Slavery In Saint Domingue

Who knew at its start in 1791, a slave revolt in Saint Domingue would lead to the first Black republic that continues to have global implications on the rest of the world? The African slaves that were viewed as being socially, culturally and intellectually inadequate more than proved their worth by defeating their colonizers. Now the Republic of Haiti, the country’s revolution serves as a symbol of Black intellectual and social greatness that continues to contradict the standard, set by a White oppressive world. It is important to note that two-thirds of slaves in Saint Domingue in the late eighteenth century were African born (Dubois 42). Dubois shares, “The enslaved, recalled, and sometimes called upon, their homelands. In one Vodou song
recorded in the 1950s, probably a relic of slavery, a singer calls on the King of the Kongo to ‘look at what they are doing to me”, and at the time of the revolution the Kongos made up at least half of the slave population in the Northern and Western Provinces. (Dubos 41). Some planters decided to place new Africans that arrived with slaves from their homeland to facilitate their integration into plantation life – only strengthening the sense of African community in Saint Domingue. They knew what it meant to be free, to enjoy life, and to be human. Because of the way they were socialized it was natural for them to reject the enslaved life White settlers tried to force upon them – in more extreme circumstances choosing to take their own lives to return to their beloved homelands, with the belief that their souls would return to Africa (Dubos 41).
They engaged in several practices that are fundamentally human that their oppressors tried to steal from them including: marriage, abortion, religious ceremonies, having dialogue and some even ran away and created villages of their own where they could be free – these people were called Maroons. This is all to say that slavery was not sustainable in the society that they were in and that they fought against what had come to be accepted as the norm; this is significant throughout all of Caribbean history. The slave and free people or color’s response to the French Revolution played a paramount role into Haiti’s Revolution. The free people of color looked to the “Declaration of the Rights of Man” to demand equal rights from the French National Constituent assembly. On May 15, 1791, their demand was granted. Although it did not apply to slaves it was a step closer to liberty for all on Saint Domingue. The Enlightenment philosophy reached Saint
Domingue and influenced all of those oppressed but particularly touched one man - Toussaint L’Ouverture, the leader of the revolution and former slave. The philosophy initiated that the thought that all people, not only white, male or wealthy have rights. In an Enlightened society, the permission of slavery is a contradiction to all it stands for. Louverture, while writing his constitution for a new society addressed this inconsistency directly in his writing. The rebellion used this European philosophy to empower their movement.
As the rebellion escalated, it exposed France’s weaknesses, which Great Britain and Spain wanted to take advantage of. The nations began pursuing the opportunity to control the colony as it proved to be very profitable, and for Spain it was a colony they had lost a century before (Dubois 152). White planters allied with Great Britain, hoping to maintain their colonial status as Great Britain seemed to have a much greater commitment to maintaining slavery, in addition to gaining independence from the French Republic. The free people of color and slaves found a supporter in Spain, “Madrid ordered the governors of Spanish Santo Domingo to recruit slave insurgents as ‘auxiliary troops’, offering them freedoms and land in return for military service”. The text states, “Since 1791, Spanish residents and officers along the boarder had been in consistent if informal contact with the slave insurgents under the command of Jean-François and Biassou” (Dubois 153). In 1793, after France declared war on Great Britain, Spain shortly thereafter invaded Saint Domingue to join the rebellion. In fear of a disaster, France’s Nationals Assembly granted freedom to all slaves who joined their army, which ultimately led to the abolishment of slavery entirely on February 4, 1794. One can say that the rebellion outwitted three great European powers using their rivalry to force France into abolishing slavery. Although, the White planters’ aim was to keep those enslaved – people that they thought were unintelligent and less than human – by being a traitor to their nation and joining Great Britain their action led directly to the abolishment of those same individuals. The text states, “turning to the enemy was a reasonable and pragmatic choice for the planters. In the end, however, instead of saving slavery, it created the conditions for its final destruction. In making themselves traitors (…) they opened the way for slaves to become citizens and defenders of France” (Dubois 154). This in combination with Spain’s efforts put the necessary pressure on France to where the country felt abolishment was the only option. The slave revolt in Saint Domingue is the only successful revolt in modern history because it is the one where slaves were able to force their freedom back from oppressors.
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
history.