Haitian Revolution
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION
Haiti was the French colony of St. Domingue (Santo Domingo), the most productive colonial economy in the world. Dominated by plantation agriculture, primarily to supply sugar and coffee to the world market, Haiti had a slave population of nearly 90 percent. African slaves were brought to the island in the Atlantic slave trade. The balance of the population consisted of peoples of European ancestry and of mixed heritage, defined in the law of the colony as “white” or gens de couleur (people of color), respectively. Both of these groups owned slaves. French administrators governed the island. By 1788, the native Indian population had died out completely as a result of the Spanish conquest, harsh labor
…show more content…
Slaves made up the vast majority of the population and were oppressed on a daily basis in the most naked ways and thoroughly deprived economically in a system that produced great wealth. For this slave population, the most pressing issue was the termination of slavery and the social inequality it entailed. As the colony was 90 percent slave, this issue was inevitably the focus of the revolution.
Political unrest in the colony began, however, with class tensions among the white population. As a French colony, St. Domingue did not receive representation in the Estates-General of 1789. The grands blancs sent representatives anyway. These people were ultimately admitted into the French National Assembly, but the vote was restricted to whites who owned twenty or more slaves. This policy kept out the petits blancs, and it held in elections for local assemblies. The petits blancs, arguing in a nationalist manner for their rights as Frenchmen, fought the grands blancs in a civil war between town and country. Both groups, however, based their political claims on their French heritage, the grands blancs arguing for liberty to represent the colony, the petits blancs demanding political equality with the grands. This left both the gens de couleur and the slaves out of the loop. After revolts by the gens de couleur led by Vincent Ogé resulted in a wave of racial oppression, the slave population leapt
…show more content…
As all of the groups in the revolution except the slaves conceived of liberty and equality in terms of their own situation, none of them had supported the abolition of slavery. It was this, however, that the slave population demanded. The whites, both grands and petits blancs, wanted to hold on to white privilege. The rebels accordingly drove them off the island. The gens de couleur wanted to keep the right to own slaves. They were also driven off or deprived of their slave property, though some of them stayed and retained economic and social
Toussaint Louverture was a free man of color in the colony of St. Domingue, he was one of the few free men of color in the colony most were slaves. Louverture was a former educated slave who wanted to end slavery in his home island. (Katz) Toussaint was born in about 1743 into a slave family, “Toussaint’s owner, actively encouraged him to learn to read and write. He developed a passion for books and his readings were to become a great influence in his political life. Toussaint was freed from slavery at around the age of 33 and colonial records show that he became a land and slave owner himself”(History.state.gov). Toussaint then later in 1789 led the slaves out of slavery defeating the French.
Haiti began as the French colony of Saint-Domingue. The island was filled with plantations and slaves working on them. Almost a decade and a half after its settlement, this colony paved the way for many changes throughout the French empire and many other slave nations. Through its difficult struggle, we examine whether the slave revolt of Saint-Domingue that began in the late 16th century was justifiable and whether its result in creating the free nation of Haiti was a success. The slave insurrection began in August 1791 in Saint-Domingue.
While the French Revolution was inspired by the American, the Haitian Revolution was inspired by the French. The previously mentioned “declaration for the rights of man” was written not only for France, but as an international guideline. The revolutionary idea of liberty for all was a desperate need for all of Saint Domingue, especially the slaves. Revolutionaries like Toussaint L’Overture adopted the ideas of the oppressed Third Estate to build their own revolutions against slave owners, and France
African Haitians completely did away with the social control that kept the racial hierarchy in place in Haiti. The institutions that the French held to control the slaves were attacked the very French army that was sent was defeated and the former slaves took control of the island and forever changed the colonial society they lived in. African slaves began to notice during the French revolution the ideals of liberty, citizenship, and voting come up but they were excluded due to the racial hierarchy that existed in the colony. Even the slave owners that were not white were not given access to the newfound rights of the French citizens. This revolution had a great impact on the rest of Spanish America, The United States and specifically the islands of Cuba and Jamaica. It grounded the growing abolitionist movements because of the drastic outcome of the slaves’ revolution and tightened the colonial control in the islands in the Caribbean who feared a similar revolution could occur. The Haitian revolution was not an eruption of recent discontent, it had been building as slaves frequently ran away and established Maroon
The issue of slavery has extensive impacts on French politics. during the Enlightenment and the Revolution. Many colonists and landowners were confused over the appliance of The Declaration of Rights of Man to slaves and blacks Document 13 -. If it did apply to them then slavery would be abolished, which (according to document 10) would cause. the colonies to lose commerce, essentially destroying them.
On January 1, 1804, the country of Haiti formally declared independence from the French colonial powers. This newfound state of freedom was born as a result of the Haitian revolution (1791–1804), a movement that was primarily lead by the former slave and prominent leader, Toussaint L’Overture. Due to the successful nature of this slave revolt, the nation of Haiti became a huge inspiration for surrounding colonies – becoming the second former European colony in the New World that was able to achieve independence. Despite the hard-won efforts of the oppressed, political stability within the country quickly unravelled as the national identity formed during the revolution deteriorated under rising conflict between mulattoes and blacks.
Throughout time individuals have rebelled against corrupt policies within society in order to obtain their autonomy as well as their rights as an individual. King Louis XIV of France, for instance, taxed the lower class of France, in order to construct his palace, the Palace of Versailles, which depicted his power and authority. If individuals refused to pay their taxes to Louis XIV, then as a result, they would be placed in prison or be executed, as a penalty. The lower class individuals of France began to question King Louis XIV’s authority, ultimately leading to numerous rebellions against his position as King of France. Likewise, between 1750 to 1914 numerous revolutions to alter certain aspects within society occurred in diverse regions
Racial caste systems in Haiti prior to the Revolution were used to classify where everyone fit within their society. Originally there were three classes—the blancs, who were the whites that owned land and slaves; the affranchise, who were freedmen of color who were descendants of slaves and slave owners; and the noir, who were the slaves. This system was a way to keep people in their place, limiting opportunities such as jobs and areas of residence (Smucker, 1989). Before the Revolution, the elite whites—or grands blancs—oversaw the governing of Haiti, the importation of slaves, and the exportation of crops to Europe. The affranchise, otherwise known as gens de couleur, were typically craftsmen or domestic servants due to laws prohibiting this group of people from working in public offices. These laws were placed by the grands blancs because of an increase in populati...
The Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique and Saint Domingue were very important to the French economy due to its high sugar trade and increasing its profits through slavery. After the Fall of Louis XVI The National Assembly was considering the question of rights for free men of color. Saint Domingue had 40,000 whites and 30,000 free people of color along with 500,000 slaves. In 1790 the free people of color sent a delegation to Paris to be seated, accentuating that they are property owners and some even of European descent. The assembly later refused to seat them sparking a rebellion among free people of color, which spoke of an independence from France. French colonial authorities suppressed the first rebellion quickly and brutally killed Vincent Oge, a member of the Delegation to Paris and leader of the first rebellion and most of his followers.
Haiti, previously known as Saint-Domingue, was a slave island and one of the wealthiest of France’s colonies. Up until this point in time, slavery was still common and, as mentioned above, continued throughout the world even after such freedom declarations such as, the Declaration of Independence in the newly formed United States, and the Declaration of Rights of Man in the Republic of France. The Haitian Revolution was brought on by the want for liberation of slaves, and was largely inspired by the French Revolution and the Declaration of Rights of Man. “Even though the early leaders of the French Revolution had no intention of exporting the upheaval, it spread to the colonies, especially to Saint-Domingue” (Ott 1973). This revolution proved to be a major event as it was the most successful slave revolution in history. The slavery population in Haiti, vastly outnumbered the white colonists in Haiti, and therefore, when the slave population banded together, led to a full-scaled rebellion. Revolts would continue to occur until finally in 1793, the slaves got their freedom, with slavery officially being abolished in all French territories in 1794. From this point until 1802, small rebellions continued to occur as not much changed in the daily lives of slaves, despite technically having their freedom. After the French Revolution and with Napoleon taking power in 1799; Napoleon reinstated slavery in all French colonies, including Haiti. Napoleon also sent an army to Haiti to enforce these new slavery laws and Haiti returned to a slave economy in 1802 (Doyle 1943). The Haitian Revolutionaries finally get their win after defeating the French soldiers in the Battle of Vertieres in 1803; the final part of the revolution. The revolution officially ended in 1804, with Haiti gaining its independence from France and permanently abolishing slavery
The island of Saint-Domingue was made up of a mixture of people including whites from France, creoles, free people of color, and slaves. Once sugar became a major cash crop on the island, an estimated half-million African slaves were brought in to work the land. These slaves outnumbered their white masters more than ten to one and made up the majority of the island inhabitants. Even so, the island had the most secure slave regime in the Caribbean because of the cooperation between masters and free men of color. Due to the difficult policing jobs given to the freed men with little reward, the communication between them and the white masters broke down. Now that the white slaveholders were on their own, it was only a matter of time before their brutal treatment of slaves would lead to an uprising. Once enslaved Africans received word of the revolution in France they too began demanding freedom. After years of civil unrest and vicious fighting, Haiti declared its freedom from France in January of 1804. What makes the Haitian Revolution more radical than the two before it is the fact that it was led by slaves. Throughout the previous revolutions, the main goal was for white men, essentially, to be free from oppressive government rule. There were few thoughts regarding the rights of slaves, even though they too were men. The fact that this group of people were able to remove the colonial authority and establish their own country during this period of time was particularly radical and unheard
However, the noble-born were not ready to lose their supremacy, and there are very high chances that had they been aware of what the low-class citizens were planning, they would have retaliated with brutal force. Consequently, an upheaval was a need to change France, and anything contrary to that would need concrete proof that the Crown was ready to consider the problems of the people. On that note, contrary to Burke’s views, the people obviously had enough sense to realize that they were never going to have any privileges without force.
However, one of the greatest differences in their outcomes was that France emerged as a new, firm government as Haiti staggered with its new independence. In September 1791, France achieved the movement of freeing and outlawing slavery. In turn, Haitian slaves were inspired to do the same by revolting against French plantation owners. This transformative movement of 100,000 slaves was led by Toussaint L’Ouverture.
Haiti had over a half million enslaved Africans working on sugar plantations owned by the French. The sugar was hugely profitable, but conditions for enslaved worker were horrendous. Many were cruelly over worked and under fed. Haiti also had a population of both free and enslaved mulattoes. Free mulattoes, however, had few right and were badly treated by the French. In 1791, a slave revolt exploded in northern Haiti. Under the able leadership of Toussaint L'Ouverture, Haitians would fight for freedom and pave the way for throwing off French rule.
No one in France thought that helping the Americans gain freedom from Great Britain would lead to an all-out revolution of their own. Similarly to other revolutions that were sweeping the Atlantic region at this time, the French Revolution was largely based on the newly minted ideas of natural law and natural rights. While France dealt with their problems at home, people began to question slavery in French controlled colonies such as Saint Domingue, present day Haiti. The majority of French philosophes, the general name given to supporters of the Enlightenment, denounced slavery and urged for its termination. Others were not so sure how to approach this issue however, fearing what it would mean for the French economy if slaves were set free.