The Haitian Revolution

(originally posted October 1st 2013)

For the next two weeks we’ll be talking about revolutions relating to the French. There are more than a few examples of revolutions taking place under their watch. Today we’ll be covering The Haitian Revolution. 

In 1791, on the island of Saint-Domingue tensions between slaves and white plantation owners came to a boiling point. At the time Haiti was a French colony, where white slave masters kept small isolated camps and controlled large plantations that produced sugar, coffee, cocoa, indigo, and cotton. Along with Jamaica, Saint-Domingue had become the main sugar supplier for the world. This however, came with a price. The slaves living on the island outnumbered the slave masters ten to one. As a result, white plantation owners consistently used brutal tactics and torture methods to "control" and discourage rebellion. Even after Louis XIV passed "Code Noir" to regulate such violence, but to no avail. In fact, there were more slaves on the island than any other colony except Brazil. There were more slaves being imported into the island than the entire white population of the island. They made up almost 90% of the population on that island. These slaves lived and worked in terrible conditions, limiting natural population growth.

The white slave owners and directors often fathered children with the female slaves of the island, leading them to free their mixed race children. This led to almost an equal number of free people of color as white people on the island, which created a unique social structure within the colony. This mixed race population stabilized the society of the island by serving in the militia or even owning plantations of their own. However, these populations were still overwhelmingly outnumbered by the slave population. This led to an almost constant fear of slave revolt by the white owners, which would partly explain the brutal treatment of slaves at the times. 

In 1789, the slave population heard that the Kind of France had freed them. The French Revolution that had been occurring in France at the time produced a document called "The Declaration of the Rights of Man" (Droits de L'homme et du Citoyen), and the conventions and philosophies described in this document terrified the French, but gave hope to the Slaves as well as the Mixed Race people living on Saint-Domingue. Much of the fighting and lobbying occurring in the colony and in France were not in the favor of the slaves, and on August 22nd of 1791, a massive slave revolt occurred. 

The Spanish had supported many a slave revolt in Saint-Domingue in order to weaken the French (whom they were also at war with at the time), and they offered support to the slaves in this case as well. In fact, Toussaint L'overture, a slave of African descent who served as the main leader in this slave revolt became an officer in the Spanish Army. Afterwards, the British also attacked the French. Without seeing a choice, and not wanting to fight the Spanish, the British and the slaves, the French finally decided to pass a decree that freed all slaves in the colony. This led to emancipation and freedom of every slave in the Caribbean. However, this did not end in the independence of Saint-Domingue. 

Under the rule of Napoleon, problems soon began to arise. Napoleon Bonaparte wanted to reestablish the colonies lost during the Seven Years War in North America. This meant, taking money from Saint-Domingue which was technically still part of France. This meant reintroducing slavery to an island that was supposed to be free. Not much conflict on the island occurred until the French tried to take away the population's weapons and reduce their rights. This caused an uprising which eventually would lead to a guerrilla war. Those living on the island were untrained and did not have the resources of the french army, but an outbreak of yellow fever caused by the warm climate killed off many French soldiers. With the Louisiana Purchase made in 1803, Napoleon realized his ventures to reestablish territory in the west was fruitless, and withdrew a majority of troops from Saint-Domingue.

In 1804, the name of the island was changed to Haiti and declared independent of France. The name was what the island was called by natives before the arrival of Europeans in the first place. Haiti became a symbol of anti-colonialism and a rejection of racism.