Brief Overview of the Haitian Revolution,

1791-1804

Eric BeckmanAnoka HS, MN

The Louverture ProjectLiberty, Equality, Fraternity @GMU

McKay, et al, History of Western Society

Who was Toussaint Louverture?Print made from an 1838 engraving

French print fromAn 1802 engraving

Haiti

Haiti

Haiti

Hayti, Taino word for the island

Western half of Santo Domingo, aka Hispaniola

French colony of Saint-Domingue, 1697-1804

Second Independent nation-state in Western Hemisphere

Site of largest successful slave revolt in history

French Saint-Domingue (Haiti)

Sugar, coffee, and indigo

Slave labor Richest colony

Sugar Mill, engraving from 17th c. French book

People of French St.-Domingue

African Slaves Free people of color

Some biracial Some black

Whites Petit blancs Plantation

owners Many absentee

owners

Boukman Rebellion, a massive slave revolt, 1791

• Secret meetings• Vodou

• Armies• Rebelling slaves

• Free men of color

• Royalist whites

• Republican whites

• Toussaint Louverture emerged as a leader

• Spanish support

• French Revolution: Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

Boukman's Rebellion became a war

•Toussaint Louverture's army wins victories

•10,000 whites flee St.-Domingue (Haiti)

•National Assembly in France enfranchises free men of color

•But, maintains slavery

•Racial violence:

•petit blancs v. free people of color

Civil War in Haiti, years of fightingoRoyalist v Republican

oWhite elite v Free men of color

oRebelling Slaves

oToussaint Louverture's army conquers northern Haiti

oSpanish guns

oSeveral armies

End of Slavery

• Rebelling Slaves

• French Proclamations

• St. Domingue, 1793

• All French territory, 1794

• Revolutionary armies in Haiti join with French

Toussaint Louverture became a French Official

Leads his Army against Spanish & British Other Haitian armies

Others lead by biracial Haitians Toussaint Louverture won victories over the

whole island of Santo Domingo

Napoloeon Bonaparte seizes power in France, 1799•Rules as dictator in the

name of the French Revolution (?)

Toussaint Louverture rules all of Santo Domingo as Governor-General, 1801-1802

Constitution of 1801 (for all of Santo Domingo)

Abolished slavery

Elected legislature

Santo Domingo remains French

Toussaint Louverture = Governor General for life

Napoleon Sends an Army to Reconquer St. Domingue (Haiti),

1802Eventually, attempts to reinstitute slavery

Massive French casualties

50,000 of 58,000 die

French commander deceives and imprisons Toussaint Louverture

Louverture in French Prison

•Toussaint Louverture dies in French prison, 1803

Who was Toussaint Louverture?Print made from an 1838 engraving

French print fromAn 1802 engraving

Source:Tobias Lear

Haitian Independence!

Former Slave Jean Jacques Dessaline and former “free man of color” Alexandre Petion unite to lead Haitian revolutionaries to victories over French troops

Haitian Independence, 1804

French forces abandon Haiti

Dessalines declares Haitian independence, 1/1/1804

Dessalines declares himself Emperor of Haiti, rules 1804-1806

Desalines with the Haitian bicolor, blue over red

Haitian Revolution in World History

Napoleon abandons idea of empire in the Americas sells Louisiana to the USA

News spreads to the US Rebellious slaves

Paranoid slave

Haitian government shelters Simon Bolivar, before his successful wars of independence

Toussaint Louverture becomes a hero to millions striving for freedom