1. HAITIAN REVOLUTION

2. 1. The Rich Colony

3. 1.1 Sugar
By 1740 almost all of European sugar came from two small Caribbean islands, Haiti and Jamaica. Sugarcane is one of the most difficult plants to harvest thus the work is extremely difficult to do. Haiti and the sugar produced there were so important to France that at the end of the French and Indian War, France traded all of its colonies in Canada to Britain (which had control of many of the French Caribbean possessions) to keep their sugar crops. This one crop is one of the main reasons for the Haitian Revolution. Slaves were a main component of Caribbean culture. They were a third of the materials in the Triangular Trade with European goods and American raw materials. Slave culture on the island of Haiti made a few white men very rich. These white men did fear a slave rebellion. For every one white plantation owner there were ten slaves under them. The fear of slave rebellion scared many of these planters into using harsh treatments to deal with their slaves. On a statistical scale, around forty percent of the world’s sugar supply came from Haiti.

4. 1.2 Class systems
Before the Haitian Revolution there were three very clear cut class systems on Hispaniola. The largest class and lowest class was the slaves. The slaves were treated harshly as the sugarcane needed to be processed in a grueling way. The slaves had a significant minority rate meaning they were constantly being replaced. The other two class systems were significantly smaller making up fewer than ten percent of the total population. The men on the island with the most power and money were the white colonists known as blancs. The blancs owned slaves and controlled the economy of the island. The middle class was the mulattoes or gens de couleur. The men of color were normally mixed race. Often times they were the product of a slave mother with a plantation owner blanc father. The free mulattoes often received education and worked as supervisors of the plantations or served in the army.

5. 1.3 Slavery
Much like in the American South during the time period, African slaves created their own culture in Haiti. Many spoke a combination of African and French known as Creole. Because of the high mortality rate, slaves rarely assimilated in many ways to the culture of the island. Whereas the blancs and gens de couleur became accustomed to island culture the slaves kept much of their African culture completely separating themselves from the remainder of the island. Slave rebellions occurred long before the actual revolution. Beginning in 1751 the first real slave insurrection was led by a Voodoo priest, named Francois Mackandel. Using African culture Mackandel organized many plantation slaves into a small army to raid plantations. The rebellion finally officially ended in 1758 with Mackandel’s capture but the way to succeed in slave rebellions had been laid out for another charismatic leader thirty years later.

6. 2. Global impacts

7. 2.1 French Revolution
In 1789, the French government had a lot of things to worry about. King Louis XVI had the Declaration of the Rights of Man announced in August. With rights being given and the prospect of a whole new government running the island scared the slaves. The slaves sided with the royalists under the idea that they knew how they would be treated by the royalists and even though they were harsh, the prospect of the grand blancs allowing even harsher treatment scared the slaves. Many of the free people of color wished for equal recognition by the French government as the whites, specifically Julien Raimond. French writer Count Mirabeau summed up the situation in San Domingue, for the blancs as, “sleeping at the foot of Vesuvius.” This meant that with the population demographic as it was with 90 percent of people in Haiti being slaves that the whites were running out of time to keep their power. With France in significant upheaval and having to focus much of its own attention on its own internal problems, the slaves could sense their opportunity and would soon rebel against the blanc government.

8. 3. The Rebellion

9. 3.1 Citizenship
In May of 1791 the French Government officially recognized the gens of couleur as citizens of the French Empire. White plantation owners, who ran government, the economy and just about everything else on the island, refused to comply with this new policy on citizenship. The gens de couleur immediately began skirmishes with the white plantation owners. Finally on August 21, 1791 the fight finally began. A Voodoo priest named Dutty Boukman began the revolution at a religious ceremony. Within ten days the slaves had taken the Northern Province in quick order. The plantation owners were prepared for the rebellion since fear of such insurrection had been prominent for years. However, the slaves quickly overtook the outnumbered whites, even though the whites were better armed and better defended. The slaves looked to revenge their mistreatment with “pillage, rape, torture, mutilation, and death.” Within two months the slaves killed 4,000 whites and burned 180 of the colonies sugar plantations.

10. 3.2 Unprecedented Success
By 1792, only a year after the revolt began, slaves controlled a third of the island. The French Government sensing major trouble in its richest colony the legislature quickly granted political and civil rights to the gens de couleur hoping it would end the rebellion. The legislation shocked Europe. Grand blancs sensing an opportunity to save themselves from the growing slave revolt turned to Britain and Spain for help. After a small French Army of 6,000 soldiers were deployed to the island, the coalition of Spain and the slaves fought against the French. France quickly lost half the army, with options quickly deteriorating around them, the French Government freed the slaves on the island. In 1794, all black men on the island were given civil and political rights in the French process. For now the success of the rebellion had been overwhelming now they added their charismatic leader.

11. 4. leadership

12. 4.1 Toussaint L’Ouverture
L’Ouverture at the beginning agreed to fight for the Spanish forces. However, when the French government finally abolished slavery, L’Ouverture switched the allegiance to the French side. His military style of intense discipline brought many of the former slaves to his leadership. With his slave army and the help of the French forces Toussaint repelled the Spanish forces back to their side of Saint Domingue and kept the British out of the Caribbean island. L’Ouverture declared himself master of the island, effectively however, turning the island back into a French colony from 1794 to The French continued to exploit the island for wealth but with Toussaint in charge the rebellion seemed over. In January 1801 however Toussaint issued a constitution declaring himself governor for life and independence for the island. By 1801, Napoleon Bonaparte had taken control of France. Sensing a great loss of wealth for his military machine, Napoleon sent an army and warships to retake the island from Toussaint. Toussaint fell victim to his former political opponents. L’Ouverture was promised freedom if he joined up with the French side however, was deceived by the French. The French Army shipped him to France where he spent the final ten months of his life in a prison deep in the Alps.

13. 5. Resist slavery at all cost

14. 5.1 Back to Slavery?
With Toussaint removed the colony returned to a stable rate under rule. The French however, wanted to return the colony to a slave culture. This infuriated the islanders, mostly former slaves and again the island revolted. The French this time would not have the resources to save its colony again. Under the new revolution leader Dessalines, a general of Toussaint’s back in 1801, the new slave army in finally defeated the French in the battle of Vertieres. On January 1st 1804, Dessalines declared the new country independent and named it Haiti.

15. 5.1.1 Loss of Interest
Napoleon with the selling of Louisiana in North America to Jefferson and the United States signified a loss of interest in the new world. Napoleon disillusioned with the gains to be made in the Western Hemisphere, made his priority the domination of Europe. With that Haiti just did not matter much to him anymore even with her great wealth.

16. 6. globally

17. 6.1 Haiti
Haitian slaves successfully revolting in an island close to North America shook the United States who still had a repressive slave culture. Almost immediately, the United States tried to support keeping Haiti isolated from the rest of North America. The loss of the colony for France meant the end of the French Empire. The French Empire under Napoleon quickly lost interest and would soon end its possessions in the New World.