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I’d like to echo Max’s critique of Fanning’s evidence and the actions of Haitian officials and the acceptance of Haitian ideology in the black population of the United States. Additionally, given that her first words promised to show that “Haiti played a far greater role in cultural and political activities of northern free blacks than historians previously credited,” I think she failed to connect the actions of northern free blacks and Haiti in an adequate manner. While her examples of attempts to encourage the emigration and selected political activities of northern free blacks offer support to her point, the paper lacked the requisite context needed to situate the importance of those events in the larger political actions of the free black community in the northern United States. Answering simple questions like did free blacks immigrate to other nations in in the 1820s or was Haiti the prime destination of immigration would have helped situate her argument a lot more for those unfamiliar with the specific history surrounding this issue.
One of the things I did enjoy in her paper was her engagement with the merchants and sailors. I thought it was an engaging piece because it showed that even white merchants were pushing for Haitian recognition. However, she fails to connect it to the actions of the northern free black community of the United States. While she provided examples of how American laws were affecting the lives of free blacks such as the case in South Carolina and how Haitian opposition to said laws may have garnered respect, the connection is tentative at best.Additionally, I thought the information presented on Jefferson after he became President and his treatment of Haiti was presented well, but I wish she had taken a stronger stance on the issue. While she provided the opinions of various scholars who described the varying reasons behind Jefferson’s decision, she refused to engage the historiography in a way that challenged the flaws in the position that Jefferson’s treatment of Haiti stemmed from his desire to improve diplomatic relations with France. Instead she offered the exceedingly strong statement, “ But he may have had less generous motives” and proceeds to argue that Jefferson’s attention to the Haitian issue was “a testament to Haiti’s politicization of African Americans.” Without offering an argument against the other historians she cites, her conclusion is invalid. It is not a testament to Haiti’s politicization of African Americans if Jefferson was seeking to appease France. The consistent theme in this paper was a failure to connect the actions of Haitian actors to political manifestations in the northern black community.