Written for an African American readership at the height of Haiti's diplomatic isolation, this biographical essay makes Pétion the hinge between the Haitian revolution and the liberation of Spanish America. Bellegarde narrates the career from the artillery batteries of the 1790s through the October 1802 defection to Dessalines and the founding of the republic, then dwells on the presidency: the parcelling out of state estates to former soldiers, free primary education written into the 1816 constitution, and the material aid given to Bolívar in exchange for emancipation decrees. Bellegarde does not spare his subject, quoting the English observer Mark Bird on the danger of a presidency held for life and conceding that Pétion's mildness shaded into indulgence. The argument is frankly directed at contemporary racial doctrine, offering Pétion's schools and Bolívar's proclamation as evidence against claims of Black incapacity. Translated by W. Geter Thomas.