1790: Trade figures demonstrated a massive mutual dependence as the value of United States trade with Saint-Domingue exceeded that of all other Americas comb…

1790: Trade figures demonstrated a massive mutual dependence as the value of United States trade with Saint-Domingue exceeded that of all other Americas combined. More than 500 North American ships were engaged in this commerce, which supplied two-thirds of the coffee and sugar consumed in the U.S. In exchange, the French colony consumed significant portions of American exports, including one-fourth of all flour and three-fourths of all salted beef. This robust economic network fostered extensive social, political, and cultural contacts between the northern and southern regions. These commercial ties ensured that news of the impending revolutionary upheavals would travel rapidly between the two territories.