The Successful Slave Rebellion: The Haitian Revolution

The Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution was the largest and most successful slave rebellion. It consisted of several revolutions and was influenced by the French Revolution. The Haitian Revolution is the only successful slave revolt in history and resulted in the establishment of Haiti. It lasted for twelve years and ended up outlasting the French Revolution. The Revolution came to represent a new concept of human rights, universal citizenship, and participation in government.
The first part of the revolution was to abolish slavery in the colony. Saint Domingue was France’s wealthiest overseas colony. It was the greatest individual market for the African slave trade. The colony provided two-thirds of France’s overseas trade. It also
As the French Revolution became more radical, the gens de couleur forged an alliance with French radicals, who saw the colony’s wealthy planters as royalists and aristocrats. By 1791 whites, led by the planter elite, and the gens de couleur were engaged in open warfare. This conflict transformed when a slave rebellion began on the plantations. The slaves initiated the rebellion and succeeded in ending slavery and French control over the colony. The slave rebellion marked the start of the resistance to obtain human rights. Slave resistance began to take an organized form in the late 18th century. However, the plantation owners and French government continued slave trade. The slaves held a stronger position under the command of François Dominique Toussaint LOuverture. As a result, in 1792, the French Assembly granted political rights to the gens de couleur. Also, the radical National Convention in Paris abolished slavery in all of France in 1794. The French government realized that its control of the colony could only be savaged by acknowledging Toussaint’s political and military dominance. Toussaint led an invasion of the neighboring Spanish colony of Santo
Many of the whites began an independence movement that began when France imposed heavy taxes on the items imported into the colony. Furthermore, the white population did not have any representation in France. The General Assembly in Paris responded to this concern by enacting a legislation that called for “all local proprietors...to be active citizens.” Instead of having a positive effect the legislation caused a three-sided civil war between the planters, free blacks, and the poor, white underclass. However, all of these groups were challenged by the black majority which was also influenced and inspired by events in France. The struggle for independence continued and late 1803 Saint Domingue united and defeated the French. Jean-Jacques Dessalines led the revolutionaries at the Battle of Vertieres on November 18, 1803, where the French were defeated. On January 1, 1804, Dessalines declared the nation independent and renamed it Haiti. As a result, Haiti emerged as the first black republic in the world and the second nation to win its independence from a European