Louverture wrote an impassioned response to Vaublanc's speech. If the ex-slaves of Saint-Domingue were ignorant, Louverture argued, it was former slave owners like Vaublanc who were to blame. Furthermore, lack of education did not signify an incapacity for moral and political activity. "Are only civilized people capable of distinguishing between good and evil, of having notions of charity and justice?" The "men of Saint-Domingue" had little education, but they did not deserve to be "classed apart from the rest of mankind" and "confused with animals."

Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ …, loc. 299