La Révolution de Haïti vue par deux personnages contemporains: Le scientifique prussien Alexander von Humboldt et l'homme d'état américain Thomas Jefferson

The Haitian Revolution was a historical event that immediately provoked numerous and very different reactions in the New as well as the Old World. It can be regarded as an ideological laboratory for Enlightenment actors, in which they tested how far their principles of liberty, equality, fraternity, and the right to revolt against oppression extended. Their reactions were tightly linked to their personal interests and convictions and their relationship to the political system they inhabited.This study analyzes the different points of view of two personalities with a significant influence on the events and the spirit of their time: the famous traveler and Prussian scientist Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) and the Virginian statesman Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826). Emphasis will be on their perception of the incidents in Saint-Domingue and their impact on the outer world, the way they referred to these events in their writings and their personal correspondence, and finally the position they took regarding the new situation of this Caribbean Island.