The Haitian Revolution. Slave Rebellion on the Night of 21 August 1791, 1805 by Marcus Rainsford

The Haitian Revolution has often been described as the largest and most successful slave rebellion in the Western Hemisphere. Enslaved people initiated the rebellion in 1791 and by 1803 they had succeeded in ending not just slavery but French control over the colony. The Haitian Revolution, however, was much more complex, consisting of several revolutions going on simultaneously. These revolutions were influenced by the French Revolution of 1789, which would come to represent a new concept of human rights, universal citizenship, and participation in government.

In the 18th century, Saint Domingue, as Haiti was then known, had become France’s wealthiest overseas colony, generating more revenue for France than all 13 North American colonies for Great Britain. This wealth came largely because of the island’s production of sugar, coffee, indigo, and cotton generated by an enslaved labor force. When the French Revolution broke out in 1789 there were five distinct sets of interest groups in the colony. There were white planters—who owned the plantations and the slaves—and petit blancs, who were artisans, shop keepers and teachers. Some of them also owned a few slaves. Together they numbered 40,000 of the colony’s residents. Many of the whites on Saint Domingue began to support an independence movement that began when France imposed steep tariffs on the items imported into the colony. The planters were extremely disenchanted with France because they were forbidden to trade with any other nation. Furthermore, the white population of Saint Domingue did not have any representation in France. Despite their calls for independence, both the planters and petit blancs remained committed to the institution of slavery.

The three remaining groups were of African descent: those who were free, those who were enslaved, and those who had run away. There were about 30,000 free black people in 1789. Half of them were mulatto and many of them were wealthier than the petit blancs. The slave population was close to 500,000. The runaway slaves were called maroons; they had retreated deep into the mountains of Saint Domingue and lived off subsistence farming. Haiti had a history of slave rebellions; the enslaved were never willing to submit to their status and with their strength in numbers (10 to 1) colonial officials and planters did all that was possible to control them. Despite the harshness and cruelty of Saint Domingue slavery, there were slave rebellions before 1791. One plot involved the poisoning of masters.

Inspired by events in France, a number of Haitian-born revolutionary movements emerged simultaneously. They used as their inspiration the French Revolution’s “Declaration of the Rights of Man.” The General Assembly in Paris responded by enacting legislation which gave the various colonies some autonomy at the local level. The legislation, which called for “all local proprietors…to be active citizens,” was both ambiguous and radical. It was interpreted in Saint Domingue as applying only to the planter class and thus excluded petit blancs from government. Yet it allowed free citizens of color who were substantial property owners to participate. This legislation, promulgated in Paris to keep Saint Domingue in the colonial empire, instead generated a three-sided civil war between the planters, free blacks, and the petit blancs. However, all three groups would be challenged by the enslaved black majority which was also influenced and inspired by events in France.

Led by former slave Toussaint l’Overture, the enslaved would act first, rebelling against the planters on August 21, 1791. By 1792 they controlled a third of the island. Despite reinforcements from France, the area of the colony held by the rebels grew as did the violence on both sides. Before the fighting ended 100,000 of the 500,000 blacks and 24,000 of the 40,000 whites were killed. Nonetheless the former slaves managed to stave off both the French forces and the British who arrived in 1793 to conquer the colony, and who withdrew in 1798 after a series of defeats by l’Overture’s forces. By 1801 l’Overture expanded the revolution beyond Haiti, conquering the neighboring Spanish colony of Santo Domingo (present-day Dominican Republic). He abolished slavery in the Spanish-speaking colony and declared himself Governor-General for life over the entire island of Hispaniola. Haitian control of Santo Domingo lasted until 1844.

By 1802 the Haitian Revolution had outlasted the French Revolution which had been its inspiration. Napoleon Bonaparte, now the ruler of France, dispatched General Charles Leclerc, his brother-in-law, and 43,000 French troops to capture L’Overture and restore both French rule and slavery. L’Overture was taken and sent to France where he died in prison in 1803. Jean-Jacques Dessalines, one of l’Overture’s generals and himself a former slave, led the revolutionaries at the Battle of Vertieres on November 18, 1803 where the French forces were defeated. On January 1, 1804, Dessalines declared the nation independent and renamed it Haiti. France became the first nation to recognize its independence. Haiti thus emerged as the first black republic in the world, and the second nation in the western hemisphere to win its independence from a European power.

The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo revolution - C.L.R. James louverture-shining

Haiti’s Forced Payments to Enslavers Cost Economy $21 Billion, The New York Times Found france-cool

Invade Haiti, Wall Street Urged The U.S. Obliged. amerikkka

Revolutions Podcast S4: Haitian Revolution revolutionary-army

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Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):

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  • Buptendo [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    2 hours ago

    If the soul is the reflection of one’s experiences and environments then a music’s soul is when people let their collective experiences and environment’s pool as one. To be soulful is to be present and proud of your background.

    Rich kids have no soul, they cannot play soulfully or be soulful as all their experiences are bankrolled by parent money. What experience is truly thiers when it can be creditted to mommy daddy money?

    They need to stay out of art completely. Stay out of my lane you spoiled pieces of shit and die.

    Go be a union lawyer or a doctor and help people you clowns, stay out of my lane.

  • Dimmer06 [he/him,comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    I used to be a pretty good runner and I just quit cold turkey one day almost four years ago. Now I’m trying to get back into it and idk how I used to do it. It’s absolutely brutal.

  • Moss [they/them]@hexbear.net
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    A route that chainsaw man part 2 could have taken is where Asa and Yoru end up falling for each other and Yoru doesn’t make Asa’s life living hell. Like the character who sees no worth in herself falling in love with someone who looks exactly like her and shares half her brain and eventually her thoughts and mannerisms. A weird roundabout route to self love

  • Comrade_Mushroom [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    7 hours ago

    Okay everyone this sure was fun but I think the embarrassing nightmare world bit has run its course, let’s all go back to living in a regular nightmare world now please, thanks

  • GeckoChamber [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    7 hours ago

    Hey did I hallucinate this, or does someone else remember a moment in the Treat Discourse a year or two back, when people defended eating out for every single meal by claiming like 30 % of people are allergic to microwaved food?