The new republic of Haiti did not receive much attention from other powerful nations around the world. It was mainly ignored because this new republic was the first glimpse the rest of the world had seen of blacks in some positions of power. France even made Haiti pay an independence fee which greatly hurt their young economy. Thomas Jefferson, who was president of the United States at this time, didn't want to trade with Haiti because he was scared that the ideas of revolution would spread to slaves in the United States. For this reason, the United States didn't help Haiti very much. It even took the US 6 decades to recognize Haiti as a country.
The failure of the rest of the world to recognize Haiti as a country effected them greatly. When they first became independent, France charged an independence tax, which greatly hurt their economy. Also, the US refused to help them because they were scared of their own revolution stirring up. This left Haiti, a brand new country, virtually on their own with nobody to help them.
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