Haitian Revolution1791 - 1803

1791 – a slave revolt starts revolution1803 Dessalines wins war and French troops leave

Use correct geographical names:

Region: The Caribbean, West Indies

Island of HispaniolaSaint-Domingue as a French

colonyHaiti - as an independent

nation

As a French colony . .

• it was the richest colony in the West Indies at the time• it produced sugar, coffee, cocoa, indigo, tobacco, cotton, fruits and vegetable for the mother colony - France• forced labor in the form of slavery and fertile soil made it possible

Social/Racial Division •Whites

•Free people of color

•Black slaves

•MaroonsHow did the social structure of Haitian

Society contribute to the Haitian Revolution?

Need more info to answer the question?

Social/Racial Divsion

•88% of the population = slaves = 500,000

•7% of the population = whites = 20,000 - 40,000

•5% of the population = free blacks = 30,000

•free blacks: 2.5% mulattos = 15,000

Whites - mostly French•Planters =

• Wealthy plantation owners

• Unhappy with French revolution because they are not represented in the new government

• In favor of slavery, against mercantilist laws that regulated trade

•Petit Blancs =

• Artistans, shop keepers, merchants

• Less independence-minded and more loyal to France

• Also approved of slavery

Free People of Color - gens de colour•1/2 mulattoes = children of white Frenchmen

and black slave women - manumission was granted

•very wealth

•owned plantations and slaves

•adopted French culture over African culture, well educated, Catholic not Voodoo

•sought the same rights as wealthy whites

The Black Slaves

•Slaves outnumbered free people by 10 - 1

•100,000 domestic slaves - more loyal to their masters

•400,000 field slaves - treated very cruelly

The MaroonsLarge group of run-away

slaves who retreated deep into the mountains of Saint-

Domingue

The Exclusif•The French enforced the Exclusif -

• a mercantilist law - required that Saint-Domingue to sell 100% of her exports to France alone, and purchase 100% of her imports from France alone. The French merchants and crown set the prices for both imports and exports, and the prices were extraordinarily favorable to France and in no way competitive with world markets. It was virtually the same system as that which England had forced on its North American colonies and which finally sparked the independence movement in these colonies.There was a growing independence movement, and in this movement the white planters were united with the free people of color. It was a curious alliance, since the whites continued to oppress the free people of color in their social life, but formed a coalition with them on the political and economic front.

• Source: http://www2.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/history/revolution/revolution1.htm (Excellent!)

1791- slave revolt

•Why is this a perfect time?

•Consider:

•division between Whites and Free Blacks

•Events in France

What’s going on in France?

French RevolutionNapoleonic Era

The French Revolution produced

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen 1789

“Article 1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may only be founded upon the general good.”

“ The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptibly rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression”

Haitian Revolutionbegan as a slave revolt

in 1791

Major Events:• Toussaint Louverture leads the slave revolt

• Revolutionary government frees slaves

• Napoleon takes over France and brings back slavery

• 1802 Napoleon sends army to Saint Domingue

• 1804 Toussaint Louverture dies - captured by the French and dies in French prison

• New leader, Dessalines defeats Napoleon troops who are dying of malaria (yellow fever).

• 1803 Louisiana Purchase - Napoleon and Jefferson "Damn sugar, damn coffee, damn colonies,"

• 1804 Republic of Haiti is born - general Dessalines is the new ruler, later named himself Emperor of Haiti

Sources:

•mrrosentel.wordpress.com

•http://www2.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/history/revolution/revolution1.htm

• bxscience.enschool.org/.../auto/.../The%20Haitian%20Revolution.ppt