Haitian History: Part 2 of 5

When we last left off, Haiti was under the control of the French and was an economic powerhouse. However, animosity between the African slaves and their white owners as well as the discriminatory relationship between the mulattoes (half European and half African) and their white counterparts created a societal rift. That tremor of a rift would soon escalate into an earthquake that can best be described as the scene from the movie 2012 when the protagonist�s family is trying to escape Los Angeles while the apocalypse unfolds (It is an insane scene. I highly recommend it.).

            Revolutions are quite possibly the most complex and haphazard event to study in history. Everything has to work for a revolution to be successful. It�s like the Polyjuice potion from Harry Potter. Every ingredient had to be perfected, every stir had to be in the right quantity and in the right direction, and it had to cook for weeks.

            For the Haitian Revolution, the political climate could not have been better. The American Revolution had just concluded and shocked the world, the French Revolution was at its peak, and ideas about freedom and democracy had spread across the world. No country was safe from an uprising.

            The class system in Haiti was also a recipe for instability. The rich white plantation owners represented a small minority that totaled less than 10% of the population while the slave population was about 90% of the population. There was also a subpopulation of mulattoes and the petit blanc (poor whites). Each group hated each other. The slaves hated everybody and worked in brutal conditions. The mulattoes were resentful towards the plantation owners because they were not equal to them. And the petit blanc were angry at both the plantation owners and the mulattoes because they were below them socially and felt that it was their right to own slaves.

            Another catalyst in the start of the revolution were the uprisings caused by the maroons. If you recall from last week, the maroons were the runaway slaves who lived in the mountains and conducted attacks on the plantations. These attacks were scattered and sporadic, but they were supported by the slaves who were desperate for a voice.

            The revolution finally materialized in 1791 after the French Revolution began and the Declaration of the Rights of Man were drafted. The petit blanc in Haiti associated themselves with the third estate in France and demanded equality. The National Assembly in France also ruled that free people of color were equal to their white counterparts during that same year. The governor of Haiti as well as other plantation owners refused to uphold the laws and did not grant rights to the mulattoes. Many slaves were also hearing of what was happening in France and in America.

            The small uprisings of the maroons slowly began to grow in size and strength as instability gripped the island and the slaves grew more and more restless. Many mulattoes allied themselves with the slaves in rebellion; and since the mulattoes were a large branch of the French military in Haiti, the power of the French army was downgraded. The political turbulence in France also ensured that help and aid from France would be limited.

            These uprisings were relatively unorganized until the leadership of Toussaint L�Overture united the movement. By 1792, the rebel slaves and mulattoes controlled one third of the island. Their land would continue to expand even when French reinforcements did come and even when British insurgents attempted to invade the island in 1793. The power of L�Overture�s army could not be underestimated. By 1801, L�Overture�s forces controlled all of Haiti and had even expanded into Santo Domingo (modern-day Dominican Republic). He then outlawed slavery and declared himself �Governor-General for life� under the entire island of Hispaniola.

            The Revolution was not over just yet. In 1803, the French army under Napoleon Bonaparte attempted to take back the colony with 43,000 troops. L�Overture was captured and died in a French prison later that year. One of his generals, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, took control of the Revolution and successfully defeated the French at the Battle of Vertieres in November 1803. He then declared Haiti to be an independent nation and was recognized by France. It was something the world had never seen before.

            Haiti was the first black republic and second nation in the Western Hemisphere to declare independence from a European power. Following its success, the Latin American revolutions kicked Spain and Portugal out of the New World. The Haitian Revolution also damaged the intercontinental slave trade between Africa and America seeing as one of its main markets ceased to exist. Toussaint L�Overture continues to be seen as a hero in Haiti, comparable to George Washington in America.  

            When compared to the American Revolution, Haiti shared some similarities and differences. Both countries felt exploited by their mother countries and wanted representation. Both successfully defeated those mother countries not once, but twice. And both countries established republics and promised equality. However, slavery was an issue that would take America another 60 years to solve and still remained a major economic institution following the American Revolution. The Haitian Revolution was a slave revolt that grew and organized into an army. Also, America had the support of France, a European power. Haiti had no assistance from any countries. In fact, Britain even tried to invade Haiti during the Revolution. It would also be reasonable to say that the American Revolution helped spark the Haitian Revolution. These revolutions were similar and also very different in multiple ways.

            That�s all for this week. Next week we will examine what happened in Haiti following the revolution and what went wrong.

Sources:

�Haitian Revolution (1791-1804).� blackpast.org. Black Past. 2007.

�Haitian Revolutions: Crash Course World History #30.� YouTube, uploaded by Crash Course, 16 August 2012.

 �Hispaniola.� gsp.yale.edu. Yale University Genocide Studies Program. Russell Schimmer. 2017.

�History of Haiti.� Nationsonline.org. One World Nations Online. 2006.

�Political and Economic History of Haiti.� Sjsu.edu. San Jos� State University Department of Economics.