For example, if you were a slave in Haiti and were freed, were you then made a slave once again just a few years later? Or did the slave owners have to bring in new slaves?
A bit late to the party but:
Long story short, it was only restored on paper and not de facto. Every attempt ending up in a bloody conflict on both sides (former slaves and European troops).
Detailed version:
The insurrection lead by Toussaint Louverture started on August 22nd, 1791. Two years after the French Revolution. Because it was declared that all men are equal, including free black and mixed race (Mulatre in French) people, the "balance preexisting on the island is unsustaible)
Haiti being a French island is thus impacted by this. The population of the island is divided in 4 groups:
- Rich plantation owners: The smallest group of people. They usually have an aristocratic backround and own the highest amount of slaves and are the biggest producers of sugar.
- Small plantation owners: Second smallest group. They are white as well but not necessary from aristocratic background. There is thus a divide between them and the first group. They produce sugar as well and own slaves but on a far smaller scale (3-4).
-Partisans of the governor: The French authority which is decreasing with the diminution of troops on the ground.
- Mulatres: Mixed race people, usually born from rapes of slaves by their masters in order to create an "in between" population to temper slaves. Before 1789 they had more rights than slaves (they were free) but not as many as white people.
Previous groups form 7% of the population of the island. The rest are from African origin.
Because the tensions are growing between the four groups, the slaves take the opportunity to rise and take power. The four groups, unable to come together are soon killed or flee the island, exporting their "know how" of plantation management to the US, Cuba or Brazil.
Toussaint Louverture, leader of the Haitian revolution, seeked the help of the spanish (Santo Domingo) which were eager to help take down the French sugar economy.
At this time, some French royalists, opposed to the Revolution, supported the Spanish or even the British in order to help destroy the French Republic's economy.
1794, growing tensions in France and war with Europe makes the people in power unable to deal with Haiti. The freedom of the slaves is eventually granted officially by France (first in Metropolitan France and then in the colonies).
Because the young French Republic wants to free slaves, Tousaint Louverture, the leader of the revolutions chose to join France.
The british empire in the carribeans, afraid by this sends an expedition to Santo Domingo in order to renslave them. But they face a guerilla warfare they are not used to. The haitians troops usually burn everything before the ennemy arrives and retreats in the jungle to wait patiently for diseases and climate to erode ennemy troops. The british expedition is soon defeated.
Between 1794 and 1801, Toussaint became the de facto governor of the island. He bargained with the british for their reddition and eventually appointed himself governor for life.
The latter action sounded like an insult to Napoleon. Now first consul of France and after his victory against Austrian troops, Europe is much quieter. He can focus on internal issues and chooses to take back the island from Toussaint Louverture (seen as a usurper of French's authority). It is also possible that he received pressions from rich shipowners (His wife, Josephine de Beauharnais was from a plantation owner family). Their investment in the slave trade indeed represented an enormous amound of money. He decided to officially send emissaries to the island to restore "culture". What was presented like an official visit was a military expedition of 30000 men.
It reached Haiti in 1802. The expedition was supported by American plantation owners, afraid that the revolt would reach the continent. But just like the british contingent, Leclerc and his troops were not ready for the scorched earth and guerilla warfare tactics. Taking the coast cost them 5000 men and each city taken at been first burned to the ground by haitians (their strength was then of 20000 men).
To the cost of many soldiers' lives, Leclerc eventually took back the island, officially to reinstate it under the authority of France. The haitians generals were defeated one by one eventually leading to Toussaint Louverture's reddition (he was then exiled to France). Fairly quickly it appeared to the former slave population that the actual goal was to reinstate slavery. The news brings a wind of revolt in the former slave population, most take arms and rally around Pieton and Dessalines (former ranked officer in Toussaint Louveture's army). The conflicts last another year at the end of which the French army is defeated and flees the island in 1804. Dessalines then proclaimed the independance of the island.
Several diplomatic missions were then sent to Haiti in order to restablish relationships with France. Most of them were seen as attempt to restore slavery or to spy; they all failed.
Eventually, the island was acknowledged as independant in 1825 with the signature of an agreement between the Haitian de facto authority and France. The agreement involved the payment by Haiti of 150 million Gold Francs to be payed over 5 years, to reimburse plantation owners who lost money due to the independance war. This amount of money was ludicrously high for the time and was not achievable by the island. It lead to more instability and, in 1938, was eventually reduced to 90 millions payed over 30 years.
Bury the chains by Adam Hochschild
Slavery's routes (Arte documentary, part 4)
edit: to answer your question clearly: yes, former slaves would have been reenslaved since the process implied going through a reddition of the Haitian army. When the news broke it was the goal of the expedition the army would reasonably have no way to distinguish between former free Black people and former slaves. It is reasonable to assume they would have make no distinction. Finally, many slaves were brought to Haiti each year, but that was only possible if Haiti was peaceful. Former slaves could have refused to see others enslaved (that was a threat but it was not a certainty since mulatres (mixed race) and some free black people could own plantations and slaves). Furthermore, leaving them free would have set an ostentatory example for the new slaves.