Dangerous Neighbors

Despite the appearance of more and more scholarly work on the Haitian Revolution and its effects, we still know only parts of the story of how news of a mighty slave rebellion and the subsequent creation of the western hemisphere’s second republic was received in, and then influenced, the area’s first republic, the United States. This deeply researched and engaging volume goes a long way to filling that gap. And while this is a story that most historians of race or of the ‘age of democratic revolution’ believe to be a familiar one, James Alexander Dun’s book succeeds in restoring contingency to the narrative, enabling us to see how white Americans reacted to constantly shifting and contradictory events with unforeseeable outcomes. Dun focuses his study on Philadelphia, and, although no one place can represent the entire American republic, Philadelphia is perhaps the most representative. The most centrally located of America’s major cities, Philadelphia had both slavery and abolitionism, extensive trading links with northern and southern colonies and the Caribbean beyond, and was home to the most ethnically diverse population in the nation. Indeed, more refugees from France and from Haiti made their way to Philadelphia than any other American city. It was also the capital city of a large state, and served as the national capital during the final decade of the eighteenth century. Most importantly for Dun, Philadelphia’s newspaper editors pulled news from all over the Atlantic World and beyond, and as something approaching national publications they then disseminated this news around the United States. Much of what Americans from Kentucky to Boston to Virginia learned of the Haitian Revolution came from Philadelphia’s newspapers

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