Jonathan Huggins

PSA #1

Prof. Wallace

30SEPTEMBER2013

Independence or Death

Liberalism; it consisted of freedom, individualism, and equality, and it was what the

slaves of Haiti wanted. From arriving from Africa on ships to eventually separating from France

and achieving their freedom, Haiti underwent vast changes in politics, economics, and popular

sovereignty. To create this civil society, the founders created the Haitian Declaration of

Independence and the Haitian Constitution (1805), which included extreme promotion of

freedom, equality and popular sovereignty. These ideas were great in context, however difficult

in ways to achieve. Through the determination of the slaves and leadership from the mastermind

behind it all, Toussaint L’Ouverture, Haiti was able to achieve these goals. However, even

though this achievement, Haiti still faced certain trials and tribulations in some areas.

From the video, Égalité for All: Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution, it is

clear where the power lies in Haiti. It is with the whites; however, it also has a direct correlation

to the shade of skin. From the lightest shade of white to the darkest shade of black, your color

determines the way in which society treats you. The way I thought of it was; If not full white, no

full rights. Mixed individuals, referred to as mulatto, had freedom, however they were still not

equal to whites. Seen in the video, they would have to do things such as stand when whites

arrived and even refer to them as sir or ma’am. The cultural norm in this society is the whites are

superior to anyone that is not their color.

In society, everyone wants individualism, and slavery is the furthest thing from it. Being

a slave gives an individual no opportunity to harvest a particular skill set they quite possibly may

have. The have one job and one job only, and in Haiti, as shown in the video, it is working in the

sugar cane plantations. People naturally want to better themselves and make their name known;

and slavery does not give them that opportunity. However, for one individual, opportunities

presented to him as a child allowed for him to educate himself and eventually become the leader

for this revolution. Toussaint L’Ouverture led the slaves of Haiti into battle, giving them the

knowledge and skills to combat the French army. The Declaration of Rights of Man and of the

Citizen was a document written in 1789 that strived for Enlightenment in the French society. It

protected the rights of white males and was closely modeled after the U.S. Declaration of

Independence. Slaves wanted equality among all races. They wanted the full rights that were

promoted in the Rights of Man.

The Haitian Declaration of Independence (1804) and The 1805 Constitution of Haiti were

documents written for the Haitian people striving for recognition of equality so that they could

have the opportunity to achieve a civil society. One thing made clear in these documents was that

the Haitian people are not going to fold easily. The tone of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the man that

wrote the document, is extremely violent. He puts his ideas out there and does so with authority.

It is clear that he does not like the French people and he says, “Let them tremble when they

approach our coast, if not from the memory of those cruelties they perpetrated here, then from

the terrible resolution that we will have made to put to death anyone born French whose profane

foot soils the land of liberty.”

As can be seen in both the video and the Haitian Declaration of Independence, there were

tremendous changes in power which were mostly brought upon through radical acts. Jean-

Jacques Dessalines says, “Independence or death... let these sacred words unite us and be the

signal of battle and of our reunion.” It is clear that the slaves were fed up with being treated

unequal under French rule. Slaves went from working in the slave plantations to not only

fighting the whites, but even taking them as prisoners, a complete change of power.

The founders of this new Haitian governance wanted equality, freedom, and popular

sovereignty, however achieving this goal deemed difficult. Haiti went from a potentially

prosperous country to a poor struggling one. Most Africans were uneducated. They had no

individualism. They were good for one thing, manual labor. L’Ouverture, as seen in the video,

took advantage of this temporarily when he realized that the economy was failing. He put the

“plantation workers” back into the fields, however their feelings towards him changed greatly

when he did this because it was exactly like slavery and they did not really understand the

concept of building a state. They had no direction, however they did have a goal, and that was to

rid Haiti and all neighboring areas of slavery.

In conclusion, the founders of the Haitian governance strived for equality, freedom, and

popular sovereignty. They achieved these qualities through violent acts that led to a lot of

bloodshed not only on the French side, but theirs too. Even though they eventually gained their

freedom, to this day, it is seen that Haiti is a poor struggling country. They are an extremely

hardworking, however economically non-prosperous country.

Works Cited

Corbett, Bob. The 1805 Constitution of Haiti. April 4, 1999. Original document printed July 15,

1805 in the New York Evening Post.

Dubois, Laurent and Garrigus, John. Slave Revolution in the Caribbean 1789 - 1804: A Brief

History with Documents.

Égalité for All: Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution. 25JAN2009. Web.

27SEP2013. <http://www.pbs.org/programs/egalite-for-all/>