Scholars of the Haitian Revolution have also considered the role that African ideas may have played in the Haitian Revolution. In ““I Am The Subject of the King of Congo”: African Political Ideology and the Haitian Revolution”, John Thornton contends for the role of Congolese political history and thinking in influencing the Haitian Revolution. At the time of the Haitian revolution the majority slaves in Haiti were of Congolese origin or descent. Thornton contends against earlier interpretations which interpreted the slaves’ African political heritage as encouraging a support for absolute monarchy and slavery. He analyzes the political practices of Congolese Kingship and the dynamics of the civil wars which had taken place in the 18th century, …show more content…
Dubois, Trouillot, and Thornton’s accounts generally acknowledge there wasn’t a clear predominant support for republicanism in the beginning of the revolution. In the early years of the revolution, many insurgent groups established local ‘kings’ in areas they controlled and had aligned themselves with French Monarchists. Meanwhile they were fighting a French Republic determined to maintain control over Haiti and which initially sought to reimpose slavery. Though, as Dubois and Thornton point out, there were elements Enlightenment, African, and Haitian produced ideas (which had the potential to incorporated into an idea of republicanism) that were present among insurgents and had developed over the course of the revolution. The defection of figures such as Louverture and Dessalines from the French colonial forces to the revolution, and the consolidation of much of the revolutionary forces under leadership had the added effect of putting figures more familiar with republican ideas into the center of revolutionary politics. Jenson’s description of Louverture and Dessalines’ political expresses a growing prominence of republican ideology as they progressed toward seeking Haitian Independence. From these accounts, it appears that the development of revolutionary ideas, combined with the evolving political order of revolutionary forces, ended up producing a general move toward Haitian