The Haitian Revolution

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The Haitian Revolution has been called the only successful large-scale slave revolt in history. The Haitian Revolution’s success can be attributed to the large number of slaves and free colored people and the oppression they faced in Saint-Domingue. Slavery during the Haitian, French and American Revolution had very similar reasons for the slave revolts but they had very different endings. The Haitian Revolution’s success is most notably because of the large number of slaves involved as well as the free colored people. As the sugar boom created a great demand for workers and more labor, the plantation owners depended more heavily on Africans to work their fields. In the late 1760’s slave imports averaged over 15,000 a year, by the late 1780’s they averaged over 30,000. In 1779, there were about 32,650 whites and about 249,098 slaves. This number would only double in the years to come. There were about 12 slaves to one white plantation owner. The plantation owners had harsh demands for the slaves. The slaves had to worry about physical punishment. The treatment of the slaves was supposed to be followed by the Code Noir but many plantation owners ignored this. Slave owners would whip their slaves, they would brand them with their initials and they would sometimes even cut off their ears for punishment. The slaves were able to see the division between the whites and the free men of color and that they had a chance for freedom. The slave revolts and the revolts from the free men of color proved to be very successful in aiding the Haitian Revolution. The slaves and the free men of color defeated the French and eliminated most of the white population in Saint-Domingue. They were able to overthrow an old ruling class and open way for a... ... middle of paper ... ... 1848. The Haitian Revolution was successful due to the large numbers of slaves and because the French were to preoccupied with their own problems during the French Revolution. The American, French and Haitian Revolution were similar in the fact that the slaves were being treated unequal and wanted equal rights, however the Haitian Revolution was the only successful revolution because during the French and American Revolution, the colonist and French were present to stop any uprisings from spreading too far. For the Haitian Revolution, the French were across the Atlantic and they had very large numbers of slaves. Works Cited Nash, Gary B.. The unknown American Revolution: the unruly birth of democracy and the struggle to create America. New York: Viking, 2005. Neely, Sylvia. A concise history of the French Revolution. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008.

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