[QUOTE=First Amongst Daves]
If your date is correct, it became independent at almost the same time as the Louisiana Purchase. Why wasn’t it part of the deal? Hard to imagine the US government of the time wouldn’t want a sea base out that way.
[/QUOTE]
No cite, but the way I learned it in high-school history, after Haiti won its independence, Napoleon declared, “Damn colonies!” And decided to sell Louisiana to the U.S.
At that time, Haiti was a turbulent post-revolutionary state – where black slaves had rebelled succesfully! :eek: – and the Americans would have wanted as little to do with it as possible.