A colony of exploited slaves successfully
liberated themselves and permanently transformed the manner in which the island and its
society functioned. The Haitian Revolution was a unique case in history as the revolution
resulted in the complete shift in the social, political and economic life of the colony.
Socially, the lowest order of society, the slaves, became free and equal to the dominating
order of society, the whites. Politically, the slaves formed the second independent state
in the Western Hemisphere and the first free black nation globally. Economically, the
citizens of Haiti revised the economic system of the conventional plantation and
transformed it into a system based on small-scale producers who geared their products
internally instead of exporting the goods.
The citizens of the new nation referred
to themselves as Haitians and defined themselves as black, which gave a psychological blow
to the "emerging intellectual traditions of an increasingly racist Europe and North
America that saw a hierarchical world eternally dominated by types representative of their
own somatic images" (Knight 105). In Haiti, all of the citizens were legally equal,
regardless of color, race, or condition. However, black Haitians were not necessarily
pleasant to the remaining whites on the island following the years of the revolution.
In any event, the French Revolution is
noted to be highly correlated with the coming of the Haitian Revolution. While there were
several slave revolts in the island of Hispanolia, the French Revolution may have provided
the opportunity for a successful slave revolt. One may argue that the French could not
devote too much attention to the colony as they were experiencing conflicts in Europe.
Therefore, Haiti was able to successfully revolt due to the lack of attention granted by
France. However, the French did in fact dedicate a lot of concern to its colony. Haiti
produced sixty five percent of the world’s sugar and provided France with much of its
financial resources, as the plantation system was lucrative. Therefore, France did not
want to lose such a valuable colony.
At one point during the revolutionary
war, Napoleon sent an expeditionary force of 43,000 men under General Le Clerc to fight
against Toussaint L’Ouverture, the general who fought for Haitian independence and
who can be considered as one of Haiti’s founding fathers. In any event, the
revolutionaries crushed Napoleon’s men reducing the French army force to some 8,000
men (Sheridan 330). The French sent countless numbers of troops to Haiti in attempt to
regain it colony. However, the blacks fought for their liberty and defeated the French
army.
The Haitian army had to fight against the
British army who decided to invade Haiti during the revolutionary period because if Haiti
had successfully revolted, then the British colony of Jamaica would be influenced by the
success of the slave revolt. The British wanted to protect Jamaica’s security by
helping France suppress the Haitian Revolution. The British invaded Haiti on September 20,
1793 and withdrew British troops early in October of 1798 after a series of defeats by the
army lead by Toussaint L’Ouverture. "Militarily," writes Thomas O. Ott,
"England had suffered an embarrassing and costly defeat" (Sheridan 329).
The Haitian Revolution had an impact on
many countries. Other countries feared that the success of the slave revolt in Haiti would
implant thoughts in slaves elsewhere. The Haitian Revolution did in fact influence slaves
to rebel against whites in other countries. Places such as Jamaica, Venezuela and the
United States of America were strongly affected by the Haitian Revolution.
Jamaica
Once Haiti achieved its independence; it
provided a safe haven for slaves escaping within its borders. Under the ratified Haitian
Constitution, Article forty-four, all people who were black that step foot onto Haitian
soil was considered Haitian and therefore protected by the constitution. Slaves fled from
their countries and retreated to Haiti where they were accepted and allowed to be free
citizens of the black nation.
One famous case of Haiti protecting
slaves from other territories is the case of the pilot boat, Deep Nine.In early January of
1817 James M’Kewan led his slaves on an expedition from Jamaica to the east end of
the island where the would supply other vessels with goods. The black crew was separated
from the owner during the task and when the owner signaled to three of the slaves to fetch
a boat so that he could get on board, they ignored his signal and retreated to Haiti with
the Deep Nine leaving the owner stranded.
M’Kewan went to Haiti in search of
his slaves and when he could not find the slaves, he went to President Petion to
personally demand the restitution of his property. However, his attempts failed as Petion
said that the slaves were no longer slaves and citizens of Haiti. Therefore, they were
protected by Haiti and its constitution. M’Kewan wrote several letters to the Haitian
government requesting the return of his slaves. However, he never retrieved his slaves as
the Haitian government sited article forty-four of the Haitian Constitution which
"recognized all people of their description [the slaves] to be citizens of Hayti the
moment they landed on the territory of the republic" (Sheridan 332).
The forty-fourth article of the Haitian
Constitution was not diminishing of the rights of countries to retrieve their slaves.
England had an article quite similar to the forty-fourth article in the Haitian
Constitution. On April 10, 1817, a note was written to the admiralty in Jamaica stating
that "it appears to his lordships, from the papers which admiral Douglas’s
letter enclosed, that the laws of Hayti much resemble those of Great-Britain, so far as
not to permit persons, who have once landed in that island, to be considered or treated as
slaves" (Sheridan 337). The Haitian government did not allow anyone on its soil to be
treated as slaves and believed that the 44th article assured that no one was
treated as so.
Venezuela
The success of Haitian blacks played a
part in the movement for independence in the Spanish colonies of South America. One such
colony was Venezuela where Haiti played a major role in its gaining independence. The
colored people of Venezuela were suppressed and wanted liberty and independence, as many
colonies during the revolutionary period desired. Learning of the Haitian Revolution
inspired the Venezuelans to fight for liberty. In an interview with Professor Leslie Desmangles
of the Religion and International Studies department at Trinity College, Desmangles noted
that Venezuela sought help from Haiti who supplied troops and financed much of the war.
For example, Simon Bolivar, a Spanish-American liberator, frequently retreated to Haiti
for sanctuary, encouragement and financial and military assistance. The Venezuelans were
able to successfully revolt due to the help from Haiti and the inspiration from the
Haitian Revolution.
Slave Revolts
The Haitian Revolution inspired blacks in
other slave territories to fight for freedom. In the United States, the grand conspiracy
concocted by Gabriel during the early years of the nineteenth century is said to have been
inspired by the slave revolts in Haiti. In a short question and answer period with
Associate Professor of History at Trinity College, Dr. Jack Chatfeild, he noted that Haiti
is speculated as having an influence on the Gabriel’s Conspiracy.
Another rebellion noting the Haitian
revolts, as a source of influence is Fedon’s Rebellion. Julien Fedon, a free mulatto
of French extraction, initiated a rebellion in Grenada with the assistance of
approximately one hundred freed coloreds and slaves. Fedon managed to imprison several
white inhabitants and requested the surrender of the island’s forts. The rebellion
lasted a reported sixteen months where Fedon died while escaping to Trinidad. In any
event, Haiti inspired many slave revolts, two are noted above.
Fears of Conspiracy
The success of the Haitian Revolution
spread fear of servile revolt among the white inhabitants of plantation America. The slave
owners in the United States feared that the Haitian Revolution would spark ideas in the
thoughts of the slaves in the States. They felt that the slaves may be inspired by the
success of the Haitian Revolution and may attempt to follow in the Haitians’
footsteps. Slave owners become paranoid and often raided the homes of free Negroes and
arrested those they suspected of conspiring to revolt.
There were rumors of vast plots to revolt
and kill the white inhabitants of the United States, as well in other places such as
Jamaica. The slaveholders feared for their lives, as they believed the rumors to be true
in light of the Haitian Revolution. Thomas Jefferson also feared that the Haitian
Revolution would spark flames in America where the white would be threatened by the slave
population who often times outnumbered the whites. Jefferson, in a note to the governor of
south Carolina on December 23, 1793, wrote that he had been informed by a French gentleman
from Saint Dominique (Haiti), that two men of color were setting out from the island of
Charleston "with a design to excite an insurrection among the Negroes" (Sheridan
328). There was a widespread fear that the Haitians would ‘infect’ American
slaves with revolutionary thoughts. The fear caused there to be a wide spread of state
governments enacting laws that excluded West Indian blacks.
There were fears in Jamaica as a Governor
Lord Balcarres wrote to the Duke of Portland in July of 1798 noting that the success of
the ‘brigands’ in Haiti ‘holds forth such an example to our Negroes here,
as to place Jamaica in a new point of view, and to render her safety much more precarious
and problematical than at any former period" (Sheridan 329).
Conclusion
In closing, the Haitian Revolution had a
rippling effect on other colonies around the world. It helped sparked revolts in the
United States, Jamaica and in South America. It created fears among whites and led to the
protection of several slaves who retreated to the safe haven of the island. The Haitian
Revolution was the pride of all black globally as noted by Davis Brion Davis that
"while the Haitian example inspired a number of slave conspiracies and revolts, it
had a deeper and more lasting impact on the self-image and nascent national identity of
free blacks" (Davis 748). Furthermore, The history of Haiti is noted as "the
glory of the blacks and terror of tyrants" (Davis 748).
