Haitian Revolution Flashcards
Origins
-French colony of Saint-Domingue
-extensive coffee, cocoa and indigo plantations as well as smaller less profitable sugar plantation
-harsh conditions on plantations
-complex racial and legal order
whites (referred to as ‘small’ (shop keepers, slave dealers) or ‘big’ (plantation owners etc)
–>
free non whites (artisans, overseers etc)
–>
enslaved Africans
The Revolution Part 1
1789: ‘Declaration of the rights of man and citizen’ issued –> did not go down well with the white planters in Saint-Domingue
1791: Whites in Haiti blocked new (french) laws on equality, intended to benefit free people of colour
1791: two separate revolts
- free coloureds against whites
- black slaves
The Revolution Part 2
1792: as a result of revolts, French legislative assembly decreed equality in civil and political rights for whites and free poc but no concessions for slave revolt
1793: continued slave revolts and foreign invasion of both Spanish and British
-Spanish Promised slaves freedom for those who jointed them
The Revolution Part 3
Revolutionary commission was sent to Saint-Domingue in 1792 in order to re-establish control and enforce social equality granted to free people of colour
August 1793: finally decreed universal emancipation
Feb 1794: slavery abolished in all French colonies by national convention
Leger-felicite Sonthonax
commissioner of Saint Domingue
-french abolitionist, who suspected the white planters to be royalists
Toussaint L’Ouverture
leader of Hatian slave revolt
-creole born son of slave, later freed
-originally joined spanards over France or Britain then changed to french
-declared commander of the French forces in Haiti
-played key role in defeating British efforts to take Haiti
-Toussaint seized power island
By 1800…
by 1800: all foreign powers largely expulsed from Saint Domingue
- Toussaint L’ouverture in control of Haiti as governor-general
1801 constitution: saint-domingue autonomous colony - abolition of slavery
Napoleon ‘Western design’ (1801-1803)
Napoleon sought to reconquer saint-domingue
L’Ouverture caputured by the French and new leader introduced
french efforts to restore order –> killing slaves and blacks
Independent Republic of Haiti
proclaimed on 1 Jan 1804
Dessalines as emperor of Haiti
declared Haiti as an all black nation
Impacts of Haiti Revolution
Haiti example inspired revolts and revolution elsewhere in the Americas
fears of slaves and non whites revolution influenced attitudes elsewhere in the Caribbeans and USA
created a lot of conservative backlash