1798-Aug.-31: General Thomas Maitland of the British forces signed a secret agreement with Toussaint Louverture, marking the end of the failed British occupa…

1798-Aug.-31: General Thomas Maitland of the British forces signed a secret agreement with Toussaint Louverture, marking the end of the failed British occupation of Saint-Domingue. Julius S. Scott highlights that this treaty granted Toussaint diplomatic status and established trade relations between the newly autonomous Saint-Domingue and the British Empire. The withdrawal of the British—at a cost of tens of thousands of lives—was a massive victory for the black insurgent forces and solidified Toussaint’s position as the island’s de facto ruler. This event signaled a shift in Atlantic power dynamics, as major empires began to treat with black leaders as sovereign entities.