1801 (Toussaint L’Ouverture’s Fatal Confidence): Reflections on the early revolution noted that Governor Toussaint L’Ouverture had been blamed for entertaini…

1801 (Toussaint L’Ouverture’s Fatal Confidence): Reflections on the early revolution noted that Governor Toussaint L’Ouverture had been blamed for entertaining more affection for white colonists than for those of his own color. This misplaced confidence led him to immolate his own nephew, General Moyse, for disregarding orders meant to protect the property of the colonists. The Haytian Papers argue that this desire to placate the French was a principal cause of the “feeble resistance” the French encountered when they eventually arrived to re-establish slavery. Toussaint’s confidence was so extreme that he had discharged the greater part of the regular troops and sent them back to the “tillage of the soil” just before the invasion. This historical critique served to justify King Henry Christophe’s more militant and cautious approach toward foreign diplomacy.