DOCSLIB.ORG

The Haitian Revolution

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Haitian Revolution The Haitian Revolution 1 The Haitian Revolution The movement of the French Revolution of 1789 rippled not only in Europe but also in the Caribbean islands. The National Assembly of France granted citizenship to the free people of color. The “Declaration of the Rights of Man” should have applied to the inhabitants of Saint Domingue, however, the French farmers did not grant them their rights (Ott, 1999, pp. 30-32). Thus began, in 1791, a 12 years long rebellion that led to the creation of the independent state of Haiti (Knight, 2000). Many slaves that fought for freedom in the Haitian Revolution were brought from the kingdom of Kongo thus countless rebels invoked allegiance to this state (Thornton, 1993). The rebellion started on 21st of August at the call of one of them, Dutty Boukman, a high priest esteemed by the slaves in the region (Sidbury, 1997). The Haitian rebellion was a violent one. It started with as many as 100.000 belligerent slaves just in the Northern Province. Eyewitnesses noted that whites were tortured and murdered. Countless whites were found in spikes and white women were forced to become servants to the insurgents (Ott, 1999, p. 48). On the 1st of January 1804, the new free Republic of Haiti was declared, followed by a massacre of the remaining white inhabitants of the country. The extermination was carried out by the black population on the orders of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the authoritarian ruler of the newfound state. Between 3,000 and 5,000 victims of the massacre were murdered across the whole territory of Haiti between February and April of 1804 (Popkin, 2010, pp. 379-380). Even though the Haitian Revolution was a success and colonialism was ended on the island, the populace struggled with social conflicts as the Haitian army kept the authoritarian regime in place for many years to come The Haitian Revolution 2 and other French colonies such as Martinique or French Guiana still kept slavery in place (Knight, 1990, pp. 204-208). The revolution was focused on fighting slavery and colonialism. The newly self-freed slaves of Saint Domingue fought to keep their liberty and managed to create an anti-slavery movement across the world due to their achievement. Though succeeding in abolishing slavery in Saint Domingue was a colossal deed, this uprising along with the progress of capitalism, the ongoing collapse of feudalism and the idealism of the French Revolution altered the fate of the Western society. The significance of the Revolution was that it opposed the principle of black inferiority and the belief that slaves could never uphold their independence and freedom. The Haitian Revolution 3 Bibliography Knight, F. W. (1990). The Caribbean The Genesis of a Fragmented Nationalism. New York: Oxford University Press. Knight, F. W. (2000). The Haitian Revolution. The American Historical Review, 105(1), 103-115. Ott, T. O. (1999). The Haitian revolution, 1789-1804. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. Popkin, J. D. (2010). You Are All Free: The Haitian Revolution and the Abolition of Slavery. Cambridge University Press. Sidbury, J. (1997). aint Domingue in Virginia: Ideology, Local Meanings, and Resistance to Slavery, 1790- 1800. The Journal of Southern History, 63(3), 531-552. Thornton, J. K. (1993). "I Am the Subject of the King of Congo": African Political Ideology and the Haitian Revolution. Journal of World History, 4(2), 181-214. .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Haitian Revolution
    The Haitian revolution Slide 1: the Haitian revolution The Haitian revolution is the only successful uprising of enslaved people in the Americas. It defeated European armies, but their victory came with a high price. Slide 2: decolonial terminology In our analysis we use terms that are scientifically correct but feels a bit uneasy if you have been trained in the school of colonizing the mind. We don’t use the word plantation but labour camp. Plantation has a romantic association. Labour camp is more precsie because it designates an institution where forced labour is used. We don’t use the word discoverer or planter but the word criminal. In 2001 The United Nations recognized slavery and colonialism as a crime against humanity. If a Surinamese in Holland goes to the supermarket and steals a bottle of lemonade he is called a criminal, not a discoverer. We think that is correc tterm for a thief. In the same way we think it is correct to call a European who steals gold from the Americas a criminal instead of ad iscoverer. In the same way the guy who never planted anything is called a planter, while scientifically it is more correct to call him an enslaver, because enslavement was a his business. When the Germans invaded Holland it was called an occupation, notcolo nization. I think Dutch are correct in their terminology, so the European invasion of the Americas is in their logic an occupation. That logic is correct. I understand that when you have been trained to regard a crime as a scientific achievement you might feel uncomfortable when you keep hearing me using the new terminology.
    [Show full text]
  • Haitian Revolution
    The Haitian Revolution The Haitian Revolution was a social and political upheaval in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (which shared the island of Hispaniola with the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo) during the period from 1791 to 1804. In 1791, slaves and gens de couleur libres (“free people of color”) rebelled against French rule, and in 1804 declared their country’s independence under the original Arawak name of Haiti. The Haitian Revolution was, along with the American Revolution, one of the most significant and dramatic challenges to European colonialism in the New World, and historians widely regard it as a milestone in the history of Africans in the Americas. The Haitian Revolution is, in fact, the only successful large-scale slave insurrection in history, and it is often seen as initiating the decline of the slave trade. Causes of the Haitian Revolution The colonial economy was export driven, dominated by agriculture and trade. Saint- Domingue, with its tropical climate, was developed as a coffee- and sugar-producing colony, and sustained many large and profitable plantations. By the second half of the 18th century, sugar and coffee were two of the world’s most traded commodities, and Saint-Domingue produced over 60 percent of the world’s coffee and 40 percent of the world’s sugar. This made Saint-Domingue France’s most profitable plantation colony. To meet the growing needs of this plantation system, Saint-Domingue’s colonists continuously expanded the number of slaves. Thus, the colonial economy fueled the social imbalance that led to the revolution. Colonial society, a racist society, was at fault, in part through its own rigidity.
    [Show full text]
  • The Children of San Souci, Dessalines/Toussaint, and Pétion
    The Children of San Souci, Dessalines/Toussaint, and Pétion by Paul C. Mocombe [email protected] West Virginia State University The Mocombeian Foundation, Inc. Abstract This work, using a structurationist, structural Marxist understanding of consciousness constitution, i.e., phenomenological structuralism, explores the origins of the contemporary Haitian oppositional protest cry, “the children of Pétion v. the children of Dessalines.” Although viewed within racial terms in regards to the ideological position of Pétion representing the neoliberal views of the mulatto elites, and economic reform and social justice representing the ideological position of Dessalines as articulated by the African masses, this article suggests that the metaphors, contemporarily, have come to represent Marxist categories for class struggle on the island of Haiti within the capitalist world-system under American hegemony at the expense of the African majority, i.e., the Children of Sans Souci. Keywords: African-Americanization, Vodou Ethic and the Spirit of Communism, Religiosity, Black Diaspora, Dialectical, Anti-dialectical, Phenomenological Structuralism Introduction Since 1986 with the topple of the Haitian dictator, Jean-Claude “Baby-Doc” Duvalier (1951-2014), whose family ruled Haiti for almost thirty-years, the rallying cry of Haitian protest movements against dictatorship and American neoliberal policies on the island has been, “the children of Dessalines are fighting or stand against the children of Pétion.” The politically charged moniker is an allusion to the continuous struggles over control of the Haitian nation- state and its ideological apparatuses between the Africans who are deemed the descendants of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the father of the Haitian nation-state; and the mulatto elites (and more recently the Syrian class) who are deemed heirs of the mulatto first President of the Haitian Republic, Alexandre Pétion.
    [Show full text]
  • © in This Web Service Cambridge University Press
    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-83680-7 - The Old Regime and the Haitian Revolution Malick W. Ghachem Index More information Index Note: French words are indicated in italics. Information from endnotes is indicated by an n following the page number. abolition of slavery Haitian Revolution role/stance of, 216, in Britain, 2n4, 17n36, 24n56 217–218, 223–231, 253, 255–257, Code Noir, relationship to, 16–19 276–277, 285 1793 emancipation proclamations for, late revolutionary, 303–308 217, 236–291, 293–302 manumission stance of, 71, 80–81, February 4, 1794 decree (16 Pluviôse) 83–89, 90–91, 97, 99–100, on, 214, 255–302 107–108, 110, 111–113, 114–116, in France, 18n36, 18n38 233, 291–302 gradual emancipation, 145–146, 224, military service imposed by, 111–116 286, 312 as plantation owners, 42n39 Haitian Revolution and, 216, 256–257, planter brutality addressed by, 62, 282–283, 285–286, 292–293 122–126, 130–131, 151–156, in Jamaica, 2n3 157–160, 163–166, 167, 177–181, manumission relationship to, 11n28 182–187, 190–195, 201–206, 289–291 military service and, 16, 17n35 power struggles amongst, 30, 288 planter brutality and, 145–146, 230 on slave crimes and punishment, 59–62 slave rebellions/revolts and, 282–283 taxation policies of, 93–108 in Surinam, 2n3 affranchis (freed persons), See also negrès Tocqueville as abolitionist, 18n38, libres; gens de couleur libres 20, 44 dangers perceived by, 14 in U.S., 19 defined, 13, 68n123 administrators, See also specific parentage of, 85 administrators by name; intendants; politicization/political power
    [Show full text]
  • A Concise History of the Haitian Revolution Viewpoints/Puntos De Vista: Themes and Interpretations in Latin American History
    A Concise History of the Haitian Revolution Viewpoints/Puntos de Vista: Themes and Interpretations in Latin American History Series editor: J ü rgen Buchenau The books in this series will introduce students to the most signifi cant themes and topics in Latin American history. They represent a novel approach to designing supplementary texts for this growing market. Intended as supplementary textbooks, the books will also discuss the ways in which historians have interpreted these themes and topics, thus demonstrating to students that our understanding of our past is con- stantly changing, through the emergence of new sources, methodologies, and historical theories. Unlike monographs, the books in this series will be broad in scope and written in a style accessible to undergraduates. Published A History of the Cuban Revolution Aviva Chomsky Bartolom é de las Casas and the Conquest of the Americas Lawrence A. Clayton Beyond Borders: A History of Mexican Migration to the United States Timothy J. Henderson The Last Caudillo: Alvaro Obreg ó n and the Mexican Revolution J ü rgen Buchenau A Concise History of the Haitian Revolution Jeremy D. Popkin In preparation Creoles vs. Peninsulars in Colonial Spanish America Mark Burkholder Dictatorship in South America Jerry Davila Mexico Since 1940: The Unscripted Revolution Stephen E. Lewis A Concise History of the Haitian Revolution Jeremy D. Popkin A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication This edition fi rst published 2012 2012 Jeremy D. Popkin Blackwell Publishing was acquired by John Wiley & Sons in February 2007. Blackwell’s publishing program has been merged with Wiley’s global Scientifi c, Technical, and Medical business to form Wiley-Blackwell.
    [Show full text]
  • Revolutions: Haiti & Industrial Hispaniola: Discovered 1492
    UCSB Hist 2c, F’09, L4: Hispaniola: Discovered 1492 Revolutions: Haiti & Industrial • 1685: Louis XIV enacts the Code Noir What are the causes of world-historical • 1697: French take w. 1/3 of Santo Domingo change? 0. Administrative: “crashing” & switching; honors; final exam; iClickers (registr. & use); … 1. Haitian Revolution: Story & Analysis 2. Industrial Revolution: Prereqs vs. Causes Walk-in Music: Rough Guide to the Music of China Too much text: What to write down? Comic Part II Haitian Revolution: Background July 1789, Count Mirabeau • French colony Saint Domingue: • White planters petition French Assembly for 20 – Richest in hist. of world (8,000 plantat.: sugar, coffee, cotton) delegates 40% of Fr’s trade; 10-15% US exports, 40% world sugar, 50% world coffee • Mirabeau responds: – Main French col. after loss of French & Indian War w/ Brits “Are the colonies placing their Negroes and their gens de couleur – Tariffs on imports; trade monopoly w/ France (“exclusif”) in the class of men or in that of the beasts of burden? US wanted molasses for rum; planters dried fish for slaves If the Colonists want the Negroes and gens de couleur to count as • Stratified society of the island. In 1789: men, let them enfranchise them first; that all may be electors, that – 20,000 Whites: planters & petits blancs all may be elected. If not, we beg them to observe that in – 30,000 free persons of color (½ mulattos, ½ former slaves) proportioning the number of deputies to the population of France, we have taken into consideration neither the number of our horses – 500,000 slaves (100,000 domestic, 400,000 field) nor that of our mules.” 10,000s maroons in African-style villages, armed • Colonists get 6: 3 more than if whites only 1 Ideological Conundrum Haitian Revolution: Timeline I • Society of Amis des Noirs (Friends of the Blacks) • 1789: Gens de couleur aspire to citizenship – Founded 1787, for gradual abolition of slavery • 1790: National Assembly resolution – not: Hommes, Citoyens • 1791, Aug.
    [Show full text]
  • Dutty Boukman, the Discourse of “Freedom from Below,” and the Politics of God
    The Rhetoric of Prayer: Dutty Boukman, the Discourse of “Freedom from Below,” and the Politics of God Celucien Joseph [email protected] In the night of August 22, 1791, which initiated the Haitian Revolution, Dutty Boukman, a slave and religious leader gathered a gang of slaves and uttered one of the most important prayers in the Black Atlantic religious thought.1 The prayer embodies the historical tyranny of oppression and suffering, and the collective cry for justice, freedom, and human dignity of the 1 The most recent studies on the Haitian Revolution include the following: Laurent Dubois, Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution (Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2004); David Patrick Geggus, Haitian Revolutionary Studies (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002); Carol E. Fick, The Making of Haiti: The Saint-Domingue Revolution from below (Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1990). Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion Volume 2, Issue 9 (June 2011) ©Sopher Press (contact [email protected]) Page 1 of 33 enslaved Africans at Saint-Domingue. In my examination of this important text, I situate the prayer of Boukman in the tradition of Black theology of resistance and freedom. Toward this goal, I demonstrate some points of reference including ideological connections and parallels between James Cone and Dutty Boukman. I then reread James Cone’s “God of the Oppressed” thesis in the light of Boukman’s historical invocation. I consider particularly the common themes of liberty, freedom, resistance, and vindication embedded in these two texts. I contend that, if Boukman is not the first who speaks of a black God, he is certainly among the earliest to express this view and the earliest to articulate the notion of a Black theology of emancipation.
    [Show full text]
  • Haiti's History
    Haiti’s History 5000 BCE - 1780 5000 BCE First inhabitants, the Tainos and Arawak 300 BCE 1492 Farming villages Christopher Columbus sighted established Haiti and renamed it La Isla Española (later Anglicized as Hispaniola) 1492-1514 1697 1780 Enslaved natives, European The Treaty of Rijswijk: “Creation of Santo Became France’s most prosperous New World diseases and brutal working Domingo (Spanish Eastern Half) and Saint possession, exporting Sugar, smaller amounts of conditions (pop. 100 000-30 Dominigue (French Western Half).” Spain coffee, cacao, indigo, cotton. (2/3 of France’s 000) giving the western half after exhausting gold foreign investments) cause of soil erosion mines (European investors and landowners unconcerned or unaware of long-term consequences) 1789 - 1801 1801 L’Overture named “governor- general for life” 1791 1793 Dutty Boukman, a Jamaican-born Haitian voodoo priest, Léger Félicité Sonthonax (sent from conducted a ceremony at the Bois Caïman during which France), maintain order, abolished he prophesied that a massed rebellion would at last slavery (L’Overture agreed to fight for 1789 free the slaves of Saint-Domingue. A wild animal was French for this - http://en.wikipedia. Saint-Domingue, society deeply fragmented by sacrificed and Boukman urged them to take bloody org/wiki/Haitian_Revolution), joined colour skin, class and gender. revenge on their French oppressors. French revolution his army - Grands blancs (Elite merchants, Landowners, granted citizenship to wealthy affranchis, Europeans Royal Lineage) refused
    [Show full text]
  • Powerpointsh Slavery 201306
    The Haitian revolution Sandew Hira 1 Decolonial terminology Plantation = labour camp Discoverer = criminal Planter = enslaver Colonization = occupation Slave = enslaved Master = enslaver 2 The first voyage of Columbus the criminal Five dimensions of colonialism 1. Geographic dimension 2. Economic dimension 3. Political dimension 4. Social dimension 5. Mental dimension 4 Geographical dimension Modern colonization was a major project of five Western European countries: Portugal, Spain, Holland, England and France. Each country had a criminal gang, an elite headed by a king or queen They competed with each other in the robbing and stealing from the colonies Each had a distinctive period in history in which they dominated: their golden age 5 The robbery by the Spaniards and the first genocide in the Americas 6 Spanish criminals move to the east Princess Anacaona 7 Slavery and occupation 1517: after Indigenous genocide import of enslaved Africans The east: French pirates (buccaneers) and tobacco planters, later sugar 1697: competition in Europe was extended to the occupied territories in the Americas and resolved with the Treaty of Rijswijk. French occupied Haiti (Saint-Domingue) 8 The economic dimension: sugar and slavery 9 The world economy of sugar Labour of enslaved Africans. Rise of shipping industry = triangular trade: enslaved labour, agricultural products, manufactured products Rise of finance capital: banks, insurance companies 10 French bourgeoisie and enslavers in Haiti French bourgeoisie supplied capital to the enslavers in Haiti. 11 The political dimension Political administration in occupied land is subjected to control in Europe Relationship between oppressors and oppressed: Code Noir The use of terror: "to burn a little powder in the ass of a nigger” 12 The Code Noir – the black code Article 12: We desire that if a male slave has married a free woman, their children, either male or female, shall be free as is their mother, regardless of their father's condition of slavery.
    [Show full text]
  • University of California, Merced Cave Vodou in Haiti
    University of California, Merced Cave Vodou in Haiti: The Use of Caves as Sacred Space in Modern Haitian Ritual Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in World Cultures by Patrick Richard Wilkinson Committee in Charge Professor Linda-Anne Rebhun, Chair Professor Mark Aldenderfer Professor Marco García-Ojeda Professor Holley Moyes © Patrick Wilkinson, 2019 All rights reserved. This Dissertation of Patrick Wilkinson is approved; it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: ________________________________________________________________________ Dr. Mark Aldenderfer ________________________________________________________________________ Dr. Marco García-Ojeda ________________________________________________________________________ Dr. Holley Moyes ________________________________________________________________________ Dr. Linda-Anne Rebhun Chair University of California, Merced 2018 iii DEDICATION To my wife Marieka, without whom none of this would have been possible, and to the people of Haiti, who welcomed a blan with open arms and hearts. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................... VIII LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................ XII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................ XIII CURRICULUM VITA ....................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • A Qui S'adressait Le Président Haïtien
    Haïti en Marche, édition du 1er au 07 Octobre 2014 • Vol XXVIII • N° 37 DERNIERE HEURE : L’Etat islamique est condamné à disparaître JACMEL, 28 Septembre – Le fameux EI (Etat aux puissances occidentales, n’a aucune chance de survivre. Victimes innocentes et non adversaires : 2 islamique), le mouvement terroriste qui fait tellement peur Signe particulier : décapitation de ses victimes. (TERRORISME / p. 8) Unité policière ONU : A qui s’adressait postée devant le président haïtien ? la résidence de PORT-AU-PRINCE, 26 Septembre – Le président haïtien Michel Martelly parle à l’ex-président la tribune de l’ONU. Nous écou- tons son message plongé dans un quartier populaire de la capitale Aristide haïtienne. Tout le monde écoute (ARISTIDE / p. 5) en silence. On apprécie le ton du président qui sonne juste et sa diction parfaite (Michel Martelly est un excellent interprète). Mais combien qui comprennent entiè- rement tout ce qu’il dit ? Passe les premiers para- graphes sur la scolarisation uni- verselle et obligatoire (PSUGO) que le président s’enorgueillit d’avoir inventé de toutes pièces (on aurait pu lui suggérer de se rappeler au bon souvenir de Elie Dubois ou de Tertulien Guilbaud parmi les créateurs de l’instruc- tion publique haïtienne mais il est vrai que la statue de ce dernier a été déboulonnée depuis bien plus longtemps du carrefour de Port- Partisans d’Aristide maintiennent la permanence devant sa résidence (photo J.J. Augustin) au-Prince où elle a siégé pendant de très nombreuses générations) ; Rencontre à New York avec le Pasteur Jesse Jackson qui félicite le président Martelly et lui remet Le pape autorise (ONU-HAITI / p.
    [Show full text]
  • Le BâIllonnement De La RéVolution Haã¯Tienne Dans Lâ•Žimaginaire
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 2013 Le Bâillonnement de la Révolution haïtienne dans l’imaginaire occidental à travers des textes fictionnels des dix-neuvième et vingtième siècles Claudy Delné The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/2246 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] LE BÂILLONNEMENT DE LA RÉVOLUTION HAÏTIENNE DANS L’IMAGINAIRE OCCIDENTAL À TRAVERS DES TEXTES FICTIONNELS DES DIX-NEUVIÈME ET VINGTIÈME SIÈCLES By CLAUDY DELNE A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in French in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2013 © 2013 CLAUDY DELNE All Rights Reserved iii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in French in satisfaction of the dissertation requirements for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy. ____________________________ _____________________________ Date Thomas C. Spear Chair of Examining Committee ___________________________ _____________________________ Date Ali Nematollahy Assistant Executive Officer Renée Larrier___________________________________ Supervisory Committee Jerry W. Carlson _______________ Supervisory Committee
    [Show full text]