27 July 1863 · Haitian
The Pelletier affair, one month after Washington finally recognizes Haiti
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The United States refused to recognize Haiti for fifty nine years, because recognizing it meant seating a black ambassador in Washington while the South still held four million people in bondage. Lincoln finally extended recognition in 1862, during the Civil War, when the Confederacy had removed those senators from the chamber. Almost immediately came the Pelletier case. On 27 July 1863 the Haitian government, through Roumain, submitted a formal defense including Captain Hubbard's report, arguing that Pelletier's vessel the William had been engaged in illicit activity and was lawfully seized under Haitian law. Washington felt obliged to protect an American citizen abroad and equally anxious not to rupture with a newly recognized ally mid war. Note the shape of it. Recognition arrives, and the first thing that follows is a dispute about whether Haitian law applies to an American in Haitian waters. That question never really closes.
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