1793-Aug.-28: A letter was sent to a “Miss Polly Morgan” in Charleston, South Carolina, documenting the personal and political anxieties of residents followi…
1793-Aug.-28: A letter was sent to a “Miss Polly Morgan” in Charleston, South Carolina, documenting the personal and political anxieties of residents following the mass exodus from Saint-Domingue. The writer described the influx of refugees and the palpable fear among white Carolinians that the “Haitian flame” would ignite a similar conflict in the American South. The correspondence noted that even private domestic life was being reshaped by the constant influx of news from the Caribbean. It reflected the deep social penetration of the Haitian Revolution into the daily consciousness of the Atlantic world. This private letter illustrated how the revolution was perceived as an existential threat to the plantation complex far beyond the borders of Hispaniola.