The rank-and-file insurgents radicalized faster than their leaders, driving the revolt leftward.

Evidence

Although there was already talk of a “general liberty,” Jean- François and Biassou, like most European abolitionists of the time, pursued the goal of reforming slavery rather than dismantling it. They were, however, being carried along by a revolution. As negotiations progressed, many among the “multitude” in the camps became suspicious of their leaders. Some openly menaced the prisoner Gros, knowing that as Jean-François’s secretary he was facilitating communication with the whites, while others threatened the “mulattoes” they believed were behind the negotiations. They made clear that they would resist, forcefully if necessary, any negotiation aimed at making them return to the plantations. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 434

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: A key structural insight about revolutions: the ‘multitude’ in the camps pulls leaders beyond their own reformist goals — a mechanism that recurs in the Haitian narrative and beyond.