ABSTRACT
Pompée Valentin Vastey was a Haitian writer and politician, the child of a white French father and a black Haitian mother. He fought with the army of François Toussaint L’Ouverture, the Haitian enslaved person who led a revolt that ultimately ended slavery in Haiti by 1795, and worked as secretary and tutor to the children of King Henri Christophe, the revolutionary leader and only monarch of Haiti. Vastey became known for historical and political writings of Haiti under Christophe, and his work is considered to capture the thinking of the political elite during his rule. Political discussions have always been repugnant to our feelings and our principles. Emotion is understood to evidence character and political belief, and is deployed for rhetorical effect to persuade the reader of the author’s strength of feeling and legitimate political claims.
