394

1022 HISTORICAL ANNOTATION

and the capital of Port-au-Prince. Hyppolite eventually won this contest and was
sworn in as president of Haiti on 17 October 1889. An able leader and diplomat,
Hyppolite ruled Haiti for seven years by sharing de facto power with several regional
warlords. He is remembered for his improvements of the nation's public works.
Hyppolite died while preparing to suppress a rebellion in the nation's south. Robert I.
Rotberg, Haiti: The Politics of Squalor (Boston, 1971), 96, 98-99; Heinl and Heinl,
Written in Blood, 244, 301-20; Roland I. Perusse, Historical Dictionary of Haiti
(Metuchen, N.J., 1977), 54; EAAH, 2:135-38.

440.29-30 the acquisition ... Naval station] In 1888 Haiti emerged from a revolu-
tion during which its latest dictator was overthrown. Two generals, the French pawn
Legitime and the American protege Hyppolite, vied for presidential succession.
Legitime overtook the presidency. The United States, under the imperialist foreign
policy of President Benjamin Harrison and Secretary of State James G. Blaine, saw a
chance to compete with France for naval bases in the West Indies. The United States
provided material aid to Hyppolite, and the general soon overthrew Legitime's forces.
As recompense, the United States expected Hyppolite to lease to it the Mole St.
Nicholas, a strategic key in West Indian waters. In 1889 Douglass, the new minister
resident and consul general to Haiti, and co-negotiator Rear Admiral Bancroft
Gherardi, were sent to Haiti to acquire a lease on the Mo1e. In Haiti, Douglass was
greeted affably by Hyppolite, who promised full cooperation, but circumstances soon
played against Douglass. The presence of U.S. officers reconnoitering the Mole, along
with imperial barbs from the American press, aroused fresh Haitian nationalism that
threatened Hyppolite 's rule. In the midst of this political upheaval, Hyppolite's gov-ernment refused to yield to U.S. diplomatic pressure, even as Douglass continued to
be treated cordially. In addition, tensions between Douglass and Gherardi complicated
the negotiation process. Any last chances for acquiring the Mole evaporated when a
huge fleet of U.S. ships assembled at Port-au-Prince. Amidst this concentration, Haiti
declined lease of the Mole. Douglass resigned his mission on 30 July 1891 and
through numerous newspaper interviews exculpated himself of any blame for the mis-sion's failure. Sears, "Frederick Douglass and the Mission to Haiti," 222-38;
Himelhoch, "Frederick Douglass and Haiti's Mole St. Nicolas," 161-80.

441.24-25 the following articles ... and October, 1891] Douglass reproduces his
two articles appearing in the September and October 1891 issues of the North
American Review: Douglass, "Haiti and the United States, I," 337-45; idem, "Haiti
and the United States, II," 450-59.

442.37-38 Rear-Admiral Gherardi] Bancroft Gherardi (1832-1903) was born in
Jackson, Louisiana, to an Italian immigrant father and the sister of historian and politi-cian George Bancroft. He received a commission in the U.S. Navy in 1846 when his
uncle was secretary of the Navy. After five years of service, he briefly attended the
U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1852. Following several Civil War and postwar
assignments, he rose to the rank of rear admiral and commanded the North Atlantic
Squadron (1889-92). During the Haitian civil war of 1888-89, Gherardi advised the