Haitian Revolution Research Paper

Introduction The Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) was started by the slaves in Saint Domingue as a rebellion against their French owners, but the free men and Mulattoes pushed these slave revolts into a revolution because of the unhappiness felt by them as a result of their status in the country. Though not the first revolution to plague the Caribbean, it was the largest and most successful slave revolt that ever occurred in the area, resulting not only in the freeing of slaves, but also the end of French control over the colony, transforming the small country from the French colony known as Saint Domingue to the independent country formally known as the Republic of Haiti (abolition.nypl.org). This is an important topic to discuss because of

In the book Written in Blood, the authors said, "So be it. The Spaniards would be the master; the native, his slave; Hispaniola, an island of slaves" (R. Heinl and N. Heinl 11). Christopher Columbus, who found the island in 1492 wanted for Hispaniola to be an island filled with slaves. He and his men killed off all of the Taino Indians previously living on the islands by means of weapons and disease, and used this to bring slaved from Africa to Hispaniola. The significance of this is to provide insight into the early years of the country and the events occurring in the country before the Haitian Revolution, as well as to tell how the blacks on the island got there, since Haiti was not originally an island for

In a primary source from Arthur Young, an English traveler writing about his journeys through France in the years prior to the France Revolution he says, "In passing through many of the French provinces, I was struck with the various and heavy complaints of the farmers and little proprietors of the feudal grievances, with the weight of which their industry was [burdened]; but I could not then conceive the multiplicity of the shackles which kept them poor and depressed. I understood it better afterwards" (Young). In this quote, Young describes different scenes that he saw when passing through the poor areas of France and witnessing the conditions in which the people there lived based on their status in the country. In the late 1700s, France was divided using a caste system, or a system of social hierarchy with the King at the top, then the wealthy nobles and the rich and influential clergy with the peasants (rural poor) and the city workers at the