Studies on the History of Haiti, Volume 1, Followed by the Life of General J.-M. Borgella

Beaubrun Ardouin, a former Haitian minister to the French government and former secretary of state for justice, public instruction and worship, opens the volume with an Avertissement stating that he does not claim to write the history of his country and examines it from a Haitian viewpoint, in contrast to foreign authors. He says he first planned only the life of General Borgella, then widened the work because the events in which Borgella acted needed explanation. He divides Haitian history into a French period, from 1789 to November 1803, and a Haitian period, from November 1803 to March 1843, each with six epochs.

The Introduction describes colonial society in 1789: the organization of the colonial government, the customs and grievances of the white class, the condition of enslaved people and freedmen, and the three provinces of Saint-Domingue. The first book narrates the first epoch, from the news of the fall of the Bastille to September 1792. It covers the colonists' assemblies, Vincent Ogé and Jean-Baptiste Chavanne, the armed organization of free men of color in the West, the slave insurrection in the North, the burning of Port-au-Prince and the mission of the first civil commissioners. One chapter gives the birth and youth of Borgella.