Preview

How Did The Haitian Revolution Contribute To Success

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1428 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Did The Haitian Revolution Contribute To Success
The Haitian revolution is a long and complicated event that involves many aspects to understand its birth and success. The various rivalries, class struggles and calls for freedom allowed the slaves on this island to gain an upper hand against their European oppressors. It was not a single event that created change but, like the French revolution, consisted of a timeline of situations that ultimately led to this result. A great amount of credit is given to the French Revolution and the declarations that arose from it for the success of the Haitian Revolution. The revolution in Saint-Domingue took off with the help of these circulating ideas but other factors were more influential once the revolt was on its way. The struggles between social classes and the frequent undermining of all blacks were the most important factors that motivated the slaves and led them to success. Many have understood that …show more content…
Now it does seem that way and in many ways free blacks were protecting their interests before considering the interest of slaves. Although this may be true, free blacks played important roles in allowing slaves to create their rebellion. Free blacks and slaves were inseparable through the eyes of white slave owners. As Justin Girod-Chantrans, a French naturalist, wrote in 1975, “This harsh discrimination even after manumission, is the principal line of subordination, because of the resulting idea that the Negroes color dooms him to servitude and that nothing can make him equal to his master.” This quote points out that even though Saint-Domingue society was mostly structured around three social groups there was always a social division that consisted of black and white. A wealthy black man received much of the discriminatory treatment as a slave only because they were both black. So at first glance, one might make the assumption that because a black man was able to move

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Haitians, like the colonists of the America wanted to be independent from Britain. The Haitians wanted become independent of France and the white settlers that shared their Island and those of Saint-Domingue who sought to control the colonist. The white settlers of Saint-Domingue sought to govern the colonist and thought of themselves as superior to their native counterparts who were freed slaves. The Haitian Revolution went down in history as the only successful slave rebellions. The freed slave leader was Toussaint Louverture. Louverture was smart enough to have the Spanish, French, and British, forces fight each other and while they were fighting the freed slaves gained power. Enlightenment ideas were…

    • 592 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Blacks, at the time of slavery, were seen as second class citizens and below the level of upper class lighter skinned people. Since this was one of the reasons they were put into slavery, one would think it safe to assume they would not bestow these prejudices onto each other. However, after reading Douglass’s accounts of slavery, it is shocking to see that the slaves treated each other almost the same way the whites treated them. The prejudices may not have been as blatant as the whites, but they were there. It is especially evident when Douglass talks about the slaves arguing over their masters.…

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    In order to fully understand why the Haitian Revolution occurred, and was able to occur, one must understand the situation of France at the time as well as the French Revolution. In 1783, the thirteen colonies broke free of the British government, partially because of the supplies and funds of Britain’s ultimate enemy: France. The money that France poured into the American revolution combined with a weak and vain monarch, Louis XVI, put France on the verge of bankruptcy. With continuing poor harvests, and these empty royal coffers increased taxes, leaving the general population even more destitute than previously. These factors and more pushed France into series of events, later known as the French Revolution.…

    • 1118 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Slavery DBQ

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Slavery was a very unstable, fluctuating part of history. From 1775 to 1830, slavery was booming, while at the same time, plenty of slaves were freed. Although this statement seems paradoxical, it is entirely accurate. The reasons for this happening range from political manipulation to social typecasting. Not only are these reasons imperative, but understanding how enslaved and freed African Americans responded to what was happening around them is also important.…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Now that the slaves were free they really didn’t know how to survive all alone without the help of whites. Many blacks had different interpretations for the meaning of freedom. As stated in the document “African Americans Talk About Their Personal Experiences of NewFound Freedom” (1865) it states “Soldiers, all of a sudden, was everywhere-coming in bunches, crossing and walking and riding. Everyone was a-singing. We was walking on golden clouds. Hallelujah” (1). This shows that the black people were so happy it felt as if they were walking over clouds and some people would leave to find freedom according to the document it mentions “but right off colored folks started on the move. They seemed to want to get closer to freedom, so they’d know what it was-like it was a place or a city” (1). Other blacks believed that they would become rich because they were free as it is stated “We thought we was going to get rich like the white folks. We thought we was going to be richer than the white folks” (1). Overall, a lot of black people didn’t know what to do afterward being free. Some were struggling to survive to support their families. They couldn’t find jobs, making some of them go back to their former masters and sharecrop. Sharecropping wasn’t good even though the black people were given a home and food by the whites, they were stuck in poverty. Many people saw that the…

    • 1871 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Uncommon knowledge, is that slaves were not only African Americans; there were many white slaves who were of the lower class as well. This was a thing not only before but also after the war. Many families severely lacking in wealth or who committed crimes were sentenced to slavery for their punishment. While they were privileged because they were white, they still had to work just as hard. Although many wanted to abolish slavery, of this group one would be surprised at how few wanted African Americans to have equal rights.…

    • 1276 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Slavery In Saint Domingue

    • 1056 Words
    • 5 Pages

    It led to numerous abolitionist movements in other countries and was an inspiration to those of the African Diaspora across the “New World”, from Rio de Janeiro to Cuba. Even in the United States of America, one can make direct connections from the Haitian Revolution and the Civil War, which resulted in the abolishment of slavery in 1865. Dubois shares, “stories of the Haitian Revolution provided ‘fuel’ for ‘both sides’ in public debates on race and slavery. Many writers emphasized the barbarity of the slave insurgents and saw the main result of their emancipation as a descent into laziness and lawlessness”, using these reasons to defend slavery where it still existed” (Dubois 305). Striking fear that a similar revolt would occur in the Southern States of the U.S., it caused slave owners to be more harsh and strict with their slaves and promoted growing tensions with the slave owners and White abolitionists. Haiti truly is a representation of people mobilizing to change their individual situation, but result in changing…

    • 1056 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Even after slavery was banned in the southern states, the white population made it hard for African Americans to live. It was already hard for them to find a good job because they had been slaves their whole life and didn’t not know how to live a free life. This would cause many of them to move to other states pursuing a better life. As time took its course, many African Americans began to prosper. Many had found jobs in northern states and had started a life. Their life appeared to have changed from when they were slaves, but it was actually almost the same as if they were still under slavery. This factor that would follow many free slaves throughout the Untied States was racism. African Americans fell victims of racism in many ways some of them by not being able to vote and not being able to have the same rights as the white population. This would torment African Americans for decades. It kept getting worse over time to the point where clans were being formed to persecute African Americans throughout the country. They would be persecuted for numerous reasons, some of which just seem as an excuse to torment the black community. African Americans would be executed because they would be falsely blamed for harsh crimes such as rape and burglary. They would immediately be blamed for these crimes because it was believed that African Americans did not poses the same intelligence as the Anglos. This idea would be embraced by many college professors who also believed in white supremacy. According to The American Challenge, many of these college professors wrote books over this subject stating that, “African Americans possessed less intelligence and a greater tendency toward crime than Americans of European decent” (764). These statements were like adding fuel to a fire, in this case the fire would represent the racism that was consuming the African…

    • 1848 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Haitian Revolution Essay

    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages

    During the Haitian Revolution, slaves went from total submission to personal and political liberation due to the weakening of the colonial power (French Revolution), the economic wealths of Haiti, and the aspirations brought by the ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers that all men were born free and equal. The slave rebellion lead by Toussaint L’Ouverture, is a turning point as it is the first successful one. It took ten years (1794 - 1804) for Haiti to go from a French colony to a Free Independent Republic, making the most important effect of the Haitian Revolution to be, liberation from slavery to the many enjoyments of freedom. Slaves went from being brutally abused creatures, to being…

    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The French Revolution and the Haitian Revolution made significant changes politically, economically, and socially. They both shared common characteristics of how the revolution began with a common precursor and method to achieve the end state. The pursuit of equality and liberty was the driving force that had awakened the French citizens and the Saint Domingue slaves to challenge and take action. While the two revolutions were similar, there were some differences. The French Revolution was an internal rebellion with the rise of the peasants and middle classes that fought to overthrow the monarch government, whereas the Haitian Revolution was a slave rebellion that revolted against an external threat, the French colonial government. The French Revolution occurred in 1789 and did not end until 1799. The Haitian revolution started in 1792 and ended in 1802.1 Both revolutions were fueled by the success of the American Revolution that ended in 1783. In addition, the Declaration of Man…

    • 2865 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imagine owning someone. Imagine being able to control every movement of their fragile bones. Imagine making a marionette out of an innocent person. Now consider someone owning you. How would it feel, having to perform every task asked of you and being unable to say no? Perhaps that is how blacks felt in the when slavery began. Long since 1619, when the first African slaves were brought to Jamestown, an American colony, whites were deemed to be privileged.…

    • 1455 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Slavery In Secession

    • 988 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “Our new government is founded upon…the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man.” This quote by Alexander Stephens shows one of the basic driving principles behind slavery in the south. Slavery in America began long before the country existed. It began with Native Americans and transitioned to Africans after 1619 (Rosentreter, Lesson 2, 2018). The slave trade with Africa brought 600,000 African Slaves to the 13 colonies (Rosentreter, 2018). After, America was born slavery continued in the south while it was ended in the north. Slavery in the south then began to grow, after Eli Whitney’s cotton gin made it more profitable, then it had been in the past (Rosentreter, 2018). The south wished to protect…

    • 988 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although some (few)white slave owners thought that since slaves were getting free food and a place to sleep they were getting benefits for being slaves, being a slave/A.A was actually a huge disadvantage because they were not able to own property (slaves) and in order to take part in the cotton business which was 60% of the economy at the time you had to own a slave. This was a crucial part in economics and race was the determining factor of where someone stood. The advantage of being able to own property for white males over A.A was huge because…

    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Even after the independence, the fear of being invaded by foreign forces remained in Haitians. After Toussaint L’ouverture’s captivation and death, Dessalines became the sole leader of the army of slaves. Although “French troops remain in the eastern part of Hispaniola and France is actively lobbying England, Spain and the United States to isolate Haiti commercially and diplomatically (History of Haiti)”, Dessalines was determined that slavery would never return on the island. He, along with other generals, swore to “renounce France forever, to die rather than live under its domination, and to combat with their last breath for Independence” (Brown 229). Yes, the revolution was complex and several revolts during these thirteen years led to the largest and most successful emancipation of slavery in the Western hemisphere.…

    • 2237 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another revolution also had a tremendous impact on the lives of people of African descent. The Haitian Revolution is arguably the most awe-inspiring and significant revolution that occurred in the New World. Nevertheless, the impact the Haitian Revolution had on the lives of people from African descent was monumental in both a positive and negative way. Since Haitians were successful in becoming “the first black independent nation”(Lecture. Oct2), it inspired the slaves in North America into believing that freedom was plausible.…

    • 312 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays