 Reportedly, people with connections to officers in the Haitian army were also spared, as well as the women who agreed to marry non-white men.Fearful of the potential impact the slave rebellion could have in the slave states, U.S. President Thomas Jefferson refused to recognize the new republic.The Southern politicians who were a powerful voting block in the American Congress prevented U.S. recognition for decades until they withdrew in 1861 to form the Confederacy.