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Comparison between the American and French revolutions
French and Haitian revolutions
French and Haitian revolutions
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Increasing Radicality of the Revolutions Once Enlightenment philosophies created new views on individual’s natural rights and their place in society, resistance to oppressive government was inevitable. The core beliefs of freedom and equality above all served as a catalyst for the revolutions in America, France, and Haiti. Because of these shared ideals each revolution is interconnected with the revolution before it. However, the waves of this revolutionary movement that swept through the Atlantic World became increasingly radical with each new country it entered. By looking at the citizen involvement and causes of the American, French, and Haitian revolutions, the growing radicality of these insurrections can be better understood. Even …show more content…
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
scale. He was born into slavery, and he spent over fifteen years fighting for freedom and equality. He helped spur into motion the slave revolt which led Haiti to be the free state it is today. Louverture stepped forward to guide Haiti through a brutal revolution fighting one of the strongest militaries in history. In turn, he became the first black head of state in Haiti. He was a strong leader on the battlefield as well as in governmental issues. His goals were to abolish slavery in what was then known as Hispaniola and to establish equality for the people of his land. Louverture was successful in getting rid of slavery in Haiti, but he was not
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 French Revolution had a major impact on the Haitian Revolution. Starting in 1789, the French people, from the rich to the poor, rose up against their government and forced change in their political and social systems. In Haiti, there were also many different groups of people, including slave owners, poor whites, free and achieved "colored people," and slaves, all with conflicting interests. Oppressed groups fought, notably the free "colored people" and the slaves, both peacefully and violently, against their government and the laws restricting fundamental human rights and liberties. The Haitian revolutionaries benefited greatly from the Enlightenment ideas of progress and freedom in France, causing them to cause a rebellion and eventually
A revolution is defined as: “the violent and abrupt overthrow of a sociopolitical regime that leads to change in the fundamental political and social institutions of a society.” At first glance, the Haitian Revolution appears to meet that criteria. The revolt lasted for 13 brutal years, from 1791 – 1804, and resulted in 62,000 dead Frenchmen and over 100,000 dead Haitians. In the end, the Haitians reigned victorious and gained their independence. The shear length, number of casualties, and overthrow of the French colonial government certainly satisfy the first. requirement. Meeting the second requirement, fundamental change in the political institution, was also attained. After Haiti attained independence, the Haitians gained control of their
In the book Red and Black in Haiti: Radicalism, Conflict, and Political Change, 1934-1957, author Matthew J. Smith discussed the radical political changes that occurred during the post-occupation years in Haiti. It focused mainly from the period of the Vincent presidency to the dictatorship of Francois Duvalier. Other important themes include the rise of Marxism and how it became vital in many socialist and communist political groups. The author stated that “the book’s central thesis is that various radical movements issued a powerful challenge to the country’s political traditions and transformed its political culture” (Smith, 3). Throughout the book, the thesis is somewhat clearly supported with various sources such as interviews and books
The impacts of the Haitian Revolution on America could still be seen many years after the battles had ended. Unfortunately, Americans in the late eighteenth century had seen how the malicious treatment of slaves by their owners led to the revolt. Due to this, American slave owners were taught how to control and manipulate slavery just to the point of indecency, without crossing the thin line of intolerance, that is, until the American Civil War. Nonetheless, these lessons prolonged the era of slavery in the Free World, largely affecting the nation’s overall history. Moreover, Thomas Jefferson began to sever trade ties with Haiti in 1804, claiming they were not entitled to equal freedom from France as America had won from Britain. He succeeded in this cut, and by 1806, The U.S and Haiti had broken trade connections, which further bruised the Haitian economy after the revolution. In an online PBS article entitled, “Douglas Egerton on the Haitian Revolution, Toussaint L'Ouverture, and Jefferson ,” Douglas A. Egerton, professor in the Le Moyne College of History, describes Jefferson as arguing that “this was an example of
The circumstances in Haiti just before The French Revolution were prime for an insurrection to occur. Lacking a clear and defined political authority, the White colonists were unable to contain adequate the rebellion that they had been forced upon themselves for years. Their contemptible treatment of Negroes and Mulattoes in Haiti sped up the progress of the cause of the abolition of slavery in Haiti. The excesses of that contemptible treatment are the very reason why the Haitian Revolution was so successful: the treatment of slaves and Mulattoes in Haiti was so bad that it forced the most violent and ultimately, the most successful slave insurrection in history. The French Revolution provided the necessary spark for the revolution in Haiti
Haiti was the only nation to gain independence from a slave revolt. Haiti was the second independent country in the western hemisphere, after the U.S had a successful revolution which occurred in 1776. The louisiana purchase was a possible move due to the nation revolution. Slaves started to come to haiti by the french in the 1500s . About 1 million African slaves would die from being abused and hard labor. There were four main groups in the late 1700s. The whites, the free persons of color, the black slaves, and the maroons. It was about 20,000 whites were split into two groups the planters and the less wealthy.
With an imbalance of white to blacks greater than the rampant economic inequality in America today, the lone island nation witnessed a grand upheaval when the the National Assembly abolished slavery. Many of the white rich plantation owners packed their bags and headed to France or America, this power vacuum at the top of the aristocracy in the society caused for quick and sudden destabilization of many bureaucratic organizations. Former slaves were now expected to fill these jobs, however the lack of infrastructure to educate them caused for many to return to poverty or slavery. At the time the technology was not advanced enough for the whole island to be aware of the fact that slavery was outlawed and many regions still enforced it, especially if the region had its own police force and judicial system. The struggle for the nation to achieve an identity and a developed social structure caused for severe unorganization in Haiti and prevented institutions from being built that would improve the nation. The American colonies did not deal with this problem. In “The Forging of America” Jim Thompson examines how the American Revolution was that of elites overthrowing other elites, not oppressed slaves in Haiti. As well, America possessed the theme of patriotism that was propagated by the American Congress, Haiti did not use this as the
The European population included French colonial officials, wealthy plantation owners, merchants, and poor immigrants (McKay 640). In accordance to the documentary, Haitian Revolution: Toussaint Louverture, during Haiti’s peak within the western hemisphere, it was considered the richest of all Caribbean islands. The wealth produced from Saint-Domingue was solely based on enslaved labor. Many of the whites on Saint Domingue began to support an independence movement that began when France imposes steep tariffs on the items imported into the colony (Haitian Revolution). And planters were extremely disenchanted with France because they were forbidden to trade with any other nation (Haitian Revolution). The three remaining groups were of African descent: those who were free, those who were slaves, and those who had run away (Haitian Revolution). Slaves were subject to brutal treatment and labor, as other blacks were under the restraints of 1865 Code Noir (Black
The two cultures that I identify myself with Haitian culture and American culture. The American culture is more dominant and I identify myself most with this culture. Although I was born in Haiti and Haitian culture was once my dominant culture, it is now my co-culture. Nonetheless, a combination of these two cultures would be Haitian-American culture.
In the early 17th century the French arrived in Haiti and established a colony whose base was in pirating. The original inhabitants of this island made their living selling leather and cured beef. These cattle were left by the Spanish who originally inhabited the island. Around the year 1640 beef supplies began to run low, and the settlers began to rob Spanish galleons whose silver came from South American mines. With French persuasion they pirates were convinced to end their pirating and settle on the island. Many of the pirates that settled on the island invested their profits in sugar plantations which were thriving by 1700. This made the island without a doubt the most profitable in the West Indies. This amount of profit was only able to
One of the main causes of the Haitian revolution was the social inequality in Haitian society. Slaves made up the vast majority of the population, who were oppressed on a daily basis in the most unprotected ways. They were also deprived economically in a system that produced great wealth. Because of this the abolition of slavery and the social inequalities these slaves received had to get fixed. St. Domingue was about 90 percent slave which made this issue inevitable on the focus of the revolution. During this time political disorder in the colony started to begin with class tensions among the whi...
The undertone for these the various countries that gained independence was The Enlightenment, specifically the French and Haitian Revolutions of 1789 and 1791, respectively. While both revolutions did experience casualties, the purpose of these conflicts were primarily for political and social reasons. In France, for example people no longer identified with letting the divine king bestow rights upon them, but would rather let power be vested in ‘the people of France.’ The Enlightenment was a political movement that gave power to the people, the majority population, through the adoption of ‘inalienable rights’ which are rights that are bestowed upon you at birth, and cannot be taken away. During the Haitian Revolution, the constant question of “What about our inalienable rights?” was posed. France had used Haiti seclusively for economic profit, giving the country much control of agricultural industries. Haiti even acquired the name ‘The Pearl of The Antilles,’ because of its immaculate utility. Due to extremely inhumane systems of servitude Haitians had a revolution that modeled the French Revolution. The Haitian Revolution was so powerful in fact that many slave owners in America were hesitant to speak about it in front of their slaves, some newspapers also intentionally left news of the Haitian Revolution out of their editions, as to not give slaves ideas of
The main cause for this revolution was the lack of foundational stability in Haiti’s society. The Social groups before the revolution were slaves, Grands Blancs, Petits Blancs, and the gen de couleur. During this time, slaves made up 90% of the population. This meant that the slaves were oppressed pretty much every day. Yet, this oppression against the colored people just fueled the fire for the revolution. The biggest thing that any slave at this time would have wanted was freedom and the abolition` of slavery all together while taking away social inequality. This was pretty much the main focus throughout the entire revolution. The gens de colour may have been free, but that didn’t stop people from discriminating them and treating them unfair as well. This example is one of the most important causes for the Haitian revolution because all of the people that oppressed the people of color made them angry and it also wanted them to have social equality and freedom more than anything. This then made the slaves revolt against their masters and chased and killed off the white people that lived on the