The Story of the Haitian Revolution - Term Paper Example

 Introduction Haiti was undoubtedly the most prosperous of all the French colonies in the new world. This was during the period when the French Revolution broke out, in 1789. Before then, Haiti was the island of Saint-Domingue. With a thriving economy hinged upon the lucrative sugar industry, Saint Domingue provided France with much revenue making it second only to England in terms of international trade at the time. In fact, Haiti was the leading sugar producer in the world accounting for forty percent of all the sugar produced and was by far, France’s most profitable colony. She could provide almost forty percent of foreign trade in France. Sugar plantations were the main producer of this wealth. The wealth acquired from the colony however was born on the hard labor of slaves who had traveled on slave ships across the Atlantic from their motherland Africa. Slaves made out more than eighty-five percent of the colony's plantation while the rest were whites and mulattoes/colored. Important to note is the fact that of all the profit generated, very little remained on the island. The plantation society was founded on a law that strictly segregated the three classes namely slaves, freedmen/coloreds and whites. Among the colored/freedmen were many who owned plantations and even slaves as well as coloreds who served in the armed forces (Dubois, p65). The slaves endured hard labor and many often died because of the working conditions as well as the brutality they faced. The slaves in Haiti thus formed the lowest class in the social strata of the colony. The upper class consisted of the whites or the blancs who were the owners of vast plantations in which the slaves worked and other French who mainly run small scale businesses. Mulattoes or the coloreds, who formed the middle class, were the children of slave women and their French owners – they were light-skinned in color. Children from these unions obtained education from their white fathers and even conscription into the French army (Dubois, p 20). The first French to settle in Haiti were buccaneers and logwood cutters around the mid seventeenth century. The French hunted cattle, which they would sell, to traders and sailors. With time, these French people began to plant sugar cane on a large-scale level prompting the French government overseas to establish a governing council in the island of Saint Domingue (Bryan, p1). The French settlers however were only involved in making minor decisions such as court decisions to do with the slaves whereas the ultimate political power remained in the hands of the French government. The settlers greatly resented the status quo since it hindered them from engaging in the profitable slave trade as well as trading with whichever people that they wanted. The Spaniards had introduced slave labor to Saint Domingue initially after the local Indians-Tainos began to decline owing to disease and Spaniards’ decimation. After the white French farmers had arrived, they were later joined by peasants or engages who the French government had hired from parts of western France to work in the French plantations. However, with increase in the number of slaves coming to the islands, the sugar plantations increased in size thus relegating small-scale farming to the periphery. As a result, the peasants or the petits blancs, which means little whites, resorted small businesses such as barbers, artisans, and clerks, shopkeepers, teachers and lawyers (Bryan p7). Others became fugitives and outlaws trying to make quick money through theft. The small whites did not enjoy the same rights as the grands blancs (large white farmers) as voting was premised upon the amount of property that one had. This effectively excluded them from the administration of the colony. The grands blancs were the wealthiest white farmers in the Saint Domingue colony but despite their wealth, they too had their grievances. One of their grievances was the treatment they got from the French bureaucrats who the French government had sent to administer the colony. The second involved the restriction to engage in free trade under the trade law- exclusif. The exclusive demanded that Saint Domingue engage in trade only with France in terms of both imports and exports. The French set their prices largely in their favor thus ensuring an undue advantage. This trade deficit on the part of the white planters strengthened their resolve to see Saint Domingue attain autonomy (Corbett para6). Saint Domingue, just like other colonies, began to have large numbers of people of a mixed race or the gens de couleurs. Some became slaves like their mothers while others got opportunities not available to blacks such as education. In 1705, there were only five hundred gens de couleur. As of 1775, the number had increased to three thousand and by 1791; the number had risen to twenty-eight thousands or approximately five percent of the entire population, which comprised 0.52 million inhabitants. Whites comprised seventy-six percent of the population totaling to forty thousands. Despite being more in number, the whites were always unsettled pertaining to where the loyalty of the free coloreds would be. The free coloreds soon rose to prominence and even owned some of the most fertile sugar plantations. Some had even been educated in France and even married to whites of the nobility living in the colony. Due to their rising status in society, there began tension hostility between them and the grands blancs. To curtail the free coloreds, the colonial legislature initiated a series of laws to ensure that only the whites remained dominant in the colony. Some laws prohibited free colored people from holding certain positions in the government. In addition, the mulattoes could no longer practice certain professions or even play European games while those who served in the army wore a different uniform. In 1777, a law the legislature passed a law that forbade them from living in France. Moreover, in the theatres the gens de couleurs could not sit together with the whites (King, p63). In the town of Le Cap, one law despite not being implemented stated that women of mixed race were to walk barefoot in the streets. The women in protest marched on the streets wearing diamonds on their feet. All these tensions would soon lead to a civil war and revolt that would last from 1791 to 1804, when Haiti would sign the treaty for independence. Although there were simmering tensions and slave insurrections in other colonies in the new world such as Saint Kitts, Jamaica, only in Haiti did the slaves manage to break the yoke of their colonial master. The French revolution of 1789, as Corbett points out, helped to trigger the Saint Domingue revolt. The French revolted against King Louis XVI lead to his execution at the guillotine. The revolutionaries fought driven by the principles of individual freedom and the natural inalienable rights of all men. They protested against the divine authority of the kings. It is these very principles that galvanized the widespread revolt witnessed on Saint Domingue. For the grand blancs, the revolution meant that they had a chance to secure greater autonomy and thus greater security for the large property that they owned. For the free coloreds, it initiated in them a fight for their civil rights; for the petit blancs, the revolution encouraged them to fight for full recognition as citizens and for the slaves, the principles of freedom and rights resonated well with their grievances and desire to be free from oppression (King, p64). In the wake of the French revolution the grands blancs called for elections at a general assembly in 1791. The gens de couleurs were excluded and the petit blancs as well since only large owners of property that is not a minimum of 20 slaves were involved. The grands blancs went on to defy the colonial authorities in France as well as the constituent assembly. As a mark of their revolt, the grands blancs wore a red band and earned the name pompons rouges. King also asserts that the French authorities enlisted the help of the petits blancs who in turn wore red bands and referred to as pompons blancs. The petits blancs were in favor of a colony that still maintained ties with France. However, they remained in the pro slavery camp and did not want to there with free coloreds as they viewed them as competitors in the social and economic ladder. With the help of the gens de couleur, the grands blancs revolt was crippled and the general assembly ceased to exist. In retaliation, the grands blancs looted and pillaged the homes of mulattoes who had assisted to crush their rebellion. This revolt saw the rise of Vincent Oge and Chavannes who had returned from France to try to secure the rights of the gens de couleur. With the help of the Amis Des Noirs (Friends of the Blacks) organization, Vincent Oge influenced the passing of a law in the newly formed National assembly that allowed voting rights for all people above the age of 25 with income. However, the French government left the decision on allowing the free coloreds to vote in the hands of the colonial assembly. Since the assembly was controlled by the grands blancs, they decidedly refused to allow the free coloreds to vote. Demanding that the mulattoes acquire the right to vote, Vincent Oge issued a decree that he was the protector of the colored people. He joined with Jean Baptiste Chavannes and threatened to use force if the white farmers failed to recognize the stipulations in the Code Noir. Unfortunately, for him, his troop of 300 men was small in number and no match for the French militia (Bryan, p16). Chavanes and Oge fled to neighboring Santo Domingo in the east but on arrival, the governor arrested and repatriated them to the French authorities. Oge’s soldiers faced the hangman’s noose whilst he and Chavannes suffered torture until death in the public square on March 9, 1791 to serve as a warning to any future dissenters. The conflict between the mulattoes and the whites was a welcome opportunity for the slaves to fight for their freedom as well. Their ongoing conflict prevented them from joining forces as the upper class of society and protecting their interests. The rebellion commenced in the northern part of Saint Domingue that had the most slaves comprising forty percent of the entire slave population as well as the largest sugar plantations. The slave revolt was set in motion on the night of 14 August 1791 after a voodoo ritual ceremony conducted at night in one of the plantations. Dutty Boukman a voodoo priest/vodun, who had escaped to Saint Domingue from Jamaica and was now a slave on the plantation of a grand blanc called Le Normand de Mezy presided over the ceremony. Bryan asserts that hundreds of slaves attended the elaborate ceremony that involved animal sacrifice, which instilled a sense of invincibility in the slaves. It is worthy to note that not all historians agree to the accuracy of this ceremony ever taking place. On august 22, 1791, the slaves proceeded to torch plantations as well as brutally murder whites and mulattoes alike. Statistics as of 30 September 1791 revealed that twelve hundred plantations burned down while a thousand whites and ten thousand slaves died. The French Commander in the area De Blanchelande had requested help from the British in Jamaica, the Spaniards in neighboring Santo Domingo and the United States, with the latter availing arms to help crush the rebellion. Realizing their imminent doom, the grand blancs and the coloreds decided to unite to fight against the slaves. The predicate for the union however would be on the signing of an agreement also known as the Le Concordat. The agreement stipulated that the mulattoes had to vote as passed by the French national assembly on 15th may that had granted voting rights to children of free coloreds. Unbeknownst to the mulattoes, the French had annulled this decree stating that the colonial assemblies would have the liberty to decide whether to let mulattoes vote. This effectively broke the fledgling alliance between the two groups with the free coloreds joining the slaves to fight against the whites. A former slave, Toussaint l’Ouverture emerged to lead the slave rebellion (Bryan, p17). In the aftermath to the French revolution and the ongoing insurrection in Saint Domingue, Britain and France sought to invade the island to take advantage of the hitherto prosperous colony. The French general Sonthanax enlisted the support of the slaves promising them freedom if they joined his army to fight against the invaders. After successfully driving away the intruders, Sonthanax declared that he had abolished slavery on the island. Toussaint l’Ouverture however was skeptical since only the French national assembly had the power to pass such a legislature. He therefore remained on the side of the Spanish until such a declaration was passed after which he joined the French forces, finally expelling them out of France. Conflict however broke out between l’Ouverture and Petion over control of Saint Domingue since the mulattoes felt that they were supposed to govern the colony. Andre Rigaud and Petion set up their capital in the south but Toussaint’s forces defeated them (Brown, p13). Subsequently, Petion and Rigaud a fled to France only to return in 1802 with a battalion of forces under Charles Le Clerc sent by napoleon that had come to fight Toussaint and secretly reestablish slavery. In 1803, Toussaint was captured and shipped off to France where he died in imprisonment. In his book The Black Jacobins, CLR James attributes Toussaint’s demise due to his abandoning of the ideals that had put him in power. He goes on to explain that Toussaint forgot the black masses and the oppression that they had faced under the French colonialists (Brown, 239-240). Haiti finally gained independence in 1804 after a successful war against the French, which Toussaint’s general Jean Jacques Dessalines led. Following his assassination, two mulatto presidents would follow beginning with Alexandre Petion from 1806-1818 and then Jean Pierre Boyer from 1818-1843. Conclusion Haiti’s independence served as a beacon of hope to many slave abolitionists including Frederick Douglas. It also helped promote independence of South American colonies by providing military support to Simon Bolivar who helped liberate them from the Spanish. Haiti too brought about changes in Europe by indirectly weakening Napoleon’s Empire since his forces declined in number after their dispatch to quell the slave revolt. As a result, napoleon lost hold of many of his colonies including Louisiana, which the United States bought. Works Cited Brown J (1971). The History and Present Condition of St. Domingo. Michigan: Marshall. Bryan P, (1984). The Haitian revolution and its effects. Oxford: Heinemann. Corbett, B (2010). History of Haiti. Retrieved 8th May 2010 from http://www.websteruniv.edu/~corbetre/haiti/history/revolution/revolution1.htm Dubois, L. (2005): Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian revolution. Boston: Belknap Jennie Smith, (2001). When the Hands are Many: Community Organization and Social Change in Rural Haiti. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Paul Brodwin, (1996). Medicine and Morality on Haiti. The Contest for Healing Power. New York: Cambridge University press Stewart King (2001). Blue Coat or Powdered Wig: Free People of Color in Pre-Revolutionary Saint Domingue. Athens: Georgia University Read More