The history of the first refugee crisis in the United States

From 179 1 to 18 10, more than 25,000 refugees arrived on the American coast from the French colony of Santo Domingo, a modern country in Haiti. Their homes and plantations were the engines behind the most profitable colonies in the world in 1790. They were swallowed up by a bloody conflict, which originally called for racial equality, but ended in what historian David Geggus called "the biggest and only completely successful slave uprising". These supplicants braved the wind and waves to disembark in Philadelphia, Charleston and New Orleans. Some of them dragged slaves and some had nothing, which reflected the first refugee crisis in American history. Child refugees bring unique challenges to mental health workers. When more than 450,000 slaves took up arms against their owners and set fire to the plantations and town houses on the island, the first wave of immigration in Santo Domingo began. 179 1 year1month, Port-au-Prince was burned to ashes. The leaders in the early days of the revolution sowed the seeds of rebellion in months of secret mutual recruitment. In the first few weeks of fighting, over 65,438+0,000 slave owners were killed. 1793, the capital of Mount Francis was razed to the ground, and Britain and Spain were involved in the conflict. French general Leger Felicite Sonthonax abolished slavery and hoped to regain control of the colony. The plan failed, so Toona Cox fled the island before the end of the year, leaving a complicated quarrel. 1804, Santo Domingo ceased to exist and was replaced by the Free Black Republic of Haiti.

As a result, whites, hybrids and free blacks who did not support the end of the plantation system, as well as thousands of slaves who were forced to join them, rushed to board the starting ship. Whether white or black, people who leave voluntarily are planters, craftsmen, printers, blacksmiths and tailors, but whether they were rich or poor before, they all became refugees after leaving.

Although some people have sought asylum near Jamaica and Cuba, thousands of people have begun to appear in nascent American ports. Take Philadelphia as an example. 179 1 year, there were 15 refugees on a ship named Charming Sally. By 1794, it had become a flood of more than 3,000 refugees. In the next decade, with the intensification of the Santo Domingo incident, similar influx incidents occurred in ports in Virginia, South Carolina, Maryland and Louisiana. Only in 18 10 year, 10000 refugees arrived in New Orleans; They were expelled from their first refuge in Cuba, and the population of the city doubled in a few months.

The first response of the newly established United States to this crisis was to provide assistance to the white people still on the island. George Washington, the slave owners including the Chief Executive and his Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, provided 726,000 dollars and a small amount of military support to the colonial planters. Jefferson, who did not support direct intervention, still opposed rebellion. He said that "rebuilding peace and kindness ... our free exchange with production" is of vital importance to the American economy. The sugar and coffee produced by Santo Domingo are highly valued by American consumers, and the food and manufactured goods provided by American businessmen in turn constitute one of the most important trade relations of this young country.

However, for many people, Santo Domingo is not only a valuable trading partner, but also a symbol of the legitimacy and value of slavery. The prospect of the success of the slave uprising challenged the general idea of racial domination of American slave owners, and even politicians without slaves expressed concern about the transmission of this message. Timothy timothy pickering, who succeeded Jefferson as Secretary of State, came from Massachusetts and supported the gradual abolition of the death penalty. But he still expressed a deep-rooted fear, "a black army may conquer the whole British Isles and invest in British information and communication technology." Anderson said that the spread of violence never happened. Although 18 1 1 Louisiana and 183 1 Virginia did have uprisings, she pointed out that "recent academic research often proves that those who planned or launched a few rebellions (which did happen) were not refugees from Santo Domingo. "

Many people shudder at the thought of accepting potential rebels. Most importantly, the role of refugees as rebels is "a myth that has been told repeatedly since19th century". These refugees (regardless of race) not only failed to undermine social stability, but became another immigrant class, which was initially excluded, but later accepted as a thread in the great American texture.

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