Haitian History at the Centre of Caribbean Reparatory Justice

Compensation Report Breaking down how Haiti is central to reparatory justice work

April 16, 2025

By: Nyala Thompson Grunwald, The Repair Campaign

This report briefly breaks down the data involved in the double debt Haiti faced in 1825.

The Haitian Revolution was pivotal to movements for freedom across the Caribbean, and shifting how colonial powers legislated the abolition of enslavement. We cannot speak of Emancipation, reparations or abolitionism without mentioning Haiti in the same breath.

Introduction

Cited Clause 44 from the 1685 French Slave Code: “It is declared that slaves are furniture, and enter society as such”²

Under gradual French occupation from the mid-17th century, formally after the Treaty of Ryswick in 1670, St Domingue (what would eventually become known as Haiti) was forcibly cultivated into the wealthiest sugar colony in the Caribbean, and the most profitable plantation colony France occupied.

By the late 1770s, St Domingue produced more sugar than all the British Caribbean plantation colonies combined, was the wealthiest sugar plantation colony in the entire Caribbean, number one producer of coffee in the transatlantic economy and generated over ¼ of France’s annual income.³

This high rate and output of production demanded a high frequency of and rapid turnover in enslaved labour. Between 1676 and 1820, 801,537 captives were trafficked across the Middle Passage to Haiti, trade that, between 1781 and 1791, represented 97% of France’s transatlantic trade to the Caribbean.⁴

This data reveals the genocidal brutality of conditions on estates in St Domingue, with such high profits that enslavers were not concerned with maintaining their source of labour through miscegenation, directly influencing gender-based violence, torture, assault and murder:

“Their masters poured burning wax on their arms and hands and shoulders, emptied the boiling cane sugar over their heads, burned them alive, roasted them on slow fires, filled them with gunpowder and blew them up with a match; buried them up to the neck and smeared their heads with sugar that the flies might devour them; fastened them near to nests of ants or wasps; made them eat their excrement, drink their urine, and lick the saliva of other slaves…these bestial practices were normal features of slave life…the slaves in San Domingo could not replenish their number by reproduction”⁵

The fact that, as Moreau Saint-Mery records in a colony-wide census conducted in the late 1780s and compiled in an 1875 publication, two-thirds of the enslaved population at the dawn of the revolution were African-born, also demonstrates the high mortality rate on Plantation estates, as well as providing some context as to the strength of Haitian revolutionaries. For two-thirds of the population (alongside the class of freed persons of colour), freedom before enslavement was not a mythic unknown situated in memory or resistant imaginary, it was a reality known and experienced within a majority of the enslaved population’s lifetimes.⁶

In 1791 revolutionaries in St. Domingue abolished slavery for themselves, obtaining the legal abolition of enslavement from the French Empire in 1794. In 1800, after the revolution collapsed in France Napoleon overtook imperial power, he reinstated enslavement and sent the generals Leclerc and then Rochambeau on a war of extermination in St Domingue to seize monopoly over the colony and re-introduce the system of chattel slavery. ⁷

Leclerc and Rochambeau were ruthless, massively persecuting, torturing and mass murdering Haitian revolutionaries and civilians, through such methods as setting trained bloodhounds on persons, or boats with underwater traps set to drown its captives, or the ‘étouffoires flottantes’ Rochambeau developed; where captives were piled in with one another in the hold of a ship, and suffocated with sulphurous gasses.⁸

Jean-Jacques Dessalines, one of the leaders of the revolution and first Emperor of the Republic of Haiti, defeated Napoleon’s army and declared independence on January 1st 1804.⁹ In his address to the ‘Armée Indigene’ (first picture), the ‘indigenous army’, Dessalines renamed the country Ayiti, Haiti in tribute to the name that indigenous populations previously gave to the land they inhabited. ¹⁰

The aftermath of the revolution left the new leaders of Haiti with a nation on over-exhausted land carved out from colonial borders, an outright hostile international community, and an exhausted but resilient and sovereign people.¹¹ French attempts to re-conquer their most prized and wealthiest possession did not cease, with a new, economic colonisation forced onto Haiti in 1825: France besieged Port-au-Prince, coercing a debt of 150 million francs that Haiti was forced to pay their former masters as compensation for their loss of property, essentially paying blood money for their freedom.¹² Haiti paid off that debt in 1948, the extraction strangling its economy, industry and social development. ¹³

This ransom clearly indicated that Haitian assertion and attempt at self-sufficiency and independence was rejected by European colonial powers, preferring to drag Haiti to its knees and cripple its growth: at every step Haitian demands for restitution and attempts at self-repair were gutted, an important story that we cannot forget in reparatory justice movements.¹⁴

Hypothesis

Briefly breaking down the compensation Haiti was forced to pay in the aftermath of its independence, this report aims to address how reparatory work must begin with and centre Haitian history.

Materials - in chronological order

‘LE CODE NOIR OU EDIT DU ROY SERVANT DE REGLEMENT POUR le Gouvernement & l’Administration de Justice & la Police des Isles Françoises de Dicipline et le Commerce des Esclaves & des Negres dans ledit Pays.’, March 1685, accessed from the Bibliotheque Nationale de France 11/2024
Laborie (1798), Coffee Plantation, Saint Domingue (St. Domingue, Haiti), The coffee planter of Saint Domingo (London, 1798), plate 4. (Copy in Library Company of Philadelphia)
‘L’Armee Indigene’, Declaration of Independence, transcription, 01/01/1804, MS 72 National Library of Jamaica, accessed from Gaffield’s Haiti and the Atlantic World 10/2024
Rainsford (c.1800), Training Bloodhounds, Saint Domingue (St. Domingue, Haiti), An historical account of the black empire of Hayti (London,1805), facing, p. 423. (Copy in Library Company of Philadelphia)
Henri Christophe, ‘Manifeste du Roi’ (1814), accessed through Duke University Libraries 04/2025
‘L’ordonnance de Charles X, 17/04/1825’, Archives Nationales Françaises, ref. AN 1108/13, accessed from the FME 03/2025

Saint-Méry (1875), Description topographique, physique, civile, politique et historique de la partie française de l’île Saint-Domingue, accessed from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France 02/2025

Method

Collect primary and secondary source data
Compile relevant data
Communicate analysis and results

Data

Dates	Statistical Data	Sources
1760- 1780	● 243,431 captives trafficked to St Domingue, representing about 25% of overall transatlantic trade to the Caribbean ● Manjapra lists over 800 sugar plantations, 2000 coffee estates, 700 cotton estates, producing 40% of all sugar and 60% of all coffee in the transatlantic economy	Repair Campaign research, the Slave Voyages Database, Manjapra 2022
1781- 1800	● 1781-1791: 279,229 captives trafficked to St Domingue, representing about 45% of overall transatlantic trade to the Caribbean, and 97% of overall trade to the French Caribbean colonies ● 1788: Haiti's total revenue was 214 million francs, ● 1791-1792: news of revolution arrives in Jamaica, there is an island-wide uprising ● 1791,1795: instances of mass revolt in Dominica ● 1795-1797: Fedon’s rebellion, involving a majority of the enslaved population in Grenada ● 1796-1797: Brigand’s War in St Lucia, involving a large part of the enslaved population	Repair Campaign research, the Transatlantic Slave Voyage Database, Hochensberg (2016), Fick (1990), Saint-Mery 1875 (primary source accessed from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Gallica), Craton (1982)
1800- 1804	● 1801: widespread revolt in the western half of Tobago ● 1800-1802: Under the war waged by Generals Leclerc and Rochambeau, at least 16,000 revolutionaries are killed in the space of 21 months ● 1803: Napoleon is forced to sell Louisiana to recover some income to finance military forces and ammunition in St Domingue	Kenning (2020), Christophe (1814) (primary source accessed from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Gallica), Manjapra 2022
1825- 1888	● 1825: Charles X decrees that Haiti pays 150 million francs on 5 installments of 30 million francs each in exchange for the former coloniser recognising the state's independence. In this decree, Charles X does not refer to Haiti once by its name, instead repeatedly deadnaming the Republic. This sum is 300% of Haiti's annual revenue at the time, ● 1825: Haiti is pushed into borrowing 30 million francs to make the first payment, this is the start of the ‘double debt’ ● 1838: Haiti negotiates for the debt to be reduced to 90 million francs	Charles X (1825) (primary source accessed from the Archives Nationales de France), FME (2025), Repair Campaign research, NY Times (2022)
1888- 1948	● 1888: Haiti finishes making the payments for the original debt, a final sum of 112 million francs ● 1947: the last reimbursement for all loans tied to the original debt is made, Haiti is officially rid of the double debt ● According to Consumer Price Index, the 150 million francs is worth $560 million, but in actual economic growth and output that sum is estimated as worth $21 billion	FME (2025), NY Times (2022)

Takeaways and Conclusions

Haiti paid for its freedom twice: in blood, and in money. What the French Empire could not ‘reclaim’ it decided to drain for its own profit, effectively paralysing Haitian economy and creating an economic colony that it could sustain at little cost, but to great profit.¹⁵ Key takeaways from the above data stand as follows:

In 1789, St. Domingue’s revenue was 150 million francs, that is 1 year out of a near century of occupation and French colonisation: what the 1825 decree demanded is exorbitant, but it is a fraction of the restitution and reparations owed to Haiti.¹⁶
For the period of 1825-1838, the average GDP/capita was 100 francs, the average GDP for that period was 50 million francs.¹⁷ The first installment of 30 million francs would demand 60 francs/capita during that period, about 60% of the GDP/capita.¹⁸
Uniquely, the extraction of wealth and resources in Haiti is two-fold: first as the colony St Domingue, immense commercial profit and worth was generated from a land and life cost that left an exhausted inheritance for Haitians in 1804. What very little of the economic materials account for in tracing Haitian export output and economic growth post-independence, is that the soil was exhausted and therefore yielded less.¹⁹ Second as an unrecognised independent Republic, with the drain of heavy taxes on coffee farmers, therefore pushing an unsustainable, and ultimately land-and-people-exhausting, plantation model.

The coercion of the double debt in 1825 set the precedent for the way colonial and later imperial powers would treat their colonies, including after independence.²⁰ The 1825 decree remains a unique ransom of another state, nonetheless the intentional legislation of continued disenfranchisement, dispossession of populations and extraction of natural resources and wealth on a nation-wide level in Haiti is a model in itself: a St Domingue model for perpetuating a framework of injustice. What reparatory justice work demands, and the (self) repair and restitution involved, therefore cannot be done without centering Haitian history.

Notes

There needs to be a disclaimer and trigger warning when engaging with some of the material written above, particularly as relates to the conditions of the regime of chattel slavery under French colonisation. Beyond the statistical data available, it is necessary to note the sheer horror of what was suffered on plantation estates, in the ships crossing the Middle Passage, during the revolution, to have an awareness of what the status of ‘chattel’ meant, what being born and condemned to live and die unfree meant, and why reparations are never just about monetary restitution and wealth extraction. There is a debt owed which can never be repaid, and we cannot start to understand that without having some awareness of what Haitians went through to assert and hold on to their freedom.

Regarding the high frequency of ships trafficking Africans across the Middle Passage to St. Domingue; what this data indicates is that, as much as there was a high demand for forced labour, there was both an extremely short life expectancy for enslaved persons once landed in St Domingue, and extremely high profits made from the land. The cost to replenish the supply of labour was far inferior to the profits reaped by the demand for sugar and coffee.²¹ There was thus far less intention towards biologically maintaining a steady labour population, and a heightened cruelty behind the already prevalent culture of extreme and vicious violence that dominated plantation society across the Caribbean. According to data from the Transatlantic Voyages Database, it appears that St Domingue gradually became more profitable from the 1730s, as the brutal importation of enslaved populations.²²

Regarding the chosen range for GDP and GDP/capita data, I chose this range to make those calculations as in 1838, the debt was reduced to 90 million francs, which, if using 2 different values, would change framing the debt per person in Haiti according to a period of 1825-1888 for instance.
Regarding the equivalency of the debt into contemporary currency, there are several ways to translate a sum in XYZ year to the latest available information.²³ The Consumer Price Index, equates what a sum was worth then to now through standard inflation – for instance, how much bread could I get for $10 10 years ago, as opposed to how much bread I could get for $10 now. There is also the equivalency of economic output and growth, which, instead of analysing consumer prices, analyses the overall shifts of an economy (usually a country’s) in a certain time period. The data indicated in the table is translated both according to CPI, as well as according to economic output, from 1825 to 2022, the date of the relevant source’s publication.²⁴
Regarding revolutions and revolts, wider regional events cited in dataset, this only provides a brief context of what the Haitian Revolution inspired. Archival material relating to several of these revolts, and more, either mention St Domingue resistance in passing or as active inspiration for freedom fighters across the Caribbean. What is undeniable is that the widespread revolts that happened around the period of the Haitian Revolution, terrified planters that were largely outnumbered in European colonies in the Caribbean, and further spurred on pre-existing abolitionist movements and efforts in legislative spheres of power in Britain and the rest of Europe. It is therefore significant to remember that we cannot speak of Emancipation, reparations or abolitionism without mentioning Haiti in the same breath.
Regarding the language source of several of the materials cited for this brief, the majority are in French. St Domingue was a French colony, Haitian kweyol and French are still the most commonly-used languages, therefore much of the relevant archival material, particularly from the 18th and 19th centuries, was accessed in French, as well as several secondary sources. All translations of quotes are my own, transcribed as accurately as possible. Where possible, links to material are provided, especially if open access and not behind a paywall.
Regarding the use of material in this brief, I have used the terms ‘primary source’ and ‘secondary source’ as vocabulary to distinguish two types of research material. A primary source document is a document that is published or created in the time period that whatever content you’re producing focuses on – here for instance, the royal decrees, Slave Code, visual aids etc are primary source documents. Most of these are cited under the Materials section of this brief. A secondary source document is another person writing and analysing about a topic just as you are – here for instance, CLR James’ book is a secondary source document. Most of these materials are cited under the References and Further Reading sections of this brief.
Wherever a citation is indicated as ‘NTG, Repair Campaign research’ for statistical data, the data produced is from the Repair Campaign’s research, the original data used for analysis is sourced from the Transatlantic Slave Trade Database, as well as other primary and secondary source material, also quoted in relevant citations.
The process of research for this brief was extensive, and much of this research was left out for the sake of relevance and conciseness – unfortunately, producing content that attempts to fill gaps or erased spots in histories with deliberately imposed silences also creates more gaps: there is far more to Haiti’s history, to the economic history of the ‘double debt’, to the class and colour politics within St Domingue as well as the colonial and imperial history of France pre- and post- French Revolution, and much more. This brief is intended as an accessible communication of key information as relates to understanding Haiti’s history in the context of the debt imposed by France. Resources for further reading and exploration are compiled, to the best of my current knowledge, below.

Footnotes

Image provided is the first page of ‘Armee Indigene’, Declaration of Independence, transcription, 01/01/1804, MS 72 National Library of Jamaica, accessed from Gaffield’s Haiti and the Atlantic World, 01/25
NTG translation, ‘LE CODE NOIR OU EDIT DU ROY SERVANT DE REGLEMENT POUR le Gouvernement & l’Administration de Justice & la Police des Isles Françoises de Dicipline et le Commerce des Esclaves & des Negres dans ledit Pays.’, March 1685, accessed from the Bibliotheque Nationale de France
Fick (1990), The Making of Haiti: The Saint Domingue Revolution from below, University of Tennessee Press, p.22, Manjapra (2022), Black Ghost of Empire: The Failure of Emancipation and the Long Death of Slavery, Penguin Books p.48
The Repair Campaign research, Transatlantic Slave Trade Database, reference for image: Coffee Plantation, Saint Domingue (St. Domingue, Haiti), 1798, P. J. Laborie, The coffee planter of Saint Domingo (London, 1798), plate 4. (Copy in Library Company of Philadelphia)
James (1938) The Black Jacobins: Toussaint Louverture and the San Domingo Revolution, p.34, de Vaissière (1909), Saint-Domingue: La Société et la Vie Créoles sous l’Ancien Régime, Perrin & Compagnie, pp.190-195, accessed from the Boston Public Library 03/2025
Saint-Méry (1875), Description topographique, physique, civile, politique et historique de la partie française de l’ile Saint-Domingue, accessed from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, p.27
James, The Black Jacobins
Christophe (1814), Manifeste du Roi, accessed through Duke University Libraries 04/2025, reference for image: Training Bloodhounds, Saint Domingue (St. Domingue, Haiti), ca. 1800, Marcus Rainsford, An historical account of the black empire of Hayti (London,1805), facing, p. 423. (Copy in Library Company of Philadelphia)
‘L’Armee Indigene’, Declaration of Independence
See previous reference
Gonsalez (2019), Maroon Nation: A History of Revolutionary Haiti, Yale University Press
Seck (2025), ‘La Double Dette d’Haiti (1825-2025): Une Question Actuelle’, Notes de la FME n.4, Fondation pour la Memoire de l’Esclavage
See previous reference
Rudder (1988), ‘Haiti’, Haiti
Seck, ‘La double dette d’Haiti’, FME
Hochensberg (2016), ‘Public debt and slavery: the case of Haiti (1760-1915)’, dissertation conducted under the supervision of Thomas Piketty, Paris School of Economics
NY Times, ‘The Ransom’
NTG, Repair Campaign research, NY Times, Hochensberg
Again, there is far more to this than is necessary for me to go in here, but it remains relevant that monocultural sugar crop production left the land increasingly infertile with each yield/harvest.
Manjapra, Black Ghost of Empire
NTG, Repair Campaign research
Reference for image: the Transatlantic Slave Trade Database
See Measuring Worth database for more
NY Times (2022), ‘The Ransom’

References

Blancpain (2003), ‘Note sur les ‘dettes’ de l’esclavage: le cas de l’indemnite payee par Haiti (1825-1883), Outre-Mers Haiti Premiere Republique Noire vol.90 n.340-341, pp.241-245
Craton (1982), Testing the Chains: Resistance to Slavery in the British West Indies, Cornell University Press
Eugene (2003), ‘La normalisation des relations franco-haitiennes (1825-1838)’, Outre-Mers Haiti Premiere Republique Noire vol.90 n.340-341, pp.139-154
Fick (1990), The Making of Haiti: the Saint Domingue Revolution from below, University of Tennessee Press
Gainot (2011), ‘‘Sur fond de cruelle inhumanité’; les politiques du massacre dans la Révolution de Haïti’, La Révolution française, les massacres aux temps des Révolutions, Institut d’histoire moderne et contemporaine, pp.1-16
Henochsberg (2016), ‘Public debt and slavery: the case of Haiti (1760-1915)’, dissertation conducted under the supervision of Thomas Piketty, Paris School of Economics
James (1938), The Black Jacobins: Toussaint Louverture and the San Domingo Revolution, Penguin Books 2001
Kenning (2020), ‘The slaves that dared to challenge imperialism: how Haiti was punished for its revolution (1791-1804)’, issue. 35 Fractured Nations, The Manchester Historian
Manjapra (2022), Black Ghost of Empire: The Long Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation, Penguin Books
Porter et al (20/05/2020), ‘The Ransom’, New York Times
Seck (2025), ‘La Double Dette d’Haiti (1825-2025): Une Question Actuelle’, Notes de la FME n.4, Fondation pour la Memoire de l’Esclavage
de Vaissiere (1909), Saint-Domingue: La Société et la Vie Créoles sous l’Ancien Regime (1629-1789), Perrin & Compagnie, accessed from the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Gallica, 03/2025