Haiti

1636 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Us history imperialism and world war 1

Haiti was once the first black independent republic in the world and the richest island in the Caribbean. Today Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest countries in the world. What could have happened to Haiti in almost two hundred years of history? The country experienced repeated civil war and foreign intervention. Haiti is not isolated from the international world. Thus, it was not out of concern for ordinary Haitians that the United States intervened in Haiti. It was out of concern for profit and stability within the United States' own backyard. The purpose of this paper is to show the negative aspect that the United States had played in the government of Haiti.

The situation in Haiti was and always has been volatile. Ever since the Haitian slaves revolted in 1804, Haiti has become full of crises and revolutions of various sorts. The invasion and following occupation were sparked by the fall of the Haitian President General Vilbrun Guillaume Sam in July of 1915. General Sam was well aware of the discontent with him from the masses, and in response gave a sick display of power, ordering the execution of 173 political prisoners. At the beginning of the 20th century, many Caribbean and Central American countries were heavily in debt to European countries. Since Haiti was in high debt, and violence had erupted from the Haitian population, the United States declared that it was evident that the Haitians were not to fit to rule themselves. The United States occupied Haiti in 1915 until 1934. (Farmer: 93)

The United States granted itself complete political and administrative control over Haiti. Even though the United States' plan was interested in investing in Haiti, it did not mean tha...

... middle of paper ...

... well. Not only do other countries hold Haiti back, but they've also made the situation worse.

Works Cited

Anderson, Fred. "The United States and the Haitian nightmare," www.collegian.psu.edu.archive. 4/31/01

Farmer, Paul. " The Uses of Haiti," Copyright Library of Congress 1994.

Heinl, Michael. "The story of the Haitian people, 1492-1995," Copyright 1996 by University Press of America, Inc.

Maclean, Frances."They didn't speak our language; we didn't speak theirs" www.web6.infotrac.galegroup.com, Smithsonian, Jan 1993 v23 n10 p44.

McGee, Arthur "Mutinational Monitor: Article on Haiti." www.stile.lboro.ac.uk. March 31,2001.

Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. "Haiti state against nation the origins & legacy of Duvalierism" Copyright by Library of Congress 1990

"Confronting the crisis in Haiti" Center for Defense Information (Washington, DC Videorecording.)

Show More
Related

  • A Wall Of Fire Rising By Edwidge Danticat's Short Story By Native Haiti

    1334 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Nation of Haiti has been plagued with excessive bad luck when it comes to external invasion. Whether it be larger countries taking control, or outsiders brought in as slaves, Haiti has endured many hardships. These issues, while very common in a lot of countries, are exposed in a short story by a native Haitian. In “A Wall of Fire Rising”, Edwidge Danticat illustrates a myriad of historical issues in Haiti from the 17th to the 20th century through a series of events in one family’s life. One such issue would be the Haitian Revolution and the consequences that came of it.

    Read More

  • Why Did Haiti Justified

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    Haiti began as the French colony Saint-Domingue. The island was filled with plantations and slaves to work on them. Almost a decade and a half after its settlement, this colony paved the way for many changes throughout the French empire and many other slave nations. Through its difficult struggle, we examine whether the slave revolt of Saint-Domingue that began in the late 16th century was justifiable and whether its result of creating the free nation of Haiti was a success.

    Read More

  • David Brooks’ op-ed “The Undying Tragedy”

    1455 Words  | 3 Pages

    Brooks’ hypotheses fit best with the modern theoretical perspective. From the perspective of the adolescent, Brooks attempts to find social variables that are impeding Haiti’s economic success, and provides his solution. His first hypothesis, however, is the one that diverges the most from the theory. He states we do not know how to direct aid and there is no consistent policy leading to economic growth. Modernization theory on the other hand is more determined to look at the internal factors of a country as the source of the problems with aid management and attempt to change the effectiveness of the government or the elements of a culture that are keeping it in a “traditional” stage (Rostow 1960).

    Read More

  • Race and the United States Occupation of Haiti

    1473 Words  | 3 Pages

    Schmidt, Hans. The United States Occupation of Haiti, 1915-1934. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 1995. Print.

    Read More

  • Dominican Republic Vs Haiti

    1520 Words  | 4 Pages

    The unification under Boyer lasted for twenty-two years. The Dominicans regained their independence from the Haitians in 1844. The political unrest in both countries between the time of their independences and the United States occupation of the nations of 1915 and 1916 was staggering. “Haiti had 33 heads of state, with an average time in power of 3.4 years. Meanwhile, between independence in 1844 and the U.S. military occupation in 1916, the Dominican Republic had 61 heads of state, with an average time in power of only 1.2 years” (Jaramillo & Sancak). The political landscape on both sides of the island were identical. There was no foreign interest on the Haitian side of the island from the period of their independence to the American intervention. Due to a chaotic political landscape and with Haiti’s policy of no foreign landowners allowed there was no hope for the previous Caribbean powerhouse to take its place on the throne of sugar

    Read More

  • Haiti: Earthquake, Aftermath and Condition

    2033 Words  | 5 Pages

    Rodgers, L. (2013, January 11). Haiti quake: Why isn't aid money going to haitians?. BBC News. Retrieved April 4, 2014, from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-americar

    Read More

  • Haitian Independence: The History Of The Haitian Independence

    553 Words  | 2 Pages

    Casimir, J, & Claypool, M 2012, ‘Going Backwards Toward the Future: From Haiti to Saint-Domingue,’ The Global South, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 172-192.

    Read More

  • Haitian Government and Violation of Human Rights

    1184 Words  | 3 Pages

    Haiti is a small country in the West Indies and is the western third of the island Hispaniola (Rodman, Selden). According to Selden Rodman Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world and after the earthquake in 2010 they are way worse than they were before. The Earthquake changed a lot for everyone living there rich and poor. “Over 200,000 people died as a result of the earthquake another 2.3 lost their homes” (Haiti). This quote shows how bad the 7.0 Haiti Earthquake was that happened in January of 2010. The conditions are already awful for the people there and all the human rights violations happening are not helping. The conditions are so bad many are trying to flee their country and come to the United States even though they know that the chance of making it there is very slim (Human rights violations…). According to Richard Horton and William Summskill the United States did a survey test called the lancelet to get results from the Haitians on human rights violations happening. The survey showed us murders, women getting raped and other human violations numbers. This showed the United States that we should take action, because we had real evidence from the victims of the human rights violations in Haiti. One of the problems is that the United States does not know how to help. Haiti is so behind in everything; technology, inexperienced policemen, lacking a judicial system and their economy is very unstable. We should take action in Haiti because of these human rights violations; police and government abuse, women not getting their rights, and poor people not getting their rights.

    Read More

  • Haiti's Contribution To The Colonial History Of Haiti Today

    1122 Words  | 3 Pages

    Several of the problems that Haiti faces today have their genesis in the country’s colonial history. The country was like a toy being fought over by spoiled children. The first of these children arrived in the early sixteenth century in the form of Spanish settlers in search of gold. They enslaved the native Taino population and, poisoned by avarice, nearly eradicated the indigenous work force. Thousands of African slaves were brought in to take their place. Eventually, the Spanish left the island to grab their share of newly discovered treasure in other lands. Tiring of their toy, the Spanish

    Read More

  • Economics of Haiti

    2353 Words  | 5 Pages

    The economics of Haiti has deceased in the last 4 years after the devastating earthquake that struck it 4 years ago. The Haiti economy has become very poor and one of the poorest country in the south, Central America and Caribbean region making it ranked 24 out of 29 countries in this area and its overall score is below average. Haiti’s economic freedom is 48.1 making it economy the 151st freest country while in the last several years Declines in the management of government spending, freedom from corruption, and labor freedom make its overall score 2.6 points lower than last year. Recovering from the disastrous earthquake in 2010 with the support of the U.S. recovering efforts “Haiti’s post-earthquake reconstruction efforts continue, assisted by substantial aid from the international community. Governing institutions remain weak and inefficient, and overall progress has not been substantial. The parliament has not renewed the mandate of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, which had been tasked with overseeing reconstruction efforts but was unpopular.”( .heritage.org). The open market of Haiti trade weighted to be 2.1 this is because the lack of tariffs hamper the trade freedom of Haiti. Foreign investors are given national treatment but the investment is small and the financial sector is remained underdeveloped and does not provide any adequate support.

    Read More

  • Haitians in America

    1893 Words  | 4 Pages

    Haiti is located in the Caribbean with Cuba to the northwest, Jamaica to the southwest, and Puerto Rico to the east. Ninety five percent of Haitian people are of African descent (Holcomb, Parsons, Giger, & Davidhizar, 1996). The language spoken by the vast majority of Haitians is Creole. The pronunciation and vocabulary are derived largely from French but the syntax is similar to that of other creoles (Brown, 2010). Haiti is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. In 2010 the population was approximately 9.6 million and is expected to increase to 13.4 million in 2050 (Edwards, 2010). It is also projected that some Haitians may try to flee fro...

    Read More

  • Honduras

    604 Words  | 2 Pages

    Where is Honduras located? What are some main landforms? What food do Hondurans eat? What language do Hondurans speak? How did Honduras become Honduras? These are all questions you might have, and in this paper all will be answered. You will learn more about the geography, society, people, their lifestyles, and the history of Honduras.

    Read More

  • Haiti's Struggles: Past, Present, and Political

    592 Words  | 2 Pages

    Haiti is the unequivocally the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, indeed, the country is so poor that its citizen cannot even afford eating foods and Haitian children need to eat dirts to stay alive. [1] Nevertheless, Haiti is the home to the only successful slave rebellion; Toussaint Louverture, last governor of French Saint-Domingue, was born a slave.

    Read More

  • Haiti After the Earthquake

    1274 Words  | 3 Pages

    Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world. Agriculture is one of the incomes of the population. However, everything changes after the 2010 earthquake. The losses caused by the quake were between 8 billons and 14 billons dollars (Haiti earthquake). Joblessness, the lack of Foodland, the lack of clean water, further affected the economy because people chose to emigrate to other places for work such as the Dominican Republic (Haiti earthquake). Furthermore, “Haiti was a Republic of non-governmental organization to become a Republic of unemployment,” and in order to accomplish an economical growth Haiti needs the investment of companies that can help many of the people find jobs. Companies such Royal Oasis, are creating hundreds of jobs for many Haitians. Thayer Watkins, an economics teacher at San Jose State University, provides his review in his analysis of the Political and Economic History of Haiti, which states more than 80 percent of th...

    Read More

  • Edwige Danticat’s Tones in We Are Ugly, But We Are Here

    561 Words  | 2 Pages

    Danticat begins her essay with a tragic and bitter tone. She tells of the first people who were murdered when the Spaniards came to Haiti including Queen Anacaona, an Arawak Indian who ruled over the western part of the island. With bitterness she states, “Anacaona was one of their first victims. She was raped and killed and her village pillaged” (137).

    Read More

More about Haiti

Open Document