Fermage System

The leader of history's most successful slave revolt also hunted down escaped slaves - a contradiction rooted in his conviction that plantation labor was essential to protect Black freedom. Toussaint Louverture's pursuit of maroons stemmed not from ideological betrayal but from his belief that economic productivity alone could fund the army defending emancipation. This policy, which historians call _caporalisme agraire_ (militarized agriculture), alienated the very masses whose labor sustained his vision, ultimately undermining his regime when Napoleon invaded in 1802.