The Haitian Revolution is thought to be the largest, most successful slave revolt in history. The slave revolt took place between 1791-1804 after which they had succeeded in not just ending slavery but also French control on the island. The Haitian Revolution was a series of revolutions that went on at the same time.
Prior to the revolutions Saint Dominigue, or Haiti as it is known today was the wealthiest of France’s overseas colonies. The colony was a major exporter of coffee, cotton and sugar all of which was grown by slaves. In the 1730’s the French built irrigation systems that worked to increase the country’s sugarcane production. In the 1740’s Haiti and Jamaica were now the world’s main supplier of sugar. This increase in sugarcane production was dependent on the labor provided by the enslaved workforce. By 1758 white landowners had passed laws that restricted the rights of a number of other groups. This resulted in a caste system being created. This caste system was divided into three groups. (1) the blancs or the white colonists. This group is further subdivided into (a) plantation owners, who own the plantations and slaves and the (b) petit blancs who were the working members of white society. They were the craftspeople, shop owners and educators. There were a total of 40,000 whites living on the island a number of whom supported the movement towards independence. This was because France was trying to implement high tariffs on stuff that was imported into the island. They were also forbidden from trading with other nations beside France and did not have any type of representation in France. (Weil). Even though the white populace of Haiti supported independence from France they still supported slavery. The slave owners wanted to be able to operate their plantations without having to be accountable to the French government (Knight). (2) the second group was the black colonists, who were further divided into three groups. (a) the freed black. About half the population of freed blacks were mulatto, who were referred to as people who were free of color or gens de couleur libres. The mulattos generally were educated and even held positions of power on plantations (sometimes they were even plantation owners themselves after inheriting from their fathers) and in the military. A number of mulattos were the children of white fathers, which guaranteed their freedom. Others were able to buy their freedom by selling their art and/or produce. There were about 30,000 free blacks living in Haiti in 1789. Many of whom were wealthier then the petit blancs (b) the African slaves, who were constantly being imported into Haiti. This was because there was such a high death rate amongst the slave population due to the violence that was inflicted on them. The fact that Africans were constantly being imported resulted in many plantations having a number of slaves from particular countries in Africa. This made it possible for many slaves to continue the language, traditions and beliefs of their homeland. There was a division between the slaves that were brought to Haiti and the slaves that had been born on the island, who were called Creoles. This was because the Creoles were given the better jobs and had a better chance at gaining their freedom then the African slaves (Dubois). The slave population was about 500,000. They outnumbered the officials ten to one (Rogoziński). which meant that the slave owners would often go to cruel lengths to keep them under their control. Slaves that disobeyed or tried to escape were often subjected to burning, castration, and whippings. Louis XIV had passed the Code Noir in 1685 in an attempt to regulate the violence against slaves in Haiti. Slave owners consistently violated the codes and local law makers overturned parts of it in the 1700’s (Sutherland). (c.) Runaway slaves who were called maroons. The maroons often escaped into the mountains of Haiti living off the land, small farms and what could be stolen from plantations. Some maroons hid themselves amongst the freed slaves that lived in the densely populated areas of Haiti. If the maroons were caught they were often severely punished by some plantation owners were permissive of slaves leaving the plantations for short periods of time (Dubois). A number of maroons formed groups which would conduct attacks on the plantations, destroying the crops. While these groups often times consisted of a thousand people or more, they were not able to accomplish much due to the lack of leadership. The first effective leader of the Maroon’s was Francois Mackandal who was a voodoo priest that unified the maroons through their African customs and religion. He led a rebellion between 1751-1757 which ultimately resulted in him being burnt at the stake by the French in 1758 (Sutherland). By 1789 the situation for the freed blacks in Haiti got worse. The lawmakers passed legislation regarding their clothing and where they were permitted to live. They were banned from obtaining employment as public officials (Weil). Many of the freed blacks would later become important leaders in the Haitian Revolution (Dubois).
Julien Raimond who had been actively seeking freedom and equality for the slaves of Haiti since the 1780’s went before the National Assembly of France and used the French Revolution to support his argument. In 1790 another free man Vincent Oge demanded that wealthy men of color be given the right to vote. The governor of Haiti refused and Oge led a revolt before being captured and executed in 1791 ("The Haitian Revolution 1791"). Oge’s death increase tensions between whites and free blacks (Rogoziński).
After the French Revolution, the government of France granted citizenship to wealthy freed blacks in 1791. This ruling was promptly ignored by the white plantation owners, which lead to a number of skirmishes between the white plantation owners and the freed slaves. Finally, tensions exploded on August 21, 1791 when the slaves revolted. In the following ten days the slaves had taken control of the entire Northern part of the island. Within weeks the number of slaves who had joined the rebellion was over 100,000 (Censer and Hunt). In the first two months of the revolt the former slaves had killed 4,000 whites and destroyed hundreds of coffee, indigo and sugar plantations (Censer and Hunt). The Legislative Assembly in France gave civil and political rights to free blacks in 1792 as a way to end the rebellion (Censer and Hunt). The Assembly then sent 6,000 French soldiers to the island to help put down the rebellion and to ensure that their orders were carried out.
In the years between 1793 and 1804 a number of events took place. First in 1793, France declared war on Britain. The white plantation owners then declared their allegiance to Great Britain. Spain would then join Britain in fighting the French. The war that was taking place between the France, Great Britain and Spain on European soil soon spilt over into Haiti as Spain and Britain began supplying the Haitian rebels with the supplies they needed to continue their revolt. The French government freed the Haitian slaves in 1793 in hopes of keeping Haiti as a French colony.
One of the most important black leaders in the Haitian Revolution was Toussaint Louverture. Louverture was a free slave who was self-educated. He had fought on the side of the Spanish, but went over to the French side when they ended slavery in 1793. Toussaint led his forces, which consisted mostly of former slaves in helping France regain control of the island. After the revolution Toussaint became the ex de facto ruler of Haiti. He eventually made Haiti a sovereign black state. This caused Napoleon to send his troops to restore both French rule and slavery to the island in 1801 ("The Haitian Revolution"). Toussaint would die in prison in the early 1801 after being betrayed by the French army. The French government then tried to reestablish slavery which led to more revolts. Eventually, Napoleon gave up on trying to maintain French control of Haiti as he was involved in wars against Great Britain and Prussia ("The Haitian Revolution")
The Impact of the Haitian Revolution
As a result of the Haitian Revolution, the people of Haiti created a new government independent of French rule. This new government was ran by the mulatto descendants of slave owners, many of whom were responsible for the revolution. This created another class separation, since the majority of Haitians were farmers ("The Haitian Revolution"). The country of Haiti was then made to pay reparations to the former slaveholders as a requirement of recognition be the French government ("The Haitian Revolution"). These reparations were a total of 150 million gold francs and the country was not able to completely pay off their debt until 1947 ("The Haitian Revolution"). The effects of paying reparations are still felt by the people of Haiti today as it left the island unstable and impoverished.
After the rebellion the county was divided into the Republic of Haiti, which was in the south, and The Kingdom of Haiti in the north. The French settlers who remained on the island were forced to leave and those who did not were executed. The government of Haiti controlled all of the land as the ownership of private lands was now forbidden.
The Haitian Revolution also had an impact on slavery in the United States. This impact was mostly in the way of increased severity in regards to the way that slave owners handled rebellions. The Haitian Revolution also led to stricter laws and increased racial tensions between African Americans and whites during the early shift of African Americans from indentured servants to slaves around the time of the Revolutionary War (Newman). Many Haitians consisting of whites and freed blacks fled to the United States settling in Louisiana ("The United States And The Haitian Revolution, 1791–1804 - 1784–1800 - Milestones - Office Of The Historian") A few of the white refugees had brought with them their slaves. This caused some concern with the American slave owners, as they feared that the Haitian slaves would lead their slaves in rebelling against them. The Haitian Revolution also contributed to the French giving up all of their remaining territory in the United States as Napoleon was willing to sell Louisiana to America (Henretta, Edwards and Self).
Works Cited
Censer, Jack Richard, and Lynn Hunt. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001. Print.
Dubois, Laurent. Avengers Of The New World. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2004. Print.
Henretta, James A, Rebecca Edwards, and Robert O Self. America's History. Print.
Knight, Franklin W. The Caribbean, The Genesis Of A Fragmented Nationalism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978. Print.
Newman, Simon P. American Political Culture And The French And Haitian Revolutions. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, 2001. Print.
Rand, David. "The Haitian Revolution". Scholar.library.miami.edu. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
Rogoziński, Jan. A Brief History Of The Caribbean. Print.
Sutherland, Claudia. "Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) | The Black Past: Remembered And Reclaimed". Blackpast.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
"The Haitian Revolution". Scholar.library.miami.edu. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
"The Haitian Revolution 1791". Library.brown.edu. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
"The United States And The Haitian Revolution, 1791–1804 - 1784–1800 - Milestones - Office Of The Historian". History.state.gov. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
Weil, Thomas E. Haiti, A Country Study. Washington, D.C.: Headquarters, Dept. of the Army, 1986. Print.
