How Did The French Revolution Contribute To The Haitian Revolution

How can you talk of freedom and equality among men when you own slaves? This was a question that many in Haitians asked themselves in 1793. This would be a big contributing factor in what was to come in Haiti. An unprecedented slave uprising that would go on to become the only slave revolt which led to the founding of an independent state. Here we have two documents which give us insight on to the events going on in both France and in Haiti in 1793. The first of these documents was written in France on August 29th 1793. This document is The Decree of General Liberty. This document was written to help quell problems in Haiti and convince the slaves to stay with France and stop revolting. This document was written during the French revolution
Part of the revolution had underlying race issues as seen by the way that blacks and mulatto had been treated by the white French men. Lazzary claimed that accepting aid and support from the Spanish will lead to Haiti to being under control of someone else who would also be white. This clearly contradicted the Haitian’s reason for the revolution. An aim of the revolution was to achieve some sort of equality on the island of Haiti with the three colors. Here in this letter Lazzary is trying passionately to convince his camps to join him in his ideas and to return to the side of France. The success of the letter has been labeled margins at best because the revolution in Haiti continued on without him. There had been too many years in Haiti of violent oppression for the people to forget and accept their former slave masters as equals. The caste systems and mistreatment of slaves on the island made hatred run deep among many on the island. This deep-seated hatred is clearly displayed 11 years later, in 1804. After the slave revolt had achieved its goals of freedom and the creation of an independent Haiti, there was a massacre of the whites still on the
The Decree of General Liberty was, however, minutely successful in that it brought a short term end to slavery in France and throughout the French colonies. It did not end the revolt and unrest that was taking place on the island. It did not stop Haiti from taking Spanish and British aid. Eventually the revolt would be successful, but the island of Haiti would not go to the side of Britain or Spain. It would become its own independent state. Additionally, The Decree of Liberty also failed to ending of all slavery. While it did provide a hiatus to slavery in France and the colonies, it was latter reestablished