Isaac Sasportas, the 1799 Slave Conspiracy in Jamaica, and Sephardic Ties to the Haitian Revolution

Abstract

Isaac Sasportas was a member of the Sephardic Diaspora who was born in French Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti) around 1779. His uncle, Abraham Sasportas, with whom Isaac lived in Charleston in 1793–1795, was actively involved in the American Revolution and the political struggles of the French Revolution. Isaac embraced the radical politics of his uncle and returned to his native Saint-Domingue. There, he played a leading role in planning an invasion of British Jamaica, where he hoped to emancipate African slaves. But the plan was leaked by Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture and Isaac Sasportas was executed in Jamaica in December 1799.