1799-Feb.-12: Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison expressing his deep anxiety over the political developments in Saint-Domingue under Toussaint Louverture.

1799-Feb.-12: Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison expressing his deep anxiety over the political developments in Saint-Domingue under Toussaint Louverture. Julius S. Scott analyzes this correspondence as evidence of the “Haitian specter” that haunted the American political imagination at the end of the century. Jefferson feared that the example of a successful black republic would inevitably lead to domestic slave insurrections in the United States. His concerns influenced the Federalist debates over the Alien and Sedition Acts, which were partly aimed at excluding “dangerous” individuals from the Caribbean. This entry marks the point where the Haitian Revolution became a primary driver of American foreign and domestic policy.