The Haitian Revolution Was The Main Cause Of The Civil War

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`The collision of ideology began the American Civil War. The south was economically dependent heavily on slavery, and the north economy was based on modernization of industry. While many believe the war was about states rights, I would like to challenge that belief by asserting the following question. If either the South or Norths economy was built on the same platform, all free or slave holders would states have a reason to split from the Union? The practice of slavery and the abolitionists push for change was the main cause of the Civil War. The election of Abraham Lincoln, growth of the abolition movement and the fight between slave and non-slave state proponents fueled the rising changes. There are many theories that can explain the…show more content…
In that same year the slaves on Haiti’s plantations began an uprising against their masters. The rebel slaves were led by a self-educated former domestic slave named Toussaint L’Ouverture. Because of their numerical superiority, the insurgent slaves were able to quickly topple the French overlords. But the fighting did not end there. Spain and Britain – who also held slave colonies in the Caribbean – sent their militaries to Haiti to put down the slave rebellion, least it should spread to the other Caribbean colonies and to the southern United States. Slavery was of primary economic importance to these nations, and they were willing to go to war to defend it. L’Ouverture succeeded in leading a revolutionary Haitian army against the combined forces of Britain and Spain. For a brief time the revolutionary Haitians received support from the radical Jacobin government in France. After the Thermidorian Reaction against the Jacobins in 1794, France changed its position and began to act against the revolutionary Haitians. In 1802 L’Ouverture was captured by French forces and brought to France as a prisoner, where he died shortly…show more content…
Slavery had been officially abolished (the first case in the Americas) and independence from France had been declared. Unable to defeat the Haitian Revolution through war, its opponents (France, Britain and Spain) sought to defeat it through isolation. Haitian exports (the main products of its economy) were systematically boycotted, driving the nation into desperate poverty. While the specter of another slave revolt haunted the Americas for many decades to come, Haiti became one of the poorest nations in the Western hemisphere
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