Haitian Revolution (1791-1804)

Directions: Read and text mark the passage. Highlight evidence of
the causes of the revolution. Underline evidence of the effects. Then
answer the questions at the end.

The Haitian Revolution has often been described as the largest and
most successful slave rebellion in the Western Hemisphere. Slaves initiated the rebellion in 1791 and by 1803
they had succeeded in ending not just slavery but French control over the colony. The Haitian Revolution,
however, was much more complex, consisting of several revolutions going on simultaneously. These
revolutions were influenced by the French revolution of 1789, which would come to represent a new concept
of human rights, universal citizenship, and participation in government.

In the 18th century, Saint Dominigue, as Haiti was then known, became France's wealthiest overseas colony,
largely because of its production of sugar, coffee, indigo, and cotton generated by an enslaved labor force.
When the French revolution broke out in 1789 there were five distinct sets of interest groups in the colony.
There were white planters -- who owned the plantations and the slaves -- and petit blancs, who were
artisans, shop keepers and teachers. Some of them also owned a few slaves. Together they numbered
40,000 of the colony’s residents.

The three remaining groups were of African descent, those who were free, those who were slaves, and those
who had run away. There were about 30,000 free black people in 1789. Half of them were mulatto and often
they were wealthier than the petit blancs. The slave population was close to 500,000. The runaway slaves
were called maroons; they had retreated deep into the mountains of Saint Dominigue and lived off
subsistence farming. Haiti had a history of slave rebellions; the slaves were never willing to submit to their
status and with their strength in numbers (10 to 1) colonial officials and planters did all that was possible to
control them. Despite the harshness and cruelty of Saint Dominigue slavery, there were many slave rebellions
before 1791. One plot involved the poisoning of masters.

Inspired by events in France, a number of Haitian-born revolutionary movements emerged simultaneously.
They used as their inspiration the French Revolution’s “Declaration of the Rights of Man” and the American
Declaration of Independence.

Led by former slave Toussaint L’Overture, the enslaved would act first, rebelling against the planters on
August 21, 1791. Despite reinforcements from France, the area of the colony held by the rebels grew. Before
the fighting ended 100,000 of the 500,000 blacks and 24,000 of the 40,000 whites were killed. Nonetheless
the former slaves managed to fend off the French forces with a series of victories by l’Overture’s forces. By
1801 L’Overture expanded the revolution beyond Haiti, conquering the neighboring Spanish colony of Santo
Domingo (present-day Dominican Republic). He abolished slavery in the Spanish-speaking colony and
declared himself Governor-General for life over the entire island of Hispaniola.

At that moment the Haitian Revolution had outlasted the French Revolution. Napoleon Bonaparte, now the
ruler of France, dispatched General Charles Leclerc, his brother-in-law, and 43,000 French troops to capture
L’Overture and restore both French rule and slavery. L’Overture was taken and sent to France where he died
in prison in 1803. Jean-Jacques Dessalines, one of L’Overture’s generals and himself a former slave, led the
revolutionaries at the Battle of Vertieres on November 18, 1803 where the French forces were defeated. On
January 1, 1804, Dessalines declared the nation independent and renamed it Haiti. France became the first
nation to recognize its independence. Haiti thus emerged as the first black republic in the world, and the

second nation in the western hemisphere (after the United States) to win its independence from a European
power.


Questions:
1. Identify the causes and effects of the revolution.

2. What makes the Haitian Revolution different from any other revolution in history?

3. How did the America and French Revolutions influence the Haitian Revolution?