The political class, or any subsequent political class, could have simply repudiated the payments if they didn't need trade with whitey. By about 1850 or so, when the genocidal class had passed into history, they might have even gotten away with it had they developed any moral standing or even shown a little remorse for the foul murderous deed they had done.
The U.S. backed the French for two reasons-- (a)timing, a mere 21 years after the end of the American Revolution and a year after the sale of Louisiana Territory (a reservoir of goodwill toward France) and (b)a sense of morality that there should be consequences for the fanatical genocidal conduct of the independence leaders.
By the way, the payments were calculated based on "ability to pay" calculated from the revenue generated from Haiti when it was still a French colony. They got extended because the Haitians couldn't run their country with the same ability as did the French.
We managed not to take revenge against our political opponents at the end of our revolution, even though it cost the lives of 250,000 or so soldiers and civilians and left our country bankrupt. Most Tories left our country of their own volition or enticement of things like land grants in Canada.
The political class, or any subsequent political class, could have simply repudiated the payments if they didn't need trade with whitey. By about 1850 or so, when the genocidal class had passed into history, they might have even gotten away with it ...
I think France was holding a little more over their heads than trade. After all, what good is trade if most of the proceeds must be paid away? I think France made it clear that failure to pay would result in a visit from their military.