THE HAITIAN REVOLUTION

THE HAITIAN REVOLUTION

The insurrection on the island of San Domingo came from the mass of enslaved blacks in the French sugar plantation colony there, who risked everything to pursue freedom. In 1791, the outbreak of the Haitian Revolution, at first localized in one district of the colony’s northern plain, soon spawned waves of slave insurgencies that assembled and fought the horrors of oppression.

Historical accounts written by white contemporaries downplayed the organization of the blacks, and proposed chaotic, random events by groups of revolting slaves as the cause of revolution. However, the resistance had leadership, organization, and a unifying objective. Their struggle lasted for twelve years, and became the only successful slave revolt in human history.

CAUSES OF THE HAITIAN REVOLUTION

The main motive was to gain their freedom.

Resentment at the ill-treatment by the managers or overseers.

Segregation and social Hierarchy

Lack of provisions

Incentives

The whites(grand blancs and petit blancs), the plantation owners wanted to rule themselves and the rest of the government. The mulattoes wanted to be equal to the whites and the slaves wanted freedom.

FREEDOM AND ILLTREATMENT

The first cause and an important one would be freedom. Slavery was introduced in Haiti. They outnumbered the whites by 10 to 1. They were treated extremely badly and never received proper education. There were two types of slaves: the domestic slaves and field hand slaves. Domestic slaves took care of the households while the field hand slaves took care of the plantations. The domestic slaves were treated better than the field hand slaves, but they were still both treated unequally.

These slaves began to be very angry with their masters and some slaves even had rebellions, such as the Mackendell Rebellion, towards their masters as the revolution goes on.

SEGREGATION AND SOCIAL HIERACHY

The whites

The free people of color

The black slaves

The maroons

Before the Haitian Revolution there was social hierarchy, which became one of the main causes of the Haitian Revolution. There were four major classes: the whites, free people of color, black slaves, and maroons. The whites were divided into two groups; the petit blancs and the planters. The Planters were the wealthiest and petit blancs, who were in the middle class, weren’t as wealthy as planters. The whites were mainly plantation owners and other people with power. The free people of color were black people who bought freedom.

.They were often wealthier than some petit blancs, and considered themselves better than black slaves. The black slaves usually worked under the whites, in plantations, and were treated very badly. The maroons are runaway slaves that formed their own tribe. They kept the African culture. Many people felt that the social hierarchy system was very unfair; especially black slaves. They thought people should not be divided just by their skin color. The unfairness of this social hierarchy was one of the contributors that eventually led to the Haitian Revolution.

INCENTIVES AND LACK OF PROVISIONS

The last cause for the start of the Haitian Revolution, was the anger towards France. The Haitians were extremely angry at France for various reasons. One of the reasons was the system of the “exclusif”, a system in which the Haitians could only trade with France. Even though this “exclusif” has been taken place, many of the Whites were illegally trading with the Americas. Another reason to back up this cause is the because of the tight restrictions of France, the whites were unable to adequately provide for their slaves.

Thus resulting in the death of planter’s due to yellow.

ORGANIZATION OF THE REVOLUTION

Slaves had heard of the French Revolution and organized meetings to discuss their rights. James wrote, "As early as October 1789, in Fort Dauphin, one of the future centres of the San Domingo insurrection, the slaves were stirring and holding mass meetings in the forests at night. In isolated plantations there were movements. All were bloodily repressed. Revolutionary literature was circulating among them." Furthermore, some French soldiers arriving on San Domingo carried revolution sentiment to the blacks

" In March 1791,… the French soldiers, on landing at Port-au-Prince, had given the fraternal embrace to all Mulattoes and all Negroes, telling them that the Assembly in France had declared all men free and equal. At many places near Port-au-Prince the Negroes were seizing arms and rebelling.“Organization of black rebels appeared around the island of San Domingo after the outbreak of August 1791. Gangs of rebels working in sugar plantations organized themselves into camps of revolutionaries.

Oppressed workers now joined forces and organized as soldiers. "The slaves worked on the land, and, like revolutionary peasants everywhere, they aimed at the extermination of their oppressors. But working and living together in gangs of hundreds on the huge sugar-factories which covered the North Plain, they were closer to a modern proletariat than any group of workers in existence at the time." As forward progress was made camps were set up. "The rebels followed the same plan; they stationed camps in all the districts they had ravaged."

FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTED TO THE

SUCESS OF THE REBELLION

•Yellow fever.

•Segregation

•French Revolution

•The slaves were armed by their master

•Declaration of Rights of Man passed in France on August 26, 1789. It stated, "In the eyes of the law all citizens are equal.

The CONSEQUENCES OF THE REBELLION

The consequences of the Haitian Revolution were considerable. It sounded the death knell for slavery throughout the world and weakened colonialism in the Americas. For example, in 1805 the Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda received assistance from General Jean-Jacques Dessalines to liberate South America from the yoke of Spain. Similarly, in 1815 the liberator Simón Bolívar received substantial aid from the Haitian president Alexandre Pétion to fight for freedom and independence in Latin America. The Haitian Revolution remains one of the greatest revolutions of modern times and changed the perspective of human beings on slavery, colonialism, and man's exploitation of man.

1803 Apr 30, 1803 - With the loss of the crown jewel of its planned Western empire, France sold off the vast Louisiana territory to the United States on April 30, 1803. 

1804 Jan 1, 1804 - The wounded French soldiers were left behind under key until well enough for return to France. This battle occurred less than two months before Dessalines' proclamation of the independent Republic of Haiti on 1 January 1804 and delivered the final blow to the French attempt to stop the Haitian Revolution and re-institute slavery, as had been the case in its other Caribbean possessions.

1825 1825 - In 1825, French King Charles X demanded that Haiti pay an “independence debt” to compensate former colonists for the slaves who won their freedom in the Haitian revolution. With warships stationed along the Haitian coast backing up the French demand, France insisted that Haiti pay its former colonizer 150 million gold francs — 10 times the fledgling black nation's total annual revenues. 

CONCLUSION The brutality of white plantation owners towards their

slaves culminated in a deep- rooted sense of anguish and resistance among the oppressed. Slave organization began prior to any French Revolutionary ideas, through religion, language, and mass gatherings in woods. After the French Revolutionary legislation was passed it created an opportunity to abolish slavery in San Domingo. Leaders of the Haitian Revolution understood that the whites were now divided and confused, and assembled a revolution. There was one objective - complete abolition of slavery, and to achieve that goal these men and women were willing to challenge the most powerful nation at the time and won.

THE HATIAN REVOLUTION

BIBLIOGRAPHY James C.L.R., The Black Jacobins-Toussaint

L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution. New York: Vintage Books, 1989.

http://scholar.library.miami.edu/slaves/san_domingo_revolution/revolution.html

http://www.answers.com/topic/haitian-revolution#ixzz1BsqlNEjc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0GUJIwzo6g&feature=related