The Impact of the Haitian Revolution on the Hispanic Caribbean, C.1791-1830
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The Impact of the Haitian Revolution on the Hispanic Caribbean, c.1791-1830 This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Miss Carrie Elizabeth Gibson Peterhouse 15 July 2010 ‘This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except where specifically indicated in the text.’ ‘This dissertation does not exceed the word limit for the History Degree Committee. It is 79,341 words in length.’ Carrie Elizabeth Gibson 15 July 2010 The West Indies, published by John Cumming (Dublin, 1814) Image copyright © 2000 by Cartography Associates Carrie Gibson, Peterhouse Summary The Impact of the Haitian Revolution on the Hispanic Caribbean, c.1791-1830 This thesis examines how the slave uprising in the French Caribbean sugar colony of Saint-Domingue (1791-1804) had dramatic and long-lasting repercussions on the neighbouring Spanish possessions of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Santo Domingo. Events in Saint-Domingue took place during a period of profound change in the Spanish colonies. Reforms implemented during the reign of Carlos III (1759-1788) had begun to shift the imperial economic focus from the extraction of precious metals in Spain’s American colonies towards the potential of intensive agriculture, especially sugar. The process was accelerated by France’s loss of Saint-Domingue in 1804, which presented the Spanish islands under Carlos IV (1788-1808) with the opportunity to have a much larger share of the sugar trade – a chance which Cuba and Puerto Rico were quick to seize. At the same time, Napoleon Bonaparte’s overthrow of the Spanish monarchy, the war against France (1808-1814), and the writing of a Spanish constitution (1812) precipitated the unravelling of most of Spain’s empire, bar the Philippines and the sugar islands in the Caribbean. The thesis focuses on how relations between Madrid and the Caribbean islands were significantly altered in the wake of peninsular upheaval. At the same time, this work also considers the islands’ reconfigured relationship with new republic of Haiti, formed by the freed slaves of Saint- Domingue. Drawing from correspondence between the crown and the island authorities, as well as between colonial officials, this thesis also examines the culture of fear that permeated the Spanish possessions. Initially, this fear reflected anxieties about Saint-Domingue-style slave rebellions, but as mainland Spanish colonies became independent – and Santo Domingo fell under Haitian control in 1822 – this fear took on a new dimension and became a vital tie between Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Madrid, contributing to the continuation of colonial rule until the Spanish-American War of 1898. Table of Contents Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................vi Abbreviations .............................................................................................................viii Introduction: Rebellion, Rupture, and Reconfiguration in the Caribbean .................p.1 Chapter 1: Spain’s Cordon of Fear, 1750-1790.........................................................p.28 Chapter 2: Liberty, Anxiety, and Revolution,1790-1804...........................................p.74 Chapter 3: Between Liberalism and Repression, 1805-1814..................................p.134 Chapter 4: ‘A second edition of the horrors of St Domingo’: Haiti and the Republicans,1815-1822.....................................................................p.182 Chapter 5: The struggle at the new centre of empire, 1823-30...............................p.221 Conclusion..............................................................................................................p.258 Bibliography............................................................................................................p.267 Acknowledgements When undertaking a PhD, you’re warned very early on that it is a lonely business. So it was to my great delight to discover that this truism was in fact not very true at all. Postgraduate life was a much richer time socially and intellectually than I could have imagined, which leaves me with a much longer list of people to thank than is possible here. Any attempt to do so, however, must start with my supervisor, Richard Drayton, for opening the door to Cambridge and for his unflagging enthusiasm about my project. Also a special thanks is due to Megan Vaughan for her help with the final delivery of the thesis. I owe the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council a debt of gratitude for funding my time in Cambridge and in overseas archives. On the issue of funding, I am also grateful to Peterhouse’s Senior Tutor, Philip Pattenden, for his efforts in securing the college’s Storrs and Gunn funds to aid my work. Many thanks also goes to the college’s senior fellows, especially historians Brendan Simms and Magnus Ryan, who made me feel part of Peterhouse’s intellectual life. Thanks also must go to the senior fellows of the world history seminar group for providing a stimulating and welcoming environment, especially Chris Bayly, Tim Harper, and Shruti Kapila, with a special thanks for Ruth Watson, whose supervision of my Masters help to put me on the path to Cambridge. Thanks also to Gabe Paquette, who helped me navigate the eighteenth century, and Charles Jones, who kept me in touch with Latin American currents. Fellow PhDs, including Andrea Acle, Andrew Arsan, Matthew Butler, Stefanie Gänger, Clemens Häusler, Andrew Jarvis, Elise Juzda, Simon Layton, Su Lin Lewis, Andrew MacDonald, Joanna McGarry, Anne-Isabelle Richard, Pernille Røge, and Akhila Yechury, were not only a receptive audience for papers and ideas, but a supportive group of friends who made the process of writing a PhD – and talking about it over lunch in the UL or, better yet, in the pub – not only endlessly interesting but fantastically entertaining. vi On my trips to the archives I encountered more help and kindness than I can list here, but special thanks must go to Jean Stubbs and Stephen Wilkinson in Britain for helping find my way to Cuba. At the University of Havana, Laura Monteagudo helped me make sense of the bureaucracy and Digna Castañeda Fuertes graciously oversaw my work. Jorge Renato Ibarra Guitart made sure I had all the right books, while Hernán Venegas Delgado was kind enough to invite me to give a conference paper. The archivists in Havana and Santiago de Cuba also deserve much praise and thanks, as well as those in San Juan, Ponce, and Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, and Santo Domingo. In Spain, Juan José Ponce-Vásquez has my eternal gratitude for not only introducing me to the researchers’ morning coffee group while I was in Seville, but for talking me into using a reference manager for my thesis. Back in Cambridge, Marina Velez helped me make sense of all the eighteenth and nineteenth-century Spanish I had transcribed. Old friends, too, were an important part of this project, and former colleagues at the Guardian and Observer have my eternal gratitude for allowing me to offset any funding shortfalls by a bit of freelancing every now and again. Thanks also goes to Lisa Bachelor, David Batty, Matthew Cavazos, Tiffany Ferris, Vicky Frost, Simon Pirani and Jon Wilson for encouragement and enlightening conversation. And much like the best archival finds – which you stumble upon when you’re not looking – so too sometimes with life. Juan Cobo, who made an unexpected entrance at about the halfway point, has become vital part of the story. A very special thanks to him for his never-ending supply of patience, support, and affection, as well as his enthusiasm for helping with translations. The final thanks must go to my parents, for not being the least bit surprised that I quit a career in journalism to do a doctorate in history. With a childhood that included regular trips to US civil war battlefields and dinner-table discussions ranging from the Romans to the second world war, they probably knew all along that I would end up here. This work is for them. vii Abbreviations ANC Archivo Nacional de la República de Cuba AHPSC Archivo Histórico Provincial de Santiago de Cuba AGPR Archivo General de Puerto Rico AHMP Archivo Histórico Municipal de Ponce AGNRD Archivo General de la Nación de la República Dominicana AGI Archivo General de Indias (Seville) AHN Archivo Histórico Nacional (Madrid) AGS Archivo General de Simancas TNA The National Archives (London) BNE Biblioteca Nacional de España (Madrid) viii Introduction: Rebellion, Rupture, and Reconfiguration in the Caribbean ‘With those two words “liberty and equality” these people will do much damage...’ – Report to Santo Domingo Governor Joaquín García, 5 November 17901 In 1791 the French Revolution’s arrival in the Caribbean ignited a massive slave rebellion in France’s most valuable colony, Saint-Domingue. The uprising not only uprooted France’s colonial order, but caused deep concern on the neighbouring slave- holding Spanish islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Santo Domingo, echoing the anxiety on the peninsula about the events of 1789. The quote that begins this chapter was taken from a commander’s report to the captain-general and governor of Santo Domingo. The Eastern side of the island, which was a Spanish colony, had received a steady stream of news and rumours about Saint-Domingue, which occupied the Western third of the island. Commander Vicente’s remark in many ways embodied the Spanish worldview about the French during this period – hostility, suspicion,