Haitian Revolution - Research Paper Example

Haitian Revolution The current Haiti is the Saint Domingue of the 1800’s. It is a country consisting of black population and was one of the wealthiest French colonies. It holds a history of being the first Black Country to gain independence. Back in the eighteenth century, Haiti had the largest produce of sugar, alongside coffee cotton and indigo. The plantations in Haiti had both white and black owners. Their sole source of labor was from slaves. In those days, slave trade was a rampant, and the slaves in Haiti served either under the white plantation owners or under the black. The population at that time consisted of whites, mixed race, and blacks. Since Haiti was under the control of the French government, it took all the profits from the farms. The Haitian revolution rose in 1791, at this time, the slaves wanted to become free citizens. The entire population in Haiti desired change at the time (Ott 15). Oppression by their colonizers was becoming unbearable. In addition, they needed to have their rights. At about the same time, the French government was undergoing the French revolution that gave Haitians the inspiration to fight for their rights. The French revolution involved a rebellion of the locals who wanted an end to the oppressive monarchy system (Bryan 41). They demanded their rights as citizens. The population of Haiti in the colonial era consisted of distinct classes of people. There were French white divided into two classes. Some were planters and therefore very rich. These owned plantations in Haiti and were masters to some slaves (Geggus 23). Other whites were middle class and were majorly artisans and shopkeepers. These were the petit Blancs. A different group resulted from the intermarriage between the whites and the blacks and these were the free colored individuals. This group owned slaves and discriminated them more. They were full of prejudice against the pure blacks, associated themselves with the whites, and were the mulattos. Some of them were wealthier as they could own farms. Either they earned their freedom or their fathers granted it out of mercy. They supported slavery strongly and contributed to the highest mistreatment of slaves. The other population comprised of the slaves. There were two classes of slaves namely; domestic and field slaves. The field slaves experienced the worst treatment and were the first ones to rebel. The domestic slaves were not harshly treated and therefore not too ready to fight for their rights. Other slaves could not hold onto slavery any longer and therefore escaped. These were the maroons. At the colonial time, blacks were not French citizens. Saint Domingue experienced a trade oppression imposed by the French government. They could only import products from France and all export their produce to France. France ensured that prices of both imports and exports favored it and not the people in Haiti. This oppression led to formation of unions of the white planters and free blacks. These unions formed part of the rebellion. They wanted a favorable trading system so that they could benefit. The free blacks also wanted to gain the French citizenship. Another rebellion involved the black slaves. Slaves never submitted to their masters. They worked because they had no choice. They were constantly demanding freedom, and used several strategies to end slavery. They formed their unions and fought for their rights. The only set back to this was that they lived under fear. Any slave defying the rules of his or her master faced brutal execution. Nevertheless, they never relented in their fight. The Haitian revolution was a combination of rebellion by different groups of people. The slave system in Haiti was full of abuse, slaves worked for long days with no pay and mistreatment was the order of the day. The French government took advantage of the resources in Haiti. Estimates of more than half a million people and close to million were slaves. The slaves could take it no more. Most of them were blacks. Abuse was both physical and sexual. Some white masters abused the black slaves. The slaves fought against slavery in different ways, including the use of an African poison even before the start of the revolution. An example was in 1759, when one of the slaves discovered a poison that could kill from the wild plants. They used this to poison their masters but discovery of this tactic by their masters led to a brutal execution of some slaves (Geggus 48). Slaves lived in fear after this incidence and only staged another rebellion in 1791. Some ex-slaves; the maroons organized the protests. They worked together with the slave unions. During the French revolution, drafting of a constitution for France was the key goal. In 1789, the people living in France received a declaration of rights as citizens. This gave the Mulattos in Saint Domingue the motivation to demand for their rights. In 1791, the French government gave political rights to the free Mulattos and blacks. However, this group harassed the slaves more. These rights came because of the French government being under the pressure to end slavery and grant the right to citizenship from the anti-slavery society of England. The French government opted to grant this to free blacks only but not to the slaves since they would be the losers. They were not wiling to do away with slavery as it provided cheap labor. Vincent Oge organized the first protest in 1790, which was unsuccessful. H e faced execution after trial. The slaves continued fighting for their freedom and in August 1791, they staged a revolt in one of the plantations. In this revolt, slaves attempted to kill their masters. The black slaves still used poisons to kill their masters. In September the same year, violence arose among the Haitian population as the whites objected the granting of full rights to Mulattos and free blacks. This led to evoking of the decree that provided for their freedom later. In October that year, fire brought down Port-au-Prince. This was because of a fight between the whites and mulattos. Later, Toussaint joined the rebelling slaves and became their chief medical officer. In 1792, the French government granted the free blacks and mulattos enfranchisement but denied the slaves. In addition, the government set out a commission to put the ruling into place. This commission moved to Saint Domingue to enforce the decree. These commissioners included Sonthonax, who helped free the slaves later and the French government accused him of treason. In 1793, he published his declaration to help free slaves. First, Sonthonax freed the slaves in the north region and later to the south. The slaves freed in the north had conquered their general manager. It is this same year that Toussaint used the name LOuverture officially for the first time. At about the same time some British troops arrived in Haiti and wanted to make it their territory. The French commissioners worked with the free blacks and deported the whites who were not ready for change. Toussaint managed to take control of the north region of Haiti by the end of 1793. In 1794, Toussaint and Spaniards took control of the northern region. In that year, the French government decided to end slavery. In the following years, Toussaint did all in his power to negotiate and conquer the British troops and therefore control the entire island. Sonthonax later moved back to France to face trial for his activities. Both British and Spaniards wanted to conquer French and therefore seize Haiti as their territory. Toussaint and other rebellion leaders later fought against these two groups. The British yielded to defeat, as they could not stand yellow fever in the region. Toussaint yielded to the French control and received a promotion to a lieutenant governor. This also led to the return of the French commissioners to Saint Domingue. Sonthonax then made Toussaint the commander in chief of Saint Domingue. This was in 1797 after France and Spain had made a treaty against Britain to stop its interference in French revolutionary endeavors. Toussaint then decided to move Sonthonax out of the island, forcefully. Later in 1798, Toussant negotiated with the leader of the British troops and this led to their withdrawal from the island in October that year. The United States Congress decided to rescind their previous treaties with France concerning the island and therefore, in 1799, the U.S sent a consul general to Haiti (Ott 83). In June 1799, the war of the knives broke out between two leaders of the rebellion. Toussaint won this and proceeded to sign a treaty with the U.S consul and the Great Britain. These treaties ensured protection of the region in which Toussaint ruled. Toussaint managed to win the war against Rigaud with support from U.S and the Great Britain. He therefore assumed full control of the Haiti region, went further to conquer the Spaniards, and therefore attained control of the full island. The Spaniards had been controlling Saint Domingo. In July 1801, he promoted the first constitution of the island. He then put an end to slavery in the entire island. However, the French government threatened to recapture Saint Domingue. Led by Napoleon, the French government sent troops back to Haiti. The French government aimed at reinstituting slavery but Toussaint fought back. He ordered the burning of Port –au –Prince to stop the French troops from gaining entry into Haiti. Toussaint was determined to fight for this region. Unfortunately, his supporters defected to join the leader of French troops. These events took place in 1802, the year that the worst of the battles in the Haitian revolution happened. Napoleon managed to defeat Toussaint and ordered the killings of blacks who were above twelve years. Later he reestablished slavery in Saint Domingue. Unfortunately, for Toussaint, he faced imprisonment and later jailed in France. Dessalines and Petion then decided to join forces in rebellion. The leader of the French troops then died in November 1802, but his successor made situations worse. Better days came in 1803, with the signing of the Louisiana Purchase treaty and formation of the congress of arcahaie. Catherine Flon then designed the Haitian flag in May the same year. In November, Dessalines and Petion delivered Haiti from the French troops at the battle of vertieres. The French government then signed the French capitulation acknowledging defeat. The two champions then signed the Proclamation of Independence and the last French troop left Haiti. In 1804, Saint Domingue became the republic of Haiti. Dessalines later became Haiti’s emperor and promulgated a constitution for Haiti in 1805. As evident in Corbett Bob’s article, the Haitian revolution was justified because of the plight of the people in Haiti. However, different groups rebelled for different reasons, making the revolution complex. Slavery, lack of political rights, discrimination, and colonialism were the causes of the revolution. Haiti however, was the first country from the black origin to defeat colonialism and gain independence. The end of the revolution had several impacts especially on the French government. They lost their wealthiest territory and therefore their source of cheap agricultural products. Haiti later lost their first president through assassination (Fiering and Geggus 89). Most importantly however, slavery ended and trade systems opened up to other regions. It was justified to revolt against the slavery system because it undermined the value of human beings exposing them to forced labor and brutal treatment. According to (Fiering and Geggus, the black slaves needed to be free; they needed to enjoy basic human rights (116). The people living in Haiti also needed to defeat the colonial control that France was exercising on them. This was a sad time in the history of Haiti. The residents of Haiti today can learn a lesson from this revolution; that fight against slavery can be successful. This lesson is necessary for them because slavery is still rampant. Work Cited Bryan, E. Patrick. The Haitian revolution and its effects. Pearson: Heinemann, 2004. Print. Corbett, Bob. The Haitian Revolution of 1791-1803: An Historical Essay in Four Parts. Retrieved on November 18, 2011, from http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/history/revolution/revolution1.htm Fiering, Norman and Geggus, P. David. The world of the Haitian Revolution. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2009. Print. Geggus, P. David. Haitian revolutionary studies. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2002. ___. The impact of the Haitian Revolution in the Atlantic world. Carolina: Univ of South Carolina Press, 2001. Print. Ott, O. Thomas. The Haitian Revolution, 1789-1804. Tennessee: Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2007. Print. Read More