According to Haitian politician and historian Beaubrun Ardouin, Louis Boisrond-Tonnerre told Jean-Jacques Dessalines that the Declaration of Haitian Independence “should be written with the skin of a white man for parchment, his skull for a desk, his blood for ink and a bayonet for a pen” (3). While this quote highlights the themes of revenge and violence, I argue the goal of the Haitian Declaration of Independence was to define the identity of Haiti and its government to prevent invasion and assimilation. The Haitian Declaration of Independence is striking to read, presenting a sharp contrast to the language of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. One reason for the difference is the reaction of the great powers. Shortly after the United …show more content…
Following the revolution, Haiti was a leper, with the surrounding slave states terrified that the Haitian revolution may stoke the flames of revolution in their plantations (4). With this in mind, we can see the unforgiving geopolitical environment Haiti was entering and why the fledgling nation required a uniquely blunt and violent declaration. Haiti used its Declaration of Independence to establish a unified national identity of resisting occupation: “...each of the assembled Generals takes an oath to renounce France forever, to die rather than live under its dominion, and to fight for independence until their last breath” (1). While extreme in sentiment, Boisrond-Tonnerre wrote the Haitian Declaration of Independence just two years after Napoleon sent troops to re-invade Saint Domingue, so it wouldn’t be out of the question for another invasion to follow (2). By emphasizing the willingness to sacrifice everything for autonomy, the document sought to galvanize the Haitian military leadership and set a moral standard that freedom was worth dying for. The Haitian Declaration of Independence encourages patriotism and citizenship to prevent
with the United States composing the Declaration of Independence in 1776 establishing the cornerstone of this period of paradoxically an era of stability and anarchy. This essay aims to support this claim that post-colonialism as an output of the Age of Revolutions drove the significant events and personalities even after the formation of the New World with the aid of liberal thought that was established back from the Enlightenment Age. Without the identification of post-colonial ideas, the Age of
The late eighteenth century experienced anti-colonial revolutions that lead to the abolition of slavery. The Haitian revolution was a successful anti-colonial and anti-slavery insurrection. The revolution although the revolution challenged the long held beliefs concerning the black communities and enslaved African Americans, Laurent Dubois looks at other factors other than race in the revolution. In his view, the revolution created a society of all colors where everyone was granted freedom and the