Click here to play the Haitian national anthem, named after the first president of Haiti (you saw his proclamation of the Haitian Republic on the previous page)

The primary sources support Buck-Morss’ hypothesis, that the Haitian Revolution influenced Hegelian thought, particularly his “Master-Slave Dialectic.” What was most striking is that St. Domingue, or Haiti, appears so infrequently before 1805, and then in that year the topic dominates the journal Minerva.

That contrast would have shocked any literate German reading Minerva; that Hegel published his Phenomenology of Spirit, with its Master-Slave Dialectic in 1807, two years after these articles on Haiti appeared, suggests very strongly its influence. I also do not believe that the articles that excoriate the violence, even the “savagery,” of the revolution hurts the case. Hegel’s Master-Slave Dialectic is striking in how it centers violence and a “struggle to the death” as a prime mover in the history of consciousness, so the depictions of the violence in St. Domingue only support Buck-Morss’ hypothesis.

I earned my Masters over 20 years ago, when doing historical research required traveling to archives and libraries and knowing the language of primary sources. While the promise of technology to make our lives easier and to “democratize” knowledge has proved problematic, to say the least, in the last 20 years, I believe in the case of historical research technology really has led to substantial improvements in efficiency and accessibility.

Sources

Arana, M. (2014). Bolivar: American liberator. Phoenix.

Buck-Morss, S. (2009). Hegel, Haiti, and universal history. University of Pittsburg.

Hegel, G. F. W. (1807). Phenomenology of Spirit (J. B. Baillie, Trans.). Pantianos Classics.

Horne, G. (2015). Confronting Black Jacobins: The United States, the Haitian revolution, and the origins of the Dominican Republic. Monthly Review Press. 

James, C.L.R. (1938). Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution. Secker & Warburg.

Kaplan, F. (2014). John Quincy Adams: American visionary. Harper Collins. 

Minerva Issues:

January – March 1800: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433082325774

July – September 1801: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433082325717

January – March 1805: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433082325576

October – December 1805: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433082325543