1791-September-24: President George Washington responded to a request for aid from the French minister Ternant following the outbreak of the slave insurrecti…
1791-September-24: President George Washington responded to a request for aid from the French minister Ternant following the outbreak of the slave insurrection in Saint-Domingue. Washington expressed his sincere regret over the “alarming insurrection” and promised that the United States would render every aid in its power to help the French authorities quell the rebellion. This was the first instance in which the United States was asked to intervene in a servile uprising in a foreign colony, a situation that deeply unsettled American slaveholders. The administration viewed the preservation of French sovereignty in the colony as essential to regional stability and the safety of the American South. Washington’s immediate cooperation was driven by both diplomatic obligation and a domestic fear of slave unrest spreading to American shores.