The Haitian Revolution

810 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: French and Haitian revolutions

The Haitian Revolution and the French Revolution The revolution of almost 100,000 slaves in Saint-Domingue (Haiti) from 1797 to 1804 was the biggest revolution in the history of slavery. The Haitian Revolution led to the formation of the first ever victorious independent liberated slave state in the world, an idea that rocked the economic, socio-political, and moral basics of the Caribbean. In 1791, slaves and the free people of color (gens de couleur libres) revolted against French ruling, and by 1804 declared the country’s self-rule under new Arawak name of Haiti. Haitian Revolution together with the American Revolution was one of the dramatic and most important challenges faced by European colonialism from the New World, and it is widely regarded as a landmark in the history of Africans in Americans. One must highlight the struggles which had been happening for years before the outbreak of the 1791 full-scale revolution. Yet, the French Revolution was significant, for the divergences between whites on what precisely its legacies meant prompted a chance for Blacks. While the legacies of the French Revolution were lasting, it is clear that the Haitian Revolution greatly affected French Revolution legacies, especially on the Declaration of Rights of Man. During the French Revolution, a historically important step was the release of the Declaration of Rights of Man (DRM) endorsed on August 226, 1789 in France. The declaration resulted into mixed-race leaders like Julien Raimond, Henri Gregoire and Vincent Oge, to appeal the French National Constituent Assembly (FNCA) for equal rights. The Assembly stated that free people of color had voting rights (Garraway 33). Although this was not applicable to slaves, the white colonists’ op... ... middle of paper ... ... order, as well as became the first successful revolt against any European empire. The Haitian Revolution is widely considered as the significant event in Africans’ history in the new world. Indeed, the reduction of the Atlantic slave trade is conventionally accredited to the inception of Haitian Revolution. While it might have failed to inspire immediate revolutions within the Caribbean and eventually the world, the Haitian Revolution had a profound effect on the French Revolution as a case for many national emancipation movements. It is evident that the French Revolution determined the success of Haitian Revolution through the custom of racial hierarchy and subjugation in Haiti and through the spread of French Revolution’s ideals. These factors compelled the elite planters to either surrender some control or risk being subjected to violent rebellion.

Show More
Related

  • A Wall Of Fire Rising By Edwidge Danticat's Short Story By Native Haiti

    1334 Words  | 3 Pages

    This particular revolution was meant to rid the country of its dependency upon slavery; however, it did very little to procure the exact solution that the natives of this country wanted. It’s stated more than once in this story that a true and honest living is not easily come by for any native of Haiti and they earn very little money when a job is available. People are paid an insubstantial wage, live in shantytowns, and often times go to bed with their stomachs distended from a voracious and unforgiving hunger. In The Norton Mix Introduction to Literature, Danticat shows these significant consequences of the Revolution by stating that when it got really bad for the family, they would boil ground sugar cane so that it would get rid of the hunger pangs that often tormented the children of the poor (p. 229).

    Read More

  • The 1805 Constitution Of Haiti Summary

    477 Words  | 1 Pages

    The 1805 Constitution of Haiti is a document that first declares Haiti’s independence from any colonizing power. It declares that the people of Haiti are free and will forever be free, which in many ways is similar to the list of grievances in the United States Declaration of Independence. The people of Haiti would not be subjected to living and working for a king or emperor. The Constitution then goes on to list the rights that Haitian Citizens will have under their new found government. In these rights they use the same language as the United States Constitution, which was made popular by the period of enlightment. This suggest that Haiti was capable of creating a civilized society, which counteracted the notion that blacks were incapable of creating and maintaining civilized society.

    Read More

  • Louverture's Efforts as Leader of the Haitian Revolution

    761 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Haitian Revolution was time of hectic blood shed war. Toussaint Louverture was the leader of the Haitians out of slavery and free from the Spanish. The colony of St. Domingue was a slave island, where slaves would work to make goods to be sent to Spain in return for nothing. The people were treated harsh and done wrong but by the efforts of Louverture they will become free. Louverture was the leader of the revolution but failed to complete his duties because of capture Jean- Jacques Dessalines took over in 1802. He was captured before the war before the end of the war. The Revolution lasted from 1789-1803 until everything was settled and St. Domingue was a free land called Haiti.

    Read More

  • What Are The Similarities Between Haitian And French Revolution

    502 Words  | 2 Pages

    Both France and Haiti had so many similarities between their revolutions. Both France and Haiti had an oppression for both social and political systems, because they wanted equality among people. “ The injustices of the social system in Saint Dominique stood in stark contrast to the ideals of the French Republic espoused in France during the French revolution, when on August 26,1789, the Claritin of the rights of man was adopted”. (Stock). This quote means that the french republic wanted good in their social system but they got the opposite.“Among the whites, political upheaval had started in the french colonies which had started in 1789 and ended in 1799, which came into conflict, which also divided the French at home” (stock). So basically

    Read More

  • Haitian Independence: The History Of The Haitian Independence

    553 Words  | 2 Pages

    This article explores Haitian Independence in terms of a war for national liberation. The disassociation from white governance left a window of opportunity for long-term nat...

    Read More

  • Similarities And Differences Of The French Revolution And The Haitian Revolution

    1415 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although, after the revolution, both France and Haiti’s economy was negatively impacted, as a result of the violent rebellions that occurred in order to acquire independence. France was required to overthrow their own government, which was an internal force, however Haiti was required to overthrow an external force, which was France. Nevertheless, both applied violence in their movements and were influenced by significant leaders who enabled the success of the revolution, as they desired political equality within society. Plus, each possessed the same government after the revolutions took place. Thus, even though the French Revolution and Haitian Revolution occurred chronologically in this era of changing society, they both possess distinct aspects, as well as certain similarities.

    Read More

  • Haiti Essay

    1231 Words  | 3 Pages

    In conclusion, the racial caste systems put in place in the 18th century have effects on the world still. Many political leaders in Haiti are black because of the oppression white leaders have imposed on them. While Haiti is waiting for their money back from France, they should have never allowed France to make them pay for their own independence. Though relations between the US and Haiti are well now, the past did provide many dubious situations that still have effects on the relationship now. Although the Duvalier dictatorship only lasted two generations, 39 years total, Francois and Jean-Claude have made major impacts that have allowed Haiti to learn from and move on to become a better and more independent nation.

    Read More

  • The Hatian Revolution: The Beginning Of The Haitian Revolution

    790 Words  | 2 Pages

    After the Seven Years’ War the revolution of Haiti was ignited. Haiti was transformed from the French colony known as Saint Domingue and was the most profitable colony in France. Haiti mostly focused on the production of sugar and indentured servants originally worked Saint Domingue, but were replaced by enslaved Africans. Labor on the plantations tended to be harsh, so many deaths took place resulting in a constant infusion of captives (Acrobatiq,2014.) The Hatian revolution became the greatest slave rebellions of all time (Acrobatiq,2014.) The initial part of the revolution was due to the petit blancs (little whites) and the gran blancs (great whites) differences about race and slavery in the colony.

    Read More

  • Latin American Independence

    506 Words  | 2 Pages

    Early in the nineteenth century rebellion against European authority broke out in Latin America. First, slaves on the island of Haiti revolted against their French masters. Led by former slave Toussaint L'Overture the Haitians defeated France making Haiti the...

    Read More

  • Essay On The Haitian Revolution

    1075 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • How Revolutionary Was The American Revolution?

    886 Words  | 2 Pages

    The American Revolution was a “light at the end of the tunnel” for slaves, or at least some. African Americans played a huge part in the war for both sides. Lord Dunmore, a governor of Virginia, promised freedom to any slave that enlisted into the British army. Colonists’ previously denied enlistment to African American’s because of the response of the South, but hesitantly changed their minds in fear of slaves rebelling against them. The north had become to despise slavery and wanted it gone. On the contrary, the booming cash crops of the south were making huge profits for landowners, making slavery widely popular. After the war, slaves began to petition the government for their freedom using the ideas of the Declaration of Independence,” including the idea of natural rights and the notion that government rested on the consent of the governed.” (Keene 122). The north began to fr...

    Read More

  • The Black Jacobins

    1188 Words  | 3 Pages

    The San Domingo revolution led to the abolition of slavery, independence of Haiti from France and the proclamation of a black republic. However, unlike many historians, CLR James in his work, The Black Jacobins, does not depict the struggle for independence as merely a slave revolt which happened to come after the French Revolution. He goes beyond providing only a recount of historical events and offers an intimate look at those who primarily precipitated the fall of French rule, namely the black slaves themselves. In doing so, James offers a perspective of black history which empowers the black people, for they are shown to actually have done something, and not merely be the subject of actions and attitudes of others.

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis on Edwidge Danticat’s A Wall of Fire Rising

    1223 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the night of August 22, 1791, which initiated the Haitian Revolution, Dutty Boukman, a slave and religious leader gathered a gang of slaves and uttered one of the most important prayers in the Black Atlantic religious thought.1 The prayer embodies the historical tyranny of oppression and suffering, and the collective cry for justice, freedom, and human dignity of the enslaved Africans at Saint-Domingue. The Guy who is not happy with the situation tha...

    Read More

  • Summary Of Trouillot's Silencing The Past

    535 Words  | 2 Pages

    As the Western world was not ready to confront the humanity of blacks or the idea that blacks desired freedom, the Haitian Revolution became a stain in the common Western ideology that blacks were destined to be slaves. The need for Westerners to remain superior caused a silence in the discussion of the Haitian Revolution. In fact, Western countries like France and America did not recognize Haiti’s independence until “the second half of the nineteenth century” (95). America likely did not recognize Haiti’s independence because it feared that recognition of the Haitian revolution would spark slave rebellions within their own country. France, on the other hand, was likely embarrassed that a former colony was able to defeat their military and declare independence. Most Historians in the 19th century do not even discuss or lightly touch on the Haitian Revolution. The first scholarly, detailed and well- researched account of the Haitian Revolution is not published until the year of 1900 by Carolyn

    Read More

  • Saint Domingue: The Haitian Revolution

    988 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the wake of the French revolution, the slaves of the French West Indian colony of Saint Domingue began their revolt against the white plantation owners and eventually lead France to put an end to slavery in their colonies. The Haitian revolution was the only one where a slave revolt led to a state free of slavery and led by non-whites and former slaves. Its effect was immediate and widespread to places such as Jamaica and St. Kitts and sending waves of immigrants to the United States and neighboring islands.The cumulation of the harsh cruelty and violence shown towards the slaves of Haiti, along with the unjust social structure, and the Enlightenment ideas of equality and a fair government steered Haiti towards its imminent independence. With the power of size on their side, the slaves of Haiti were able to instigate a successful slave revolt and inspire others with their triumph.

    Read More

More about The Haitian Revolution

Open Document