The Haitian Revolution

The Enlightenment philosophies influenced the American and French Revolution which thus influenced the Haitian revolution. In the American and French revolutions reach got rid of their king. The revolutions that occurred throughout America and France set the precedence for Haiti’s revolution. The Haitian revolution was needed because the people were completely disenfranchised. The Haitian people were under a strict class system. The Haitian people were constantly dehumanized of their natural rights.

During the 1600s there was a period called the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment mainly focused on a free thinking. The Enlightenment questioned the way things were and how they could be better. There were writers during this period that questioned the way things were. One of the main writers during this period was John Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau believed that man is naturally born free. “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in shackles”. The Haitians were forcibly taken to Saint Domingue from Africa. The Haitians are now in chains leaving a state of freedom. As time went on the writings of Rousseau told them to fight for their freedom. “When something an affliction happens to you, you either let it defeat you, or you defeat it”.
Jean Jacques Rousseau. This is what happened to the Haitians. They were being afflicted in St. Domingue and they fought for their freedom. They were after all fighting for THEIR freedom.

There was long turmoil that leads to this event. The ruler of France exploited Haiti. He used Haiti to produce goods in which they would have to buy back. No profits were gained and the people were living in poverty. In addition to all of this France instituted a hierarchy system in which the Black Haitians were at the bottom. If you could imagine the emotional distress the people must have been going through is extraordinary. It seemed that the Haitian’s natural rights were being infringed upon. When a person’s natural rights are being infringed, they could defend them by any means necessary. Samuel Adams said we have natural rights. “First, a right to life; Secondly, to liberty; Thirdly, to property; together with the right to support and defend them in the best manner they can”. This Haitians killed whoever was likely to stand in their way no matter age, sex, or position in the hierarchy.

The main focus of the Haitians was to eradicate their current government. Haiti had virtual representation. This means whatever laws the King of France passed had to be followed inside Haiti. The ruler of France was King Louis XIV had instituted slavery inside St. Domingue. King Louis XIV had a class system in France in which he and the Clergy had the controlling vote. They abused their power and sent the nation into debt and the commoners who make up the majority only had enough money for bread. The King and Clergy were living an extravagant lifestyle. The commoners got tired of it and beheaded the King and Queen of France. The commoners then established a government called the National Assembly. The National Assembly then outlawed slavery in St. Domingue. The National Assembly was then overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte who instituted slavery back into St. Domingue. As you can imagine the Haitians were extremely mad about this, they had a taste of freedom and it was taken away.

The Haitians fought back with extreme violence which meant killing people who they felt perpetuated their disenfranchisement. This was the last resort but the rulers of France brought it upon themselves. After all the Blacks were outnumbering the others by 10:1. It seems quite natural that the Blacks would fight to defend their rights. After all of this fighting St. Domingue was then declared a free state and was given its natural name of Haiti.