A Proslavery Foreign Policy: Haitian-American Relations During the Early Republic

While the influence of racial policy has long been a factor in American foreign policy, one particularly evident example is U.S. relations with Haiti. The troubled relationship began under George Washington, who authorized the dispatch of arms and ammunition to help the French planters of Saint Dominque, present day Haiti, suppress the black rebellion. Washington's support for the defense of slavery in this regard, proved to be important precident in the formulation of a proslavery policy in the White House, the State Department, and the Congress. Matthewson explores this stormy legacy and discusses the tension between racial and economic imperatives that would contiue to plague relations with the island nation for decades to come.

TIM MATTHEWSON is an independent researcher and president of the Patent Company, a patent research and services company. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1976 where he studied under Alexander DeConde. Formerly with the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Papers of Albert Gallatin, he has taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara, the University of Wisconsin-Superior, and other universities.