Louverture’s constitution functioned in practice as a declaration of independence

Evidence

Vincent warned Louverture that the consul and his Colonial Ministry would probably view it as nothing less than a declaration of independence. “He listened to me attentively,” the French officer later wrote, “when I asked him what the French government was to do now, given that according the terms of the constitution they would have no need to name or send representatives to the colony.” Louverture explained that he expected the government to send him commissioners to “speak to him.” “Why not say,” Vincent retorted, “that you wish them to send you chargés d’affaires, ambassadors, as the Americans, the Spanish, and even the British will certainly do?” “You owe all your rights to France,” the French officer later scolded Louverture, “and you dare to invade her right to govern her colony!” Louverture was unmoved by the officer’s appeals. Vincent, however, turned out to be right. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 871

Categorization

• XREF: This precipitating misreading of the constitution directly sets up the Napoleonic invasion, pointing toward the arc’s climactic military confrontation.