Black Sovereignty and Free Trade in an Enslaved Atlantic World

FAIN: HB-289652-23

Nathalie Frédéric Pierre
Howard University (Washington, DC 20059-0001)

Research and writing leading to a book about the evolution of economic and political liberalism in Haiti between 1757 and 1815. 

This is a book manuscript revision of a dissertation. Titled “The Vessel of Independence…Must Save Itself: Haitian Nation-State Formation, 1757 - 1815,” it examines Black sovereignty in a hostile Atlantic World reliant on racial slavery. The evolution of economic and political liberalism in Haiti functions as a counterpart to its postcolonial predecessor, the United States. Whereas, the embrace of free trade and individual liberty benefited the U.S., similar efforts disadvantaged the second American post-colony. Haiti’s navigation of Atlantic slavery reveals itself by tracing law and quasi-legal trade treaties made by Haitian statesmen. The book centers Haitian decisions that facilitated the growth of capitalism in the Caribbean and transformed political thought to custom fit a post-emancipation society. To the humanities, “Vessel of Independence” offers a Janus-faced history of American liberalism ruptured against the polemics of race.