Toussaint Domingue And The Haitian Revolution

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The Haitian Revolution is considered the most successful rebellion where the Haitian slaves fought with their leader, Toussaint Louverture, to liberate themselves from their white slave owner. What is known as Haiti to us now, was called St Domingue then. In this essay I will tackle the question, ‘What effects did the Haitian Revolution have on former slaves in Haiti?’. Before the Haitian Revolution the native African-Caribbean black slaves was a French colony. The Haitian people were being treated brutally and was considered the most harsh in the entire of the caribbean and were not considered human, but instead items that would answer to their every whim. However the aftermath of the French Revolution had led to the two social groups, the…show more content…
Napoleon Bonaparte was a very strong military leader, however to the Haitian point of view he was the cause of their suffering as he was also French. Leading to the Haitian’s longing to be independant, and then leading to the Haitian revolution. Haiti’s first leader, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, was harsh, cruel, and demanded utmost obedience from the Haitian people, which is what the former slaves had hoped to escape, which left many people unhappy of their new ruler. As well as his harsh attitude, once of his poor decisions he made was to invade Santo Domingo, which is now known as the Dominican Republic. Dessalines had almost conquered Santo Domingo, but he was interrupted by French forces that had turned up, therefore causing them to retreat. However the people of Santo Domingo did not forget this causing a mutual hate that would last a long time. Dessalines was assassinated later, an example of the people’s discontent. Haiti was tangled in civil wars and chaos, leading to Haiti splitting into two. Henry Christophe seeked to become the ruler, however was tricked by Alexander Petion leaving him with almost no power. Both of them rose up in power and eventually split into two sides within Haiti. Politically, it seemed that the former slaves lives were more chaotic now than before the…show more content…
There were also a mixed group, called mulattoes, which was the result of white slave owners and black slave women giving birth to a child. These children were allowed to be free, but were still discriminated simply because of their skin color. Finally there were the black Haitian slaves who had the lowest status of all. Segregation among the people living in St Domingue was not uncommon and was utmostly unfair towards the black people, despite them making up to 90% of the population. Obviously the slaves and the mulattoes were being treated unfairly. Ultimately leading to the Haitian Revolution, where the blacks succeed and the whites are driven out. Dessalines, as their first ruler, had to ensure the people’s safety and that the French would not come back to try and reclaim their land. So he slaughtered 20,000 of the French residing in haiti and only spared a few. Now that the island was free of the French there were no Social statuses, there were simply just Haitian people. However St Domingue’s riches rapidly declined so Dessalines reinstated the plantations. The difference from before and after the revolution is that the Haitians still had to work, but there was no upper class that was brutally harsh on them about their
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