Toussaint Louverture Quotes
The whites have resolved to destroy our liberty and have therefore brought a force commensurate to their intentions. The Cape, after a proper resistance, has fallen into their hands, but the enemy found only a town and plain in ashes; the forts were blown up, and all was burnt.
Beard, John R. The Life of Toussaint L'Ouverture, the Negro Patriot of Hayti. Ingram, Cooke, and Co., 1853, p. 195.
Paine was describing the conquest of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror.
Egypt was miserably governed by the Ottoman Turks. The people had no rights or freedoms and poverty and ignorance was universal. Napoleon, came to Egypt in much the same way as the United States did in Iraq two centuries later—with the assumption that bringing freedom and affluence, modern government, and a greater expectation of standard of living would find favor with most of the downtrodden inhabitants. However, although the Egyptians hated their status quo, it was culturally something they were comfortable with. It was Islamic and not Christian or secular as much of France was. Yet occupation by these foreigners was more onerous culturally than occupation by the Islamic Ottoman Turks.
Shortly after he refused to join, his brother who had joined the Resistance had been captured, tortured and murdered by the Germans. He then joined the active resistance even though the Americans had not yet arrived. He realized that resistance was just an annoyance to the Germans, and the time the Resistance could really make a difference was after the Americans and British had landed in France.
François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture was a Haitian general and the most prominent leader of the Haitian Revolution. During his life, Louverture first fought against the French, then for them, and then finally against France again for the cause of Haitian independence. As a revolutionary leader, Louverture's military and political acumen helped transform the fledgling slave rebellion into a revolutionary movement. Louverture is now known as the "Father of Haiti."
