The Liberators WHAP/Napp

The Liberators WHAP/Napp Do Now: “The formal philosophy and rhetoric of enlightenment and revolution proclaimed the natural desire of all humans to be free, and in the slave plantations of the Caribbean local slave revolts were common, feared, and ruthlessly suppressed. In the western sector of the island of Hispaniola in the colony of Saint-Domingue (modern Haiti), French planters had established one of the most brutal of the slave plantation systems. By 1791, 500,000 black slaves formed the overwhelming majority of the population, with 40,000 whites, many of them slave owners, and 30,000 free people of color, both mulatto and black. For decades, the slaves had escaped psychologically and culturally through the practice of vodoun (voodoo), a religion that blended the Catholicism of their masters with religious practices brought from Africa. Physically, they had escaped through maroonage, flight from the plantations to the surrounding hills. Sometimes the escaped slaves, maroons, established their own colonies. In the 1750s one of the maroons, François Makandal, built among the maroon colonies a network of resistance to slavery. Inspired to independence by vodoun beliefs and using poison to attack individual plantation owners, Makandal apparently planned to poison the water supply of Le Cap, the main town of northern Saint-Domingue, but he was captured and burned at the stake in 1758.

In 1791, slave revolts broke out across Saint-Domingue. The inspiration seems to have been the natural desire for freedom, perhaps abetted by news of the American and French revolutions. One of the earliest rallying cries, delivered by the poet Boukman Dutty in Haitian-French patois, “Couté la liberté li pale nan coeur nous tous” – “Listen to the voice of liberty which speaks in the hearts of all of us.”

The revolt spread. In the western part of Saint-Domingue, white planters welcomed the support of British troops who came as allies to suppress the slave revolt and also to drive out the French. In the eastern part of Saint-Domingue, a new leader, Toussaint L’Ouverture, a freed black, established an alliance with the Spanish rulers against both the slave system in Saint-Domingue and the French. Toussaint incorporated the rhetoric of the French Revolution into his own. In 1794, under Robespierre, the French National Assembly abolished slavery in all French colonies. In response, Toussaint linked himself to France as he continued his war against slaveowners, who were now aligned with the British and who resisted the new French decree. By May 1800 Toussaint had become the effective ruler of Saint Domingue.

When Napoleon came to power in 1799 he reversed French policy on slavery and dispatched French troops to recapture the island and to reinstitute slavery. Napoleon’s representative deceived Toussaint into suspending his revolution. Toussaint was imprisoned in 1802 and exiled to France, where he died the next year. Nevertheless, unified black and mulatto armies continued the struggle against France, drove out its forces, and abolished slavery. 50,000 French troops died of yellow fever. On January 1, 1804, independence was proclaimed and the nation renamed Haiti, the Carib name for mountain. This completed the only known successful slave revolution in history.” ~ The World’s History 1- Identify the causes and effects of Haitian independence. ______I. Independence Movements in Latin America A. The final act in the Atlantic revolutions took place in Latin America B. Influenced by preceding events in North America, France, and Haiti C. Native-born elites in Spanish colonies, creoles, were offended by Spanish monarchy’s efforts to exercise power through heavier taxes and tariffs D. But unlike North America, there was little tradition of local self-government E. Spanish colonial society was more authoritarian, divided by class, and Catholic F. Whites were also vastly outnumbered by Native Americans and Africans G. In 1808, Napoleon invaded Spain and Portugal, deposing the Spanish king and forcing Portuguese royal family into exile in Brazil H. With legitimate royal authority in disarray, Latin Americans took action I. Outcome was independence for various states in Latin America by 1826 J. In Mexico, the move toward independence began in 1810 in a peasant insurrection, driven by hunger for land and high food prices K. Led successively by two priests, Miguel Hidalgo and José Morelos, peasant insurrection frightened creole landowners and was crushed L. Later creole elites brought Mexico to independence in 1821 M. Leaders like Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín in South America found the solution in nativism which cast all born in Americas as Americanos N. Geographic obstacles prevented “Gran Colombia” (Bolívar’s dream of a united South America) II. The Ideals of the Atlantic Revolutions and Reactions to the Ideals A. Universal male suffrage by 1914 in Western Europe, USA, and Argentina B. From roughly 1780 to 1890, slavery lost its legitimacy and largely ended C. Also Russian tsar freed serfs in 1861 D. In the United States, slavery was abolished after a highly destructive civil war I. Yet nowhere in the Atlantic world, except Haiti, did a redistribution of land follow end of slavery; thus the economic lives of former slaves did not improve J. And in West and East Africa, the end of the external slave trade decreased prices for slaves which increased their use within African societies III. Nationalism A. Nationalism inspired the political unification of Germany under leadership of Otto von Bismarck and Prussian state B. And unification of Italy under leadership of Count Camillo di Cavour, Giuseppe Mazzini, and Giuseppe Garibaldi by 1871 C. Encouraged Greeks and Serbs to assert independence from Ottomans D. Czechs and Hungarians demanded more autonomy within Austrian Empire E. By end of nineteenth century, small Zionist movement, seeking a homeland in Palestine, had emerged among Europe’s frequently persecuted Jews IV. Feminism A. Many women participated in the French Revolution B. The first organized expression of feminism occurred at the women’s right conference in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848 C. By 1870s, feminists in the West were focusing primarily suffrage D. 1893, New Zealand became first country to give vote to all adult women E. Ironically, in France, female suffrage was not achieved until 1945 1- Where did the final act of the Atlantic Revolutions take place? ______2- What events encouraged Latin Americans to fight for independence? ______3- Who were the Creoles? ______4- Why were Creoles dissatisfied with Spanish colonial policies? ______5- How did Spanish colonial society differ from colonial society in North America? ______6- How did Napoleon’s invasion of Spain impact Latin Americans? ______7- When did the majority of Latin American nations achieve independence? ______8- What factors led to an independence movement in Mexico? ______9- Why were independence movements by Miguel Hidalgo and José Morelos crushed? ______10- Latin American independence movements were led by cautious creoles. Why? ______11- While creoles wanted independence, what did they not want? ______12- Who were Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín? ______13- What was Bolívar’s “Gran Colombia”? ______14- What prevented “Gran Colombia” from being realized? ______15- How did the Atlantic Revolutions change suffrage in Europe and the U.S.A.? ______16- What did the Russian tsar do in 1861? ______17- How was slavery finally abolished in the United States? Can you date this event? ______18- What was significant about the Haitian revolution? ______19- How did the end of the Transatlantic Slave Trade impact African societies? ______20- What philosophy inspired the unification of Germany and Italy? ______21- Who was Otto von Bismarck and why was he significant? ______22- Who was Giuseppe Garibaldi and why was he significant? ______23- Explain the origins and goals of the early modern feminist movement. ______1. Which event in Europe contributed most 4. Which social practices of the early directly to the wave of independence United States were replicated in newly struggle in early nineteenth-century independent Spanish Latin America? Latin America? (A) Slavery was maintained. (A) Publication of the Gutenberg bible (B) Women remained subordinate to (B) The Reconquista men. (C) Napoleon’s invasion of Spain (C) Property restrictions were placed on (D) Fascist aerial bombardment of voting. Guernica (D) Established colonial elites moved to (E) Onset of World War I the top ranks of political power. (E) All of the above. 2. Why was the struggle for Brazilian independence distinctive in Latin 5. Which of the following concerns made American history? Creole elites, who yearend for (A) Brazil was the only colony whose independence from Spain, what we economy was dependent on cash might call “cautious revolutionaries”? crops. (A) Fear that the Spanish monarchs (B) Brazil remained a monarchy after were more capable rulers independence. (B) Fear that continued rapid (C) Brazil abolished slavery before industrialization would create urban independence was achieved. instability (D) Brazil was the first colony to achieve (C) A growing communist threat independence. inspired by the example of the (E) Brazil was the only ethnically diverse Bolshevik Revolution colony where racial hierarchy did (D) Fear that slaves and other oppressed not exist before or after groups would target local elites as independence. part of a general social upheaval (E) Fear that women would reject 3. After the United States, which was the subordination in the private and next New World colony to gain public spheres if independence were independence from Europe? achieved (A) Mexico (B) Argentina (C) Brazil (D) Haiti (E) Cuba

Thesis Practice: Comparative

Analyze similarities and differences in methods, goals, and outcomes of the independence movement in Haiti as compared to the rest of Latin America.

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