès. Le 1er janvier,
fête annuelle de l’indépendance, on renouvelle le serment de ne jamais tolérer le retour de
l’esclavage.” Henri Grégoire, “De La Traite et de l’esclavage Des Noirs” (1815), 43–44 cited
in Brière, “Abbe Gregoire and Haitian Independence,” 5
44
colonies, Haitian and American merchants rebelled and fought over a
century to keep this lucrative commerce alive. As the American and French
Revolutions radicalized each other further, the interconnectedness of each
created a common reaction to the Haitian Revolution in the Atlantic. Similar
to the French property-owning bourgeoisie, many American white Southern
property-owners emphasized their concerns over the agriculture of the
United States. Mainly using the violence of Haitian slaves to fear-monger
against the Haitian Revolution, Southern politicians propagandized
the Haitian rebels in favor of their pro-slavery aims. As the violation
of revolutionary rhetoric first came from France as an anti-abolitionist
narrative, similar economic and political reports were used by pro-slavery
18th century American politicians.
3.2.1 Economic Response
The United States, after the 1780s, was in an economic crisis. Permanently
increasing war debt was one of the main issues of the Washington, Adams,
and Jefferson administrations. Crippled by the war and national debt, a
permanent solution for economic prosperity, according to the Federalists,
laid on economic and political partnership with Great Britain. As one of
the central economic powers in the 18th century, any collaboration with
Great Britain proposed economic and political stability and international
recognition to the new nations. In the end, like politics, economic order was
changing in the Atlantic. The old physiocratic order was leaving itself to a
mercantile system with the ongoing industrial changes. Britain carried the
advantages of creating the trade systems and payments of the developed
world.16 From the standpoint of American politicians, a diplomatic coalition
with Great Britain would fasten the rebuilding of the American financial
16. Eric J. Hobsbawm and Chris Wrigley, Industry and Empire (The New Press, 1999), 13.
45
stability. They were the only Old Power that showed signs of economic and
political stability. According to Alexander Hamilton in his The Report on the
Subject of Manufacturers the power of labor, primarily cotton production, was
an immerse agricultural power the United States was holding in their hands.
In the words of Gordon Wood, the American Revolution and its
nation-building phase was a “product of a complicated culmination of
many diverse personal grievances and social strains, ranging from land
pressures in Connecticut to increasing indebtedness in Virginia.”17 The
United States as a whole was benefitting by the existence of this institution.
However, they were not the only ones. The West Indies since the mid- 17th
century accounted for 9% of total British exports. In 1773 one quarter of
the English exports came from the Caribbean islands.18 This not only made
the Carribeans one of the leading sugar exporters of the Atlantic but at
the same time put all European powers in a fight to gain control over the
region. This economic conundrum between yeoman farmers vs. plantation
owners and physiocracy vs. mercantile financial systems continued to hunt
the American political scene until the end of the 1960s. However, the social
implications of this economic debate were much more significant than they
seemed. Alliances not only changed the balance of power between France
and Great Britain but at the same time changed the outcomes of the Atlantic
revolutions between the late 18th to mid-19th centuries. As much as the
economic limitations and political neutrality aims tried to set the United
States as a neutral nation in the Atlantic, revolutionary rhetoric the American
intellectuals used throughout the 18th century was already influencing the
Atlantic political sphere.
17. Gordon Wood, The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 (UNC Press Books,
1998), 75.
18. Eric Eustace Williams, Capitalism & Slavery (1994), 54.
46
One of the most peculiar differences in American society was the lack of
proper social classes that were permanent in the pre-18th century Western
societies. While differences between social classes were bound to birth
holding hereditary titles and the governmental offices in the Western
societies, the class difference between individuals was mainly based on
either office they held or land they owned in the North Colonial American
society. In a most literal sense, the subject’s economic status was one of
the main differentiating tools for social status in Colonial America. Thus,
protection of these differences became an essential factor in the 18th century
politics. While the early phases of the slave trade on the Atlantic were
slower, as the industry grew, the desire for African slaves proportionately
raised. According to the census of 1780, of 3.8 million people living in the
entire country, 700,000 of them were slaves.19 That meant that almost 18% of
the people who were living in the United States were in bondage. Through
the end of the 18th century with the invention of the Cotton Gin, England
became one of the top importers of cotton. This new world enterprise tired
and forced the landowners to require more land. Moreover, it put immerse
demands on the black slaves to maximize the profits.20
3.2.2 Propagandizing Slavery
One of the main political points that many American colonists agreed on
during the Continental Congress was creating a consensus among the
thirteen states. Accordingly, Southern states had the advantage of having
economic and political power over politics during the mid-18th century.
Moreover, they had the political incentives to support and force their
19. Anthony Zambelli, “Looking at History Through an Economics Lens: A Short History
of North American Slavery from an Economic Point of View,” Social Studies Review 52, no. 1
(2013): 56.
20. Philip D. Morgan, “Origins of American Slavery,” OAH Magazine of History 19, no. 4
(-07-01 2005): 53.
47
political agenda during these meetings. Later implied by John Rutledge
of South Carolina, many southerners considered any debate on slavery as
inadequate for the southern Congress members. As he claimed that such
debates propose whether “the Southern States shall or shall not be parties
to the Union’, many Southern congressmen later used this argument as
leverage over Northern politician’s anti-slavery policies.21 Similar rhetoric
was used previously to force Jefferson to omit the slavery paragraph from
the final version of the Declaration of Independence. As an answer to this
omission, Jefferson noted that
South Carolina & Georgia who had never attempted to
restrain the importation of slaves, and who on the contrary
still wished to continue it. our Northern brethren also I
believe felt a little tender under those censures; for tho’
their people have very few slaves themselves yet they had
been pretty considerable carriers of them to others.22
As much as Jefferson tried to position the issue of slavery as silence from
both sides, there is no denying the political power Southern politicians held
in the Early American political arena. Similarly, James Madison urged his
friend William Bradford in 1776 to not report the arming of slaves by the
British in fears of political reactions from the Southern states.23 These small
instances show that while Southern congress members used slavery to force
their political agenda.
Tracing the debate on slavery back shows that many members of the
Congress who participated in these debates were silent or got silenced
on this issue. James Madison wanted this issue to be solved later when
21. “The Debate in the Convention of 1787 on the Prohibition of the Slave-Trade.,” The New
York Times: Archives, November 24, 1860, ISSN: 0362-4331.
22. ”Notes of Proceedings in the Continental Congress, 7 June–1 August 1776”, Founders
Online, National Archives.
23. David Waldstreicher, “The Beardian Legacy, the Madisonian Moment, and the Politics
of Slavery,” American Political Thought 2, no. 2 (2013): 275, ISSN: 2161-1580.
48
the topic was presented during the Continental Congress of 1780. As he
mentioned to his friend Joseph Jones whether they would enlist black slaves
on November 28, 1780, Madison claimed that the“...experience having
shown that a freedman immediately loses attachment & sympathy with
his former fellow slaves.”24 For Madison, slaves and slave owners would
not be able to create a mixed society because of their hatred towards each
other. In one of the most critical debates of the Constitutional Convention,
both Virginia and New Jersey Plan touched on the issues of slavery and
representation. As Madison insisted, the real problem was not big versus
small states but the representations of slave versus free states.25 These
debates only affirmed that slavery was very much a part of the Early
American political scene. While many progressive members of Congress
were not against the anti-slavery movement, they actively chose to discuss
their ideas on this subject in their private letters. By keeping their silence
on this issue, they decided to compromise their ideals by introducing lesser
clauses to postpone the abolition of slavery further. Against the Founder’s
expectations, rapid developments in agricultural technology didn’t change
the Southern position towards slavery. As Great Britain demanded more
cotton, Southern slave owners began to cling to this institution even further.
Slave-owners’ unwillingness to accept modern agricultural advancements
primarily lies in the early Nationalist movements that put local economic
and political interests over the social improvements.26 Although cotton
production made lands futile, for many Southern politicians, it was the only
way of living. However, this lifestyle wasn’t only for monetary gain. At a
24. ”From James Madison to Joseph Jones, 28 November 1780”, Founders Online, National
Archives.
25. Waldstreicher, “The Beardian Legacy, the Madisonian Moment, and the Politics of
Slavery,” 277.
26. Joyce E. Chaplin, “Slavery, Progress, and the ”Federo-National” Union,” in An Anxious
Pursuit: Agricultural Innovation and Modernity in the Lower South, 1730-1815 (The University
of North Carolina Press, 2012), 358.
49
certain point, their commitment to slavery became a political stance against
the anti-slavery rhetoric. Thus, incorporating slavery into Southern politics
was not a displeasing factor for them. On the contrary, it was a political
point they used in their daily politics.
Most of the American revolutionaries wanted to keep egalitarian
revolutionary rhetoric. Moreover, they aimed to influence other oppressed
individuals to take arms against their oppressors. However, the American
Revolution wasn’t just a national issue. On the contrary, the American
Revolution wouldn’t be actualized without the Spanish and French
economic and military aid. As a debt to their help, France expected the
United States to aid their political and economic causes in the Atlantic.
This expectation meant economic and political assistance for the French
in the Caribbean. However, the political and economic status of the Early
American government wasn’t strong enough to fully aid the French
Empire. Moreover, the news of slave insurgences coming from Haiti
was underlining an unwanted point. None of the Atlantic nations was
welcoming a slave rebellion. Haiti, by its location, influenced many Great
Powers’ economic stability. The Revolution started under the leadership
of Toussaint L’Ouverture. Haitian Revolutionaries were proposing a new
economic and political order for the Atlantic.
3.2.3 Political Response
Haitian Revolution, with the Trou Coffy insurgence, started turmoil in the
Atlantic Political sphere. Starting with solid and reactionary foundations, the
Haitian Revolution was, in the end, was creating one of the earliest examples
of a self-governing Black state run by former slaves. As C.L.R. James
claimed in Black Jacobins, Haitian Revolution wasn’t only significant because
it was one of the earliest examples of slave revolts, but “the magnitude
50
of the interest” shown by other European and Atlantic nations proved
the power of the movement.27 Starting with the United States gaining its
independence in 1783 with the Treaty of Paris and later French Revolution in
1789, political and social structures in the Atlantic were changing. Especially
in Haiti, British, French, and Spanish colonial powers were trying to own the
lucrative trade on the island. By the end of August 1793, Spain was allied
with black rebel armies and controlled a significant portion of the Northern
provinces of the colony.28 On the other hand, prominent colonial leaders
like Toussaint L’Ouverture were in contact with the United States and Great
Britain to find the economic and political support they needed. Indeed, in
the late-18th century, the United States was a solid ally for L’Ouverture.
Especially, during the period between 1795 to 1800, with the Jay’s Treaty
and XYZ Affair, the United States was in a quasi-war with France. Thus, both
Washington and Adams administrations were enthusiastic but cautious to
aid the Haitian cause.
The first instance of political contact between the United States and Haiti
for financial and political aid was right after the Trou Coffy insurrection.
With the entrusted letters were written to United States Congress by
President Boyer, M. Roustan reached Philadelphia in mid-September.29
Unfortunate to him, both the Secretary of State and President of the United
States was out of town during that time. However, the Pennsylvania state
legislature took matters into their hands and on September 21 declared
that taking into consideration the distressed and wretched
situation of the inhabitants of Cap Français, then closely
27. James, The Black Jacobins.
28. Carolyn E. Fick, “Revolutionary Saint Domingue and the Emerging Atlantic:
Paradigms of Sovereignty,” Review (Fernand Braudel Center) 31, no. 2 (2008): 123.
29. Mary Treudley, “The United States and Santo Domingo, 1789-1866,” The Journal of Race
Development 7, no. 1 (1916): 103.
51
besieged by an enraged and brutal multitude of negroes,
the House of Representatives as men enjoying the
blessings of peace and as citizens of the world being
bound to relieve their fellow creatures in an hour of such
terror and misery, which will not admit of any delay”
should make arrangements to send two vessels with
provisions to Cap Français. 30
Their quick answer to the Haitian government shows that the trade relations
between Haiti and the United States were considered crucial to the American
economy as it was to the French Empire. Thus keeping the trade between
colonies was important to the balance of power in the Atlantic political
sphere.
Before 1793, both Federalists and Republicans were willing to send
financial and political aids to the French officials in Haiti. Pressuring
Congress by citing his country’s dire conditions, the French diplomat Jean
Baptiste de Ternant demanded $4000,000 for his use. The United States
Congress accepted his demand with the help of Alexander Hamilton.
Writing on February 22, 1792, Hamilton showed his sincere emotions by
claiming
In making this payment, I derive pleasure from the idea
of any accommodation which may result from it at the
particular conjuncture; and I assure you of a cordial
disposition on my part to cooperate in any extension
which may be requisite and practicable.31
Moreover, in June 1792, the National Convention provided the use of
four million livres of American debt to aid the French in St. Domingo.32
30. Report American Historical Association, 1897, 491, in a letter from Phineas Bond to
Lord Granville, October 2, 1791 cited in Treudley, “The United States and Santo Domingo,
1789-1866,” 104
31. “From Alexander Hamilton to Jean Baptiste de Ternant, 22 February 1792”, Founders
Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-11-02-
0052.
32. Treudley, “The United States and Santo Domingo, 1789-1866,” 180.
52
However, this financial treatment didn’t last long. As France was going
through multiple revolutions, the economic instability of the revolutionary
depression was much more apparent than before. From 1793 to 1794, the
political and economic relationship between the United States and France
deteriorated. Especially for the Federalists, Haiti’s independence meant
the tipping power of France in the Atlantic.33 With the signing of the Jay’s
Treaty, United States Federalists not only officially agreed on siding with
Great Britain against France, but at the same time, diplomatically showed
that their economic and financial relationship with France was put on hold.
The Adams Administration later reinforced this notion after the XYZ Affair,
where they banned all trade with France and starting a quasi-war with them.
According to Timothy Pickering
Nothing is more clear, than, if left to themselves, that
the Blacks of St. Domingo will be incomparably less
dangerous than if they remain the subjects of France ....
France with an army of those black troops might conquer
all the British Isles [in the Carib- bean] and put in jeopardy
our Southern States. 34
Republicans didn’t share the same perception towards an independent
Haiti. While they agreed on the principle of keeping both British and
French powers away from the colony, at the same time, they were afraid
of a possible slave rebellion in the Southern States. Especially after 1793,
as the white government in St. Domingo collapsed, thousands of white
refugees from the colony immigrated to the United States. Many French
refugees found their new homes and unleashed a southern conservative, a
33. Donald R. Hickey, “America’s Response to the Slave Revolt in Haiti, 1791-1806,”
Journal of the Early Republic 2, no. 4 (1982): 365.
34. ”Pickering to William Smith, Feb. 13, 1799”, Pickering Papers, reel 10 (Massachusetts
Historical Society) cited in Hickey, “America’s Response to the Slave Revolt in Haiti,
1791-1806”
53
pro-slavery argument against the slave uprisings in St. Domingo.35
The Republicans did not share the Federalist’s view of the Haitian
Revolution. Parallel to the United States’ interests over the region, Jefferson
— like other Democratic-Republicans— considered the Haitian revolution an
unwanted political dispute for the Atlantic sphere. In an attempt to surpass
the French hegemony over the region and aid Southern finances and politics,
Jefferson halted official relations with the Haitian revolutionaries in 1801.36
Although, Jefferson in multiple private letters, underlined his aims for Saint
Domingue, due to his racial prejudices, Haitian revolutionaries never had a
chance to be equal to the Greek or French revolutionaries.37 As the Jefferson
administration put an embargo that cut off trade between the United States
and Haiti between 1806 and 1810, it only diminished the fears of the Atlantic
slaveowners momentarily. From news of insurgence to fictional works such
as Leonora Sansay’s Secret History, the creation of the rhetoric of violence
regarding the Haitian revolutionaries was alive in the United States.
Interestingly, both Federalists and Democratic-Republicans had their
narratives regarding the Haitian Revolution. Mostly came out from the
political conundrum in Saint Domingue, the Haitian Revolution became
a mythical story that French and American politicians used to aid their
political ideologies. Inhumane conditions that most black slaves were
living under mainly were a secondary thought for most of the 18th-century
politicians.
35. Timothy M Matthewson, “Jefferson and Haiti,” The Journal of Southern History 61, no. 2
(1995): 216.
36. Donald R. Hickey, “America’s Response to the Slave Revolt in Haiti, 1791-1806,”
Journal of the Early Republic 2, no. 4 (1982): 369, https://doi.org/10.2307/3123088.
37. According to Jefferson, the United States can solve their slavery problem by sending
Black slaves to Haiti. Although he acknowledged that such transformation of the
society would affect the United States financially, he later admitted that a constitutional
amendment would be required for such transformation. John Ashworth, Slavery, Capitalism,
and Politics in the Antebellum Republic (Cambridge University Press, January 1996), 36
54
CHAPTER 4
MEDITERRANEAN ALLIANCES
Alas! why must the same Atlantic wave
Which wafted freedom gird a tyrant’s grave -
The king of kings, and yet of slaves the slave,
Who burst the chains of millions to renew
The very fetters which his arm broke through,
And crushed the rights of Europe and his own,
To flit between a dungeon and a throne?
—Lord Byron, The Age of Bronze
4.1 Minorities in Ottoman Empire
From its first foundational steps, the Ottoman Empire incorporated
multi-ethnic, racial, and religious groups into Ottoman society. Its
geopolitical position offered many economic and political opportunities.
After conquering one of the most influential Christian cities in the 15th
century, Constantinople, the Ottoman Empire, in approximately 600 years,
became one of the most powerful empires in the Mediterranean. With its
powerful military advancements, the Empire was considered one of the
major players in the Mediterranean außenpolitik. It wasn’t until the 16th
century the Ottoman Empire decided to expand its territories to the Balkans
55
and Aegean. From 1516 to 1517, Sultan Selim defeated the entire Levantine
coast, Empire’s connection with other trade routes became clearer.1 These
imperialist policies put the Ottoman Empire in a constant naval war with
Venetians and Spaniards in the Mediterranean. As none of the three empires
could prove their power over the Mediterranean sea, it became a war zone
between them.
After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, most non-muslim subjects were
barred from living in the perimeter of Istanbul’s city walls.2 As most of the
Ottomans had little interest in the Cycladic islands, most of the non-muslim,
especially Greek, the population were found their new homes in these
islands. As these islands became a battle zone for the Orthodox and Muslim
empires, Orthodox Greeks became the sole merchants who continued
the international trade with other foreign empires. Mostly earning their
livelihood from trading, wealthy Greek subjects became the natural trade
mediators between the Ottoman Empire and other Western powers. Most
of the Atlantic and Mediterranean trade was left to smaller merchants by
the Great Powers after the Seven Years War. While French and English
previously controlled these trade routes, now it was left to the smaller
merchants to earn their fortunes. This transformation of sea trade in the 18th
century not only elevated Greek merchant’s social status but at the same
time transformed Istanbul into a major European city. As Nikolai Todorov
describes it in The Balkan City, 1400-1900, “Thanks to its key geographic
position – at the crossroads of several major land and sea commercial
thoroughfares – and to the privileges and facilities that it had enjoyed for
1. Molly Greene, “Resurgent Islam” [in English], in The Mediterranean in History, ed.
David Abulafia (Los Angeles, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003), 221.
2. Molly Greene, The Edinburgh History of the Greeks, 1453 to 1768: The Ottoman Empire
(Edinburgh University Press, 2015), 90.
56
several centuries, Istanbul was transformed into the largest city in Europe”.3
This transformation re-introduced the Greek populations back into city.
4.1.1 Ottoman Empire and Slavery
Slavery in the Ottoman Empire even today stays as an unexplored part
of Ottoman history. Compared to American racial studies, slavery in the
Ottoman Empire holds little to no space in Turkish collective memories.4
One of the main reasons for this erasure is that from the 1840s to 1870s,
many Ottoman intellectuals created two different histories for two different
audiences. While for western audiences, Ottoman intellectuals presented
Ottoman slavery as kul/harem slavery, for Ottoman audiences, they claimed
that domestic and agricultural slavery is the only slavery types in the
Ottoman Empire.5 The majority of the female slaves worked mostly in
domestic positions, and some of them became wives or concubines in
Ottoman households. Although, in most cases, just like in the United States
and France, such sexual acts of violence became a second nature of this
institution and became a part of a captive’s life under slavery.6 Especially
female captives from Sudan and Egypt not only created their Orientalist
trophies for Western audiences. Authors such as Montesquieu, Domenico
of Jerusalem, and Lady Mary Wortley used Harem and the sexualization of
women in the Ottoman Empire as classic examples of Ottoman despotism
and oppression to substantialize their ideas regarding the Ottoman Empire
3. Nikolai Todorov, The Balkan City, 1400-1900 (University of Washington Press, January
1983), 55-56 cited in Greene, The Edinburgh History of the Greeks, 1453 to 1768, 95
4. Terence Walz and Kenneth M. Cuno, eds., Race and Slavery in the Middle East: Histories
of Trans-Saharan Africans in Nineteenth-Century Egypt, Sudan, and the Ottoman Mediterranean
(Cairo ; New York: American University in Cairo Press, 2010), 4.
5. Ehud R. Toledano, “Late Ottoman Concepts of Slavery (1830s-1880s)” [in en], Poetics
Today 14, no. 3 (23): 477.
6. Michael Ferguson and Ehud R. Toledano, “Ottoman Slavery and Abolition in the
Nineteenth Century” [in en], in The Cambridge World History of Slavery, First, ed. David Eltis
et al. (Cambridge University Press, April 2017), 201.
57
further.7 Later, similar slavery rhetoric was used by revolutionary minorities
such as Greeks to draw attention to their causes. Indeed, many non-Muslim
individuals were used as military slaves by the Ottoman Empire. However,
the diasporic literature of the Greek Revolution doesn’t include either
female or male slaves in their rhetoric. Although like every revolution,
we come across revolutionaries that base their insurgence in egalitarian
terms, such as Rigas Ferairos that aimed to demolish hierarchies for every
subject of the Ottoman Empire, prominent Greek Enlightenment thinker
Adamantios Korais used the term slavery without including the condition
of real disenfranchised individuals in the Ottoman Empire.8
4.2 Philhellenism in the West
Most of the non-muslim reâya were openly against the additional taxes they
had to pay under the Ottoman Empire. As Şeriat considered Christianity
and Jewish religions holy, many non-muslim individuals were regarded
as second-class subjects by the Ottoman Empire. This pushed many
non-Muslim minorities to seek closer ties with other Mediterranean powers.
However, close relations with the other Mediterranean empires and cities
like Venice made Greek merchants vital in Ottoman international trade.
As the Ottoman Empire required Western glass, paper, and fabrics, other
Western empires needed Ottoman grains. To deliver such goods, the Greek
merchants were in constant connection with other Western merchants. Thus,
it is not a surprise that many merchants were able to bring back the 18th
century revolutionary ideas to the Ottoman Empire.
7. Christine Isom-Verhaaren, “Royal French Women in the Ottoman Sultans’ Harem:
The Political Uses of Fabricated Accounts from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century,”
Journal of World History 17, no. 2 (2006): 159–196.
8. It is essential to note that the constitution that was known as The Epidaurus Law
adopted by the First National Assembly of Epidaurus on January 1, 1822, abolished slavery
in Greece.
58
West’s perspective on the Greeks and Greek history changed throughout
the 18th century. Mostly forgotten before the Seven Years War, the Greek
population in the Ottoman Empire was mainly bound to the vilification
by the European intellectuals. British diplomat William Martin Leake
in his Researches in Greece claims that “the modern dialect of the greeks
bears the same comparison with its parent language, as the poverty and
debasement of the present generation to the refinement and opulence
of their ancestors”.9 Mostly connecting their historical background to
the Byzantine Empire, most of the 18th century intellectual figures were
considering them as the lesser version of their ancestors. After the French
and American Revolutions, on the eve of the 19th century, the European
international society, under the leadership of France, Great Britain, Russia,
and Spain, created the Congress of Vienna with the aims of bringing the
balance of power between nations back to Europe. The decision made by the
Great Powers created the Concert of Europe aimed to stabilize international
order by underlining the common interests of the Great Powers. However,
each Great Power had its own political and economic plan for the future
of Europe. Divided into two groups under the Quadruple Alliance and
the Holy Alliance, they defined Europe in secular and religious terms. As
much as the Great Powers aimed to end political complications in Europe,
the possible collapse of the Ottoman Empire posed a threat to European
stability.10 As German diplomat Frederic von Gentz claimed, “Whatever
happens in Spain, Portugal and North and South America, the European
Alliance can wait with calmness…”.11 Thus, their first aim was to protect the
Ottoman Empire’s political status among the European nations.
9. William Martin Leake, Researches in Greece [in en] (J. Booth, 1814), 2.
10. Yannis A. Stivachtis, “‘International Society’ versus’ ‘World Society’: Europe and the
Greek War of Independence” [in en], Int Polit 55, no. 1 (January 2018): 111.
11. Cited in Stivachtis, 111
59
From the early 18th century, Philhellenism became a predominant
intellectual movement in Europe. As the Philhellenists claimed, most
of the European intellectual foundation was built on the Ancient Greek
scholarly works. The Philhellenist movement was based on re-introducing
this intellectual foundation back to modern scholarship. Most of the 18th
century intellectuals, if they want to get higher education, were bound to
learn Greek and Latin. The predominant higher education institutions in the
United States required every student to be able to read and write in Latin
and Greek. Thus, most of the younger generation started to read works of
Greek and Roman authors at a very young age.
Greek and Roman scholarly work’s influence on early Atlantic politics
carries a romantic bond to Greek and Roman history. This connection made
Philhellenism a legitimate movement in Western societies. From Americans
to Germans, many intellectuals flocked to the Ottoman Empire to see
ancient Greek cities. However, their primary interest was in Ancient Greek
monuments rather than the Greek intellectual tradition. Their aims mainly
were a romantic aspiration influenced by their love for Greek antiquity
rather than changing the Greek Christian’s political status. Most of the
Western Philhellenes were not able to travel to the Ottoman Empire. For
financial and geographical reasons, such a journey would require sufficient
funds in the 18th century. Thus, most of the Philhellenes had to imagine
how Greece looked. As one of the many German Philhellenes who couldn’t
take this journey, Frederich Hegel would agree with the great German
archaeologist Johann Winckelmann’s description of Grece as “the land of
beauty” where art and political freedom can openly flourish.12
12. Will D. Desmond, “Hegel and the Ancient World,” in Hegel’s Antiquity, Pages: 1-42
Publication Title: Hegel’s Antiquity Section: Hegel’s Antiquity (Oxford University Press,
2020), 12.
60
Aligned with the other nation-making processes in the 18th and
19th centuries, most of the Greek Philhellenes started to reshape their
language and history to define their ‘true’ historical and intellectual
identities. The change from romantic aspiration to a political movement
happened approximately in the 1750s when Philhellenism became a
predominant movement with the influence of Western intellectuals.
Mainly carrying the same notions of emotional and historical roots of
Romanticism, Philhellenism aimed to protect Greek history and philosophy.
During the pre-revolutionary period, the term Philhellenism described
a Greek individual who supported the rebirth of the Hellens. It was
later defined by the Greek historian Antinos Miliarakis in his review of
Adamantios Korais’ book as “[a person] who loved Greece in his manner,
and worked unrelentingly towards the rebirth of Greece by publishing,
correcting and annotating texts of ancient Greek writers”.13 This minor
change in the definition of this concept not only changed the ‘we’ versus
‘them’ perspective in the Greek revolutionary narrative, but at the same
time further influenced the Western intellectuals to support the Greek
Revolution.14 Later, continuing with the Greek history, Adamantios Korais, a
Classical Greek scholar, refuted the Byzantine and Ottoman influences on
Greek history. He claimed that due to Ottoman mistreatment, the Greek
population under the Ottoman Empire was uneducated on their histories
and historical changes of the 18th century. Thus, according to Korais, their
‘awakening’ was later than their European counterparts. Claiming in his
13. “οοποίος,αγαπώντηνΕλλάδακατ’ιδιάζοντατρόπον,ειργάσθηανενδότως υπέρ της
αναγεννήσεως αυτής δημοσιεύων, διορθών και σχολιάζων κείμενα αρχαίων Ελλήνων
συγγραφέων” A Μηλιαράκης, “Χαρακτηρισμός του Κοραή,” Εστία, no. 4 (1877): 584
cited in Pechlivanos Miltos, “Adamantios Korais (Smyrna 1748–Paris 1833), philhellène à
sa manière,” in Concepts and Functions of Philhellenism, ed. Martin Vöhler, Stella Alekou, and
Pechlivanos Miltos, Publication Title: Concepts and Functions of Philhellenism (De Gruyter,
January 18, 2021), 177
14. Miltos, 178-179.
61
Memoire Sur L’etat Actuel de La Civilisation Dans La Grèce that “This painful
discovery, however, doesn’t not precipitate the Greek into despair: We
are descendants of Greeks, they implicitly told themselves, we must either try
to become again worthy of this name, or we must not bear it.”15 As a classical
scholar himself, Korais underlined the notion that the Greek population
has to regain control over their classical history.16 By capturing the Western
intellectual mind, Philhellenism was turned into “a political program for the
benefit of the Greek cause”.17 Korais’ decision regarding the Greek language
and history was in line with the widespread Western interest in Greek
antiquity. Thus, the protection of Greece become an intellectual fight over
the defense of freedom, democracy, and liberty from tyranny and cruelty.
4.2.1 American Philhellenism
Most of the prominent American intellectuals of the 18th century were
political leaders of the new republic. Mostly educated on the classical
teachings, their educational background shaped their political and moral
understandings and perspectives. The usage of Athens or Rome as an
example for the American governmental system was politically useful.
Firstly, slavery — primarily white slavery — existed in both of these
societies. Thus, most of the pro-slavery crowd enjoyed using Athens as an
example for their ideal community. However, at the same time, Athens was
too politically egalitarian and too unstable to lead. These two crucial factors
of Athenian statesmanship helped to define the characteristic elements of
the Early American democracy. First, for stability, a limitation on voting
15. Adamantios Korais, “Adamantios Korais: Report on the Present State of Civilization
in Greece” [in en], in Late Enlightenment: Emergence of Modern National Ides, ed. Ahmet Ersoy
et al. (Central European University Press, June 2006), 144.
16. Grigoriadis, “Religion and Greek Nationalism,” 15.
17. Gregory Jusdanis, Belated Modernity and Aesthetic Culture: Inventing National Literature,
Theory and History of Literature 81 (Minneapolis, Minn.: Univ. of Minnesota Press, 1991),
16.
62
was necessary. Secondly, like Athens and Sparta, United States required
slave labor to continue its economic power. Athens society, like Spartan,
had a strict division between citizens and forced labor. Hierarchial-minded
politicians used this fundamental similarity between two distinct societies to
support slavery.
The Greek independence movement was put into modern mainstream
politics by the English poet Lord Byron. As a Philhellene himself, he traveled
to Ottoman Empire to aid the Greek Revolution. His poems on Greek life
made Greek independence a popular movement among the European public
spheres. Like many Atlantic counterparts, Americans felt a solid connection
to Greek history. Due to their political and, even in some cases religious
references, certain groups in the American society wanted to mobilize
against the Ottoman Empire. Primarily used by the scholars and intellectuals
in the 19th, usage of Greek language and knowledge of Greek history was
predominantly an upper-class phenomenon. However, according to John
Adams, the American Revolution could explain a sudden interest in Hellenic
culture. Adams claims that the American Revolution led the motivation
to research and write the first official histories of other classical empires.18
As prominent Classicists like Edward Everett defended the position of
the classical languages in higher education, he later traveled to Greece to
popularize the Greek independence movement in the Atlantic political
sphere even further.
Primarily using Greek history as a negative example, many Early
American politicians claimed Ancient Greek democracy brought Greeks
their doom. Especially in Federalist 18 and Federalist 45, Alexander
Hamilton and James Madison make claims on Ancient Greece’s political
18. Meyer Reinhold, “Philhellenism in America in the Early National Period,” The Classical
Outlook 55, no. 5 (1978): 86.
63
fate.19 However, at the beginning of the mid-19th with the election of
Andrew Jackson (1829 - 1837), American society’s perspectives on Greek
history, especially towards the Athenian democracy, changed exponentially.
During the Antebellum period, politicians used Ancient Greek history for
two distinct ideological aims. First, the Western Philhellenes like Edward
Everett and Daniel Webster used Greek democracy to collect political and
economic aid to support the Greek Revolution.20 Especially favored among
the antebellum American society, Americans were ready to collect aids for
Greek independence. However, the United States government didn’t prefer
political and financial assistance to the Greek revolutionaries. Mainly due
to President James Monroe’s (1817–1825) political aim to refrain from any
political coercion with the European sphere, the American government,
like their European counterparts, chose to stay away from the political
dispute between Ottoman Empire and the Greek population. These different
reactions between the American government and American society created
tension between American intellectuals and the early 19th century United
States government.
Predominantly debated by Edward Everett and Daniel Webster, both
intellectuals tried to pressure President James Monroe and Secretary
of State John Quincy Adams to declare governmental aid to the Greek
revolutionaries. In every case declined by Quincy Adams and Monroe,
Monroe Presidency was persistent in their refusal. Even constant political
works like George Fisher’s Greek Revolution manifesto weren’t enough to
create pressure to push an official statement regarding the Greek Revolution.
His call on the American society states that it was the Western nation’s duty
19. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, The Federalist Papers [in English]
(2016).
20. State of South Carolina Resoluiton, 19 December 1823, American State Papers.
64
to aid populations under tyranny. He claims that;
Such “my fellow citizens,” is the present state of our Greek
brethren in the east, who are using all possible means
to throw off the Ottoman yoke, and to assume a station
among the powers of the earth, (as their ancestors have
done.) They have declared themselves independent, have
formed their government, and are a nation, but have to
support yet what they have done. In a country where
every member of the community is required to take his
arms in self-defence, as well as to defend the helpless
infant, and the silver locks of those who are with one foot
in the grave …21
Propaganda writing as such influenced American society deeply. Most
of the American newspapers named this popular interest in the Greek
Revolution as ‘Greek Fire.’ While most Western Philhellenes were capturing
the emotions of the American society, many Western governments were
still hesitant to support the Greek revolutionary movement. Especially, the
United States government was not eager to openly send diplomatic aid due
to their neutrality concerns. Underlined by President James Monroe in 1823,
United States tried to stay neutral against European wars. Neutrality aims
required the United States government to be an arbitrary power between
nations. However, in the 19th century, many revolutionaries were looking
up to United States government for political and financial aids due to their
revolutionary rhetoric. Later same sentiments were underlined by Richard
Rush and Andreas Luriottis — envoy of the provisional Greek government
in Britain — in their letter to John Quincy Adams. Luriottis was claiming
in a very emotional manner that “the seat of early civilization and freedom,
stretches out her hands ... and ventures to hope, that the youngest and most
vigorous sons of liberty, will regard with no common sympathy the efforts
21. ”George Fisher: A Manifesto, 2 Oct. 1824, 2 October 1824”, Founders Online, National
Archives.
65
of the descendants of the heir and the elder borne”. As their invitation later
echoed by the Secretary of Treasury Albert Gallatin and the Secretary of War
John C. Calhoun, they requested three ships for the Greek revolutionaries.22
Their sentiment regarding the Greek Revolution was mostly echoing the
demands made by Marquis de Lafayette during his Atlantic tour. However,
against Calhoun, Lafayette and, Gallatin, John Quincy Adams insisted that
the United States has to stay neutral regarding the demands of the European
Alliance. Moreover, in President James Monroe’s private letters with
Thomas Jefferson, both intellectuals underline the importance of neutrality
between the United States and other European nations. Especially firm on
his commitment to the neutrality of the United States, Jefferson mentions in
a private letter to Elbridge Gerry on January 26, 1799, that
free commerce with all nations; political connection with
none; and little or no diplomatic establishment. And I am
not for linking ourselves by new treaties with the quarrels
of Europe; entering that field of slaughter to preserve
their balance, or joining in the confederacy of kings to war
against the principles of liberty.23
Twenty-four years later, echoing his same sentiments, Jefferson answers
Monroe on October 24, 1823, by underlining the neutrality of the United
States that “… our first and fundamental maxim should be, never to
entangle ourselves in the broils of Europe”.24 Jefferson later uses the exact
wording in a private letter to Adamantios Korais in 1823.25 In line with the
22. Karine Walther, Sacred Interests: The United States and the Islamic World, 1821-1921 [in en]
(University of North Carolina Press, September 2015), 43-44.
23. “From Thomas Jefferson to Elbridge Gerry, 26 January 1799”, Founders Online, National
Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-30-02-0451.
24. “From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 24 October 1823”, Founders Online, National
Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/98-01-02-3827.
25. “No people sympathise more feelingly than ours with the sufferings of your
countrymen, none offer more sincere and ardent prayers to heaven for their success: and
nothing indeed but the fundamental principle of our government, never to entangle us with
the broils of Europe, could restrain our generous youth from taking some part in this holy
66
Monroe administration’s aims, in a private letter, Quincy Adams answers
Luriottis by claiming that “The policy of the United States with reference
to foreign nations has always been founded upon the moral principle of
natural law — peace with all mankind”.26 Thus, United States was ready
to accept Greek governments legitimacy once they became a legitimate
nation.27 Until then, the Monroe Administration stated that they would
be neutral towards the political dispute between Ottoman Empire and the
Greek minorities. United States government’s decision of neutrality towards
Greek independence movement continued until 1825.
The second usage of Western Philhellenism and the Greek Revolution
was on a race basis. Slavery and race issues during the Antebellum period
reached their highest point after the War of 1812. Underlining the notion
of duty to save the Western civilization against the savage practices,
American legal theorist Henry Wheaton defined international law that
created the distinction between Christian and non-Christian states. Under
the understanding of the dominion theology that claims domination of
non-Christian nations by Christian, Philhellenes underlined that it was a
Christian individual’s duty to protect the Greeks over Ottomans. As later
turning Greeks into ‘whites’ in the American imagination and highlighting
the notion of slavery, American society was called into a total action against
the Ottoman Empire. To emphasize the importance of domination, Wheaton
claimed that “The interference of the Christian powers of Europe in favor of
the Greeks, who, after enduring ages of cruel oppression, had shaken off the
Ottoman yoke, affords a further illustration of the principles of international
cause.” ”From Thomas Jefferson to Adamantios Coray, 31 October 1823”, Founders Online,
National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/98-01-02-3837
26. Correspondence From Mr. Adams to Mr. Rush, 18 August 1823, Box 05, Foreign
Relations Vol. 5, p. 252-260, American State Papers.
27. Correspondence From Mr. Adams to Mr. Luriottis, 18 August 1823, Box 05, Foreign
Relations Vol. 5, p. 252-260, American State Papers.
67
law authorizing such an interference”.28 As their claims of the Ottoman
brutality were supported by the firsthand accounts in newspapers such
as North American Review, American society was dedicated to liberating
the Greek rebels from the Ottoman Empire. Although newspapers rarely
gave official reports of the Greek brutality towards Muslims and Jews, such
instances rarely influenced the Western perspectives towards the Ottoman
Empire. In the case of such events, Greek actions were defined as results of
slavery. Primarily explained by Leicester Stanhope that he had to excuse
such actions of Greek people to the Westerners by saying;
It was my business to show them that people long
enslaved could not be all virtuous; that the warriors
and chiefs whose heroic conduct have shaved their
country could not be expected to have yet limited their
ambition; and that a government so situated must been to
circumstanced, however noble its intentions.29
Thus, Westerners excused the actions of the Greek population as their
final cry against the Ottoman injustice. Such accounts resonated with the
American people who fought against the British army couple of years ago.
As Edward Everett became the Secretary of the Philhellenic Committee of
Boston, he translated communiques from the revolutionary committees
regarding the Greek independence movement for American newspapers.30
By pressures from both American society and intellectuals, John Quincy
Adams, now as the President of the United States in 1825, decided to send
a secret agent to Greece to show their support to the Greek cause. As the
secret agent initially died on his way, other Western Philhellenes such as
28. Henry Wheaton, Elements of International Law [in en] (Lea and Blanchard, 1836), 91-92.
29. Leicester Stanhope, Greece, in 1823 and 1824: Being a Series of Letters and Other Documents
on the Greek Revolution, Written during a Visit to That Country [in English] (Cambridge
University Press, 2014), 14.
30. Ioannis D. Evrigenis, “A Founder on Founding: Jefferson’s Advice to Koraes” [in en],
HR 1 (January 2005): 179.
68
Samuel Gridley Howe carried their political aid to the Greek revolutionaries.
Two years after his presidency, Quincy Adams changed his position on the
United State’s neutrality towards the Greek independence under the claims
of ‘oriental despotism’ of the Ottoman Empire. As Adams supported the
purity and neutrality of American politics, he claimed that political and
societal difference between Ottomans and Greeks — Muslims and Christians
— forces other Western powers to intervene for the sake of protecting the
Western civilization.31
4.3 Greek Enlightenment and Diaspora Literature
Most of the Greek subjects under the Ottoman Empire were aware of the
Western interest in Greek history and philosophy. Especially children of
the wealthy merchants were the ones who were mainly influenced by these
ideals. Significantly, these Greek students created the Greek Enlightenment
in the 18th century. Most of them were firsthand participants of the
French and American Revolutions. Moreover, they had the opportunity
to read and study the American and French Enlightenment ideals.
Greek Enlightenment, with its nationalistic and romantic aspects, was a
pure diaspora phenomenon. Enflamed by both the 18th century French
Enlightenment and Greek scholars, Greek Enlightenment aimed to suggest
a new solution for the Greek autocratic notions that prevailed during the
first stages of the Greek independence movement. They influenced other
Greek merchants and subjects to support these political activities by carrying
these notions to their motherland. Especially port cities were creating ideal
conditions for revolutionary activities to ferment.
31. Quincy Adams in his essay titled Russia openly correlates Western intellectual values
with Greek intellectual works and supports the protection of such values. Moreover, it
indicates that it was a Christian’s duty to dominate and educate other nations. Walther,
Sacred Interests, 53
69
As most of the Greek population in port-cities like Morea and Odessa
were earning their livelihood from the mercantile activities, they were in
constant connection with merchants from different nations. Economically
and somewhat politically free Greek subjects were mainly bound to the
European mercantile activities to keep their economic freedom. As they
became more and more connected to the European nations, they became
equally distant from the Ottoman millet system. Primarily defining Balkan
Christians as Rum Milleti in the official records, this categorization aimed to
group many Balkan Christians under one group. However, their social and
political identities vastly differed. Categorizations of non-muslim groups
changed throughout the 15th to 18th centuries. Initially, since Mehmet II,
the word millet used to describe these groups. Recent studies show that
the usage of Rum Milleti was mostly an 18th century phenomenon with the
rise of the Phanariot elites in Istanbul.32 Mostly coined by the Ottoman
Empire due to their loss of centralized power, usage of different millets
aimed to bring hierarchy back to the Ottoman society. Especially the Greek
population that emigrated to other Western nations was unhappy with such
categorization.
Interestingly the ardent supporters of the Greek Philhellenism and Greek
independence were Greek individuals who emigrated to other nations and
graduated from European universities. One of such influential individuals
was Adamantios Korais. Korais was influenced by the Enlightenment
ideals during his travels to Amsterdam as a merchant and his studies at
the University of Montpellier, France, during the French Revolution. His
intellectual status and luck put him in connection with many other French
and American revolutionaries. Especially his intellectuals correspondence
32. Yusuf Ziya Karabıçak, “Ottoman Attempts to Define the Rebels During the Greek War
of Independence,” Studia Islam. 114, no. 3 (2020): 323.
70
with Thomas Jefferson, Edward Everett, Lord Byron, and Abbé Gregoire
gave us a great insight into correspondences between these intellectuals
regarding Greek independence.
Although Jefferson was too old to dictate the American political
scene regarding Greek independence in the 1820s, Korais insisted on
continuing his intellectual connection with Jefferson on nation-making
and constitutional processes. Adamantios Korais initially met Jefferson,
who was Plenipotentiary American Minister in the 1780s in Paris. Actively
participating in many memorable instances of the French Revolution, both
Korais and Jefferson were ardent supporters of the Revolution.33 Moreover,
both of them were dedicated to the French Enlightenment thoroughly.
Thus, their political aims correlated. Korais’ two main aims for the Greek
Revolution were re-building a Greek language that was completely purified
from foreign influences and re-education of Greek masses to enlighten the
Greek society. In both language and education approaches, Jefferson and
Korais’ aims for their societies correlated. Thus, it is not a surprise that
Korais wanted to keep his communication with Jefferson alive almost 39
years later their first meeting. Although Korais’ first letter doesn’t consist
of any of their common interests, he writes to then 80-years-old Jefferson;
It was not in the power of our tyrants to prevent this
renaissance; but it is precisely because our liberty is only
in its infancy that its education requires much care and
much help in order for it not to perish in its cradle. We can
only hope this help to come from men truly free.34
33. Against other American Ministers like John Adams, which refuted the violent aspect
of the French Revolution completely. Jefferson was so much so dedicated to continuing the
legacy of Atlantic Revolutions that France’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
was written with Jefferson’s consultation.
34. “Il n’a pas été au pouvoir de nos tyrans d’empêcher cette renaissance; mais c’est
precisement parce que notre liberté n’est encore qu’un enfant que son éducation exige bien
des soins et des secours pour qu’elle ne périsse dans son berceau. On ne peut espérer ces
secours que des hommes véritablement libres.” ”To Thomas Jefferson from Adamantios
71
However, Jefferson had little-to-non influence over the early 19th century
American politics. Although both James Monroe and John Quincy Adams
were familiar to Jefferson, he became just a respectable member of the
Founding generation throughout the end of his life. Due to his second
administration’s political and economic decisions, Jefferson’s political
judgment in the public eye was not favorable. Thus, Jefferson didn’t
respond to either of Korais’ requests. Instead, he was more than happy
to give a lengthy — almost ten written pages written in clear French —
judicial advice to Korais. As he mentions differences between the United
States government and other European monarchies and governments, he
emphasizes the importance of creating solid governmental bodies and a
constitution. He claims that the Greek constitution must respect individual
rights and freedoms. Moreover, it should include freedom of religion,
freedom of person, trial by jury, and freedom of the press to ensure the
independence of society. Furthermore, Jefferson underlines the importance
of creating a singular executive and a stable governmental system. Alined
with his political ideology, Jefferson emphasizes that “every state retained
it’s self-government in domestic matters … than a general government
so distant from it’s remoter citizens, and so little familiar with the local
peculiarities of the different parts”.35 Although Jefferson points out the
possibility of creating a federal government would be better for the Greeks,
he insists on keeping a good connection with their societies. Although
Jefferson’s response doesn’t answer any of the questions Korais asked, he
responds to Jefferson with the utmost respect by saying that “Too long for
your respectable age, it seemed to me to be too short for the desire I had to
Coray, 10 July 1823”, Founders Online, National Archives, https : / / founders . archives . gov /
documents/Jefferson/98-01-02-3625
35. ”From Thomas Jefferson to Adamantios Coray, 31 October 1823”.
72
receive lessons from such a master”.36 One year before the creation of the
Greek constitution Thomas Jefferson died without realizing that the Greek
revolutionaries were committed to his ideas on their revolution. Although
Korais’ correspondence with Jefferson was short, their letters include their
dreams on the future of Europe and the Atlantic Revolutions.
However, Thomas Jefferson wasn’t the only revolutionary Adamantios
Korais was in communication with. During the French restoration period,
Abbé Grégoire started to support Haiti’s independence from France.
Claiming that Haitians would be better without the colonial tyranny, he
spent the rest of his life helping Haitian revolutionaries and later as the
religious advisor of the second president of the Republic of Haiti, Jean-Pierre
Boyer. However, he didn’t turn a blind eye to other revolutions that were
happening around the world. Especially in 1823, Greek revolutionaries
required his assistance to gain public aid for their cause. Especially his
communications with Adamantios Korais offer us another perspective
on the Greek-French relations during the Greek Revolutionary period.
Philhellenism as an intellectual movement was equally alive in France
as it was in other Western nations like Britain and the United States.
While most of the religious classes were against aiding the Greek cause
for their Orthodox background, Grégoire, as a Catholic priest, was more
than willing to collect political aid for the Greek revolutionaries. To
break misunderstanding between French Catholic and Greek Orthodox
churches Grégoire wrote a pamphlet titled Mémoire sur l’importance religieuse
et politique de réunir les deux églises grecque et latine et sur les moyens d’y
parvenir in which he claimed that the political aid to Greeks would, bring
homogeneity to the politics of Europe. Moreover, in his Essai historique
36. ”To Thomas Jefferson from Adamantios Coray, 28 December 18231”, Founders Online,
National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/98-01-02-3937.
73
et patriotique sur les arbres de la liberté Grégoire underlines the similar 18th
century Western Orientalist view by claiming that “... the Greeks of [his]
time [are] refugees in Italy to withdraw from the Ottoman despotisim”37
However, as his reputation after the French and Haitian Revolutions was
tarnished, his pamphlets didn’t bring the political influence he hoped.
His second suggestion to Greek Revolutionaries was to get in contact
with Haitian revolutionaries. Grégoire thought that “the Haitians, who
considered him as their father and their spiritual leader, could send aid
to Greeks in men, arms and money”.38 He suggested Korais send a letter
to president Boyer to appeal their cause. Later the initial letter sent by the
Greeks in Paris — Korais, Polychroniades, Bogoridi, and Clonaris — on
August 20, 1821, was underlining the religious differences between Ottoman
Empire and the Greek minority more strictly. They claimed that
[Greeks] have experienced the anguish of the bondage
that once weighed on [them]. Children of Africa whose
surroundings are contiguous to those of Greece come
to our aid; thirty thousand guns and financial means
are necessary for us; and if this donation or to this loan
were added the arrival of one of your battalions, the
appearance of those brave men who came from the depths
of America would bring fear to the soul of our cowardly
executioners.39
Considering the economic conditions of post-revolutionary Haiti, any
financial aid from them would shake their financial stability deeply.
37. Henri Grégoire, Essai historique et patriotique sur les arbres de la liberté (1824), 18, https://
www.decitre.fr/livre- pod/essai- historique- et- patriotique- sur- les- arbres- de- la- liberte-
9782019623722.html.
38. Michael Lascaris, “La Abbé Grégoire et La Gréce,” La Révolution française : revue
historique 81, no. 1 (January 1932): 229.
39. “Généreux Haïtiens, vous avez éprouvé les angoisses de la servitude qui naguère
pesait sur vous. Enfants de cette Afrique dont les parages sont contigus à ceux de la Grèce,
venez à notre aide; trente mille fusils et des moyens pécuniaires nous sont nécessaires; et
si à ce don ou à ce prêt se joignait l’arrivée d’un de vos bataillons, l’aspect de ces braves
accourus du fond de l’Amérique porterait l’effroi dans l’âme de nos lâches bourreaux. L’île
d’Hydra est le port sur lequel vous pouvez diriger vos secours.” Lascaris, 230
74
However, Boyer was sympathetic towards the Greek cause. In a recently
published article, a direct translation of the letter sent by President Boyer
on January 15, 1822, can be found. As he opens the letter with his greatest
wishes, Boyer mentions that the previous and ongoing revolution left
the Haitian economy in a terrible situation. Thus, they cannot send any
economic aid. However, Boyer wishes the luck and power of their ancestor
on them by saying;
May they prove to be like their ancestors and guided by
the commands of Miltiades, and be able, in the fields of
the new Marathon, to achieve the triumph of the holy
affair that they have undertaken on behalf of their rights,
religion and motherland. May it be, at last, through
their wise decisions, that they will be commemorated by
history as the heirs of the endurance and virtues of their
ancestors.40
Western reaction to Greek Revolution was the polar opposite of the
Haitian Revolution. Due to the Haitian revolutionaries’ economic and social
position, their revolution was seen as a danger to the European balance
of power. On the other hand, Greek Revolution was favorable among the
Western societies due to its connection to Greek political and intellectual
antiquity. Moreover, the Greeks fought against the Ottoman Empire, which
many western societies considered savage and despotic. Thus, societal
differences with the Orientalist perspective of travelers, Western societies
poured financial aid to the Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman
Empire. However, between 1800 to 1820s, most Western governments were
neutral towards the Greek revolutionaries due to their commitment to the
Concert of Europe. Despite their insistence on staying neutral to protect
the balance of power in the Mediterranean, certain governments decided to
40. E.G. Sideris and A.A. Konsta, “A Letter from Jean-Pierre Boyer to Greek
Revolutionaries” [in en], Journal of Haitian Studies 11, no. 1, 168-169.
75
send secret agents to show their support. Such instances never happened for
the Haitian revolutionaries. However, against racial differences, the Greek
revolutionaries were open to accepting the legitimacy of the new Haitian
government, and Haitians were open to return their favor.
76
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION
From the chants of equality of the Haitian rebels to the Greek
revolutionaries’ desires of freedom, the late 18th to early 19th century history
lays out the political and social norms we live. As bourgeoisie revolutions
of 18th century enabled certain liberties to certain individuals and classes, it
shunned others from such transformation. While this unethical separation of
the political sphere was accepted as the zeitgeist, intellectuals such as Abbé
Grégoire, Edward Everett, and Adamantios Korais show that a different
path was open for the 18th century intellectuals. However, examples from
the French National Convention and the American Congress show that
certain politicians wanted to use these norms to actualize their ideologies.
Especially considering the economic and political power these individuals
held in their hands, it is not a surprise that ideologues of the revolutionary
assemblies were forced to stay silent.
Many post-French and American Revolutionaries use similar ideologies
in their revolutions. Many historians analyze this resemblance as inspiration.
Indeed, it is hard to refute this thesis. Most of the post-revolutionaries
experienced these revolutions firsthand. Nonetheless, most of these
77
individuals created their transnational, national communities by combining
their nationalistic identities with their immigrant identities. They not
only transformed their generations but made progressive changes for
future generations. However, the revolutionary narrative of these political
events shows that due to their extensive knowledge of these societies,
revolutionaries played along with the political norms of Western politicians.
One of the most significant examples of this is the usage of slavery.
Throughout the end of the 18th century, white southerner politician’s
stance towards slavery was certain. They refuted any reference to the
abolition on a constitutional basis. The same perspective was alive in the
French National Convention. Especially on a financial basis, both of these
politicians from separate nations agreed on keeping slavery alive to sustain
their economy. The existence of slavery was not a secret for the French
and American societies. Especially most of the immigrants, as Adamantios
Korais, knew abolitionist intellectual’s frustration over this subject. This
ambivalence brings out the post-revolutionary conundrum. Revolutionaries
knew that Western powers supported slavery and, in theory, if they keep
that institution, they could gain a powerful political and financial ally.
However, accepting slavery would directly challenge their revolutionary
discourse.
Both Haitian and Greek Revolutions used the notion of slavery to
describe their conditions under the Empires they were living in. From
the triangle trade to the living conditions on the island, Haitian slave’s
inhumane living conditions were accepted as a norm by the French officials.
The Greek Revolutionaries were discriminated against under the Ottoman
Empire, and they were using this term to describe the living conditions
under the Ottoman Empire. However, different usage of the notion of
78
slavery by Greek, French and American politicians turns this institution
into a political propaganda material rather than a societal reality for many
African slaves lived through the 18th and onwards.
79
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APPENDICES
91
APPENDIX A
MAPS
Figure 1: Jacques Nicolas Bellin, A Map of the French Part of Saint Domingo, 1800, Boston
Public Library
92
Figure 2: William Faden, Map of Greece, Archipelago and part of Anadoli, 1791
Figure 3: Touquet, J.-B. (Jean-Baptiste-Paul), and Raban. ”Chart shewing the tracks
across the North Atlantic Ocean of Don Christopher Columbus.” Map. 1828. Norman B.
Leventhal Map & Education Center
93
APPENDIX B
PORTRATIS
Figure 4: Pierre Joseph Célestin
François, Portrait de l’Abbé Grégoire,
1800
Figure 5: Unknown, Adamantios Korais,
unknown date
94
95
APPENDIX C
TIMELINE
1700
1830
Seven Years War
1756
Sugar Act
1764
Boston Tea Party
Treaty of Paris
1783
Adamantis Korais in Paris
1788
Trou Coffy Insurgence
1791
US ratified Bill of Rights
First commissioners arrives Saint Domungie
Presidency of Jefferson
1800
Russio-Turkish War
1806
Concert of Europe
1814
Creation of Society of Friends
Presidenty of Monroe
1817 Treaty of London