The people of Haiti had a very broad and intense social class division, the White people and the Blacks. The white people treated the salves poorly and unjust because of the strong idea of racism and were controlling the Black population in their everyday life. The white settlers were on the highest place of society, causing a lot of mistreat and slaves to escape to the mountains (“The Haitian Revolution”, StudyMode.com). Since the white people where being resistant to the idea of the black people to have their own rights and freedom, the slaves decided to revolt. In May 1971, the revolution started with the revolt of the slaves against the white settlers.
History shows that the British governmental class was terrified by the Haitian Revolution and say that future imports of African captives could pose as a security threat. The Haitian Revolution was the outcome of a tedious battle on the behalf of the slaves in the French colony of St. Domingue, but was also pushed forward by the free half-bred residents who had looked down upon the trials of being represented as semi-citizens.There were three discrete social classifications in St. Domingue. First, there were the Whites, who had an immense amount of power over the three social classes. Next were the free Mulattoes, who was in a very unstable and insecure position in the Haitian society. Even though they enjoyed a considerate amount of freedom, they were suppressed by the conservative White reign of structure that only acknowledged the Mulattoes as being people of color.
The circumstances in Haiti just before The French Revolution were prime for an insurrection to occur. Lacking a clear and defined political authority, the White colonists were unable to contain adequate the rebellion that they had been forced upon themselves for years. Their contemptible treatment of Negroes and Mulattoes in Haiti sped up the progress of the cause of the abolition of slavery in Haiti. The excesses of that contemptible treatment are the very reason why the Haitian Revolution was so successful: the treatment of slaves and Mulattoes in Haiti was so bad that it forced the most violent and ultimately, the most successful slave insurrection in history. The French Revolution provided the necessary spark for the revolution in Haiti
The Beginning of the Haitian Revolution After the Seven Years’ War the revolution of Haiti was ignited. Haiti was transformed from the French colony known as Saint Domingue and was the most profitable colony in France. Haiti mostly focused on the production of sugar and indentured servants originally worked Saint Domingue, but were replaced by enslaved Africans. Labor on the plantations tended to be harsh, so many deaths took place resulting in a constant infusion of captives (Acrobatiq,2014.) The Hatian revolution became the greatest slave rebellions of all time (Acrobatiq,2014.)
The republic of Haiti is a Caribbean country that gained independence in 1804 after a bloody slave revolution against the French that ruled and colonized the western part of the island. The revolution resulted in the abolition of slavery on the island and the self liberation of millions of slave. Even with their independence won, the hardships of Haiti were just beginning. As one would imagine the great powers of the time, being the U.S, Great Britain, Spain and especially France-as they had suffered the loss of their colony, were not enthused by this outcome. Haiti became a pariah amongst the wealthy nations of the world.
. distinguishes between ‘superior’ and ‘inferior’ racial groups” (181). Trouillot and I would both agree that this statement is co... ... middle of paper ... ...f Haiti was extremely deprived and the political power was non-existent. Second, the slaves who were supposedly going to take over Haiti, did not have the proper education or leadership to run Haiti as a successful country. Both Trouillot and I stand to affirm that the Haitian Revolution truly was unthinkable and pointless, but it did make an overall impact on the fight against slavery.
Jamaica leads the world as the number one sugar producer of the time. The production of sugar was interlocked with... ... middle of paper ... ...ids, killing white British military stationed on the island, and rescuing of slaves (Hughes p 133). In conclusion, the dehumanization of the plantation slaves in Jamaica took many forms including punishment, mutilation, rape and death. Some planters and white overseers were sadists, but did not want to errantly damage their investments. African slaves who endeared the harsh joinery through the middle passage faced discrimination and physical torture at the hands of British plantation owners.
The Slave Revolution in the Caribbean Colonists in the eighteenth century created plantations that produced goods such as tobacco, cotton, indigo, and more importantly, sugar. These plantations required forced labor, and thus slaves were shipped from Africa to the new world. “The Caribbean was a major plantation that was a big source of Europe’s sugar, and increasing economic expansion. The French had many colonies, including its most prize possession Saint- Domingue (Haiti).” Life on the plantations of Saint- Domingue was very brutal and most of the salves who survived the journey to the New World died within a few years of their arrival (Slave Revolution 7). This brutal force used on the slaves caused the slaves to rebel.
In 1655, during the Anglo-Spanish war, the Cromwell lead military seized Jamaica, one of the major producers of sugar of the time. Through the Western Design, Cromwell sought to “shift the balance of power between the major European colonial powers in the Caribbean ”. This drive for economic and colonial expansion lead to the industrialization of Great Britain, something that would have never been possible if not for the capital growth and economic development vis-à-vis the Atlantic slave trade. In other words the establishment of slavery and the trade that it gave rise to, were the catalyst for an industrial revolution in Great Britain. The first and most important factor that can be attributed to Britain’s economic growth is the transport of slaves from Western and Central Africa to the Americas; not only did slavery help fund the industrialization of Britain on a national scale, but also on an individual level.
Due to the difficult policing jobs given to the freed men with little reward, the communication between them and the white masters broke down. Now that the white slaveholders were on their own, it was only a matter of time before their brutal treatment of slaves would lead to an uprising. Once enslaved Africans received word of the revolution in France they too began demanding freedom. After years of civil unrest and vicious fighting, Haiti declared its freedom from France in January of 1804. What makes the Haitian Revolution more radical than the two before it is the fact that it was led by slaves.