Louverture needed naval help to isolate and defeat Rigaud

Evidence

Having crushed the uprisings in the north, Louverture invaded the south to destroy Rigaud’s regime. He had numbers on his side. According to Stevens, Louverture had the support of “most of the Blacks, and all of the Whites of the colony” and was “too powerful” to be defeated.” He had 45,000 troops in his army, compared with Rigaud’s 15,000. Louverture knew, however, that to win the war he needed to isolate Rigaud. He turned to his new ally, the United States. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 827

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the wider theme in the reader’s arc-following goal: Louverture enlisting the US foreshadows the later Toussaint’s diplomatic marriage of convenience and its betrayal.
• QUESTION: What does the US seeing Louverture as a commercial partner reveal about how revolution was judged by trade interest?