Haitian Revolution (I) – Archives of History | Your disclosure page

The end of the s. XVIII and much of the s. XIX are characterized by being a time of revolutions. The American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Spring of the Peoples,… The history of this period is full of revolutions, successful or not, that changed the mentality of many people. But one of the “forgotten” revolutions took place on the island of Hispaniola, in the Caribbean, and it is, to this day, the first and only successful slave revolution in history.

Introduction

Before going into the revolution itself, we must take a brief look at the geographical, economic, social and ideological context of the moment.

We are located in Hispaniola, an island the approximate size of the Autonomous Community of Castilla-La Mancha, around the year 1780. Hispaniola had traditionally belonged to the Spanish Empire. However, after the Treaty of Rijswijk in 1697, Castile ceded the western third of the island to France, an area that would henceforth be known as Saint-Domingue (Santo Domingo).

A few decades later, towards the middle of the s. XVIII, takes place known as»sugar boom«. Europe begins to demand huge amounts of “white gold”, and, as a consequence, the Antilles begin to have a high importance, since they are the world center of sugar production, becoming one of the richest areas in the world. Santo Domingo produced almost half of the sugar and coffee consumed in the world at the time. This caused this area to quickly eclipse the east, still under theoretical Spanish domination, both in wealth and population.

This growth also increased the number of slaves employed on plantations, which grew exponentially during the second half of the s. XVIII, forcing a more intense slave trade. Approximately half a million slaves worked (directly or indirectly) on the plantations of Santo Domingo, five times more than a century earlier. The society, at least numerically, was essentially black. There were about 6 black slaves for every white free man. It is true that there were some free blacks or mestizos, and although their number was very small, their influence on the plantations and the management of the slaves was quite important.

Ideologically, the ideas of the Enlightenment began to reach the island, although the true influence would come with the outbreak, in 1789, of the French Revolution, the culmination of the Enlightenment and the beginning of social change. In the middle of the s. XVII there had been some uprisings, but it would be in 1791 when the situation changed. In Santo Domingo there will be a revolution similar to the one in the metropolis, but not led by “equal” whites but by black slaves. The abolition of slavery and equal rights with whites were the two main goals of the revolution led by black slaves in Santo Domingo.

Beginning of the Revolution. Fight against the metropolis

In 1789, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was proclaimed, where the freedom and equality of all men were proclaimed. However, as in the rest of the colonies, the slaves were not men, but goods owned by the whites. This caused that, when the resolution arrived on the island, they began to question whether it should apply to black slaves or not.

In any case, the mere presence of that Declaration put at risk the status quo established on the island between white landowners and black slaves. Faced with this situation, the whites tried to become independent from France in order to maintain their dominant position on the island unchanged. The National Assembly, not interested in losing the “Pearl of the Antilles,” its richest colony, managed to reach an agreement with the whites of Santo Domingo. These would remain faithful to France in exchange for being able to trade freely with the whole world. Thus, they could maintain their wealth and accept, at least partially, the costs of “freeing” the slaves.

But the blacks did not accept this new situation, they considered their rights violated, now they were free men according to the law. That is why they took up arms on January 24, 1791, demanding complete legal equality, and not deceitful agreements between the upper echelons. The National Assembly tried to contain the uprising by approving the Decree of May 15, 1791- After hard debates between the Society of Friends of Noirs (Society of friends of blacks, white supporters of abolition and equality) and the Club Massiac (defenders of slavery for its economic performance), this decree gave total equal rights to those blacks born free, but not to those freed or enslaved, who could only achieve equal rights under very specific conditions.

This produced a paradoxical alliance between the Club Massiac and the free black elite to avoid problems and the escalation of the uprising of black slaves in Santo Domingo, which was causing strong confrontations in the north of the island. On March 4, 1792, the decree of May 1791 was extended, where the freedmen also had to be fully recognized as equal to the whites, something that the governor of Santo Domingo did not accept and that gave a new impetus to the slave revolution, who had managed to inflict several defeats on the black and white elite.

To try to control the situation, France sent Sonthonax to impose the revolutionary order and although the advances were important, since the racist whites were expelled and free mulattoes and blacks were granted rights, many of the requests of the black slaves were not heeded. , so the war continued in the north of the island.

international intervention

This caught the attention of the Spanish, who still held the eastern part of the island. They raised an army, made up mostly of blacks, and marched in support of the rebels against the revolutionary regime of Sonthonax. Spanish support for blacks is paradoxical, since at no time had Spain contemplated abolishing slavery, but rather taking advantage of the situation to fight France, maintain the Old Regime and recover the rich Caribbean island. The Spanish-Black alliance was successful and the French defeats followed one another and, finally, Sonthonax abolished slavery on August 20, 1792 to all those slaves who joined the Republicans in a desperate attempt to reverse the situation.

In 1793, the French Republic declared war on Great Britain and this was a strong boost to the white royalists, who began to receive British support. Although thanks to the decrees of Sonthonax, the republicans had managed to control a large part of the west of the island, in 1794 a large contingent of British troops arrived in support of the royalists, which led to several victories and the recovery of part of the island. the island of Hispaniola in the hands of the blacks. Great Britain and Spain now controlled practically all of Hispaniola.

On February 4, 1794, the National Convention completely abolishes slavery, also in overseas possessions, so Sonthonax gets the full support of blacks, including many of those who had fought in the Spanish ranks, in his war. against Great Britain, Spain and the royalists. This causes the situation to begin to reverse. Sonthonax, supported by the black leader L’Overture, whom the Directorate named General of Division, achieved various victories against the British and Spanish, managing to regain control of the western area by 1795.

Civil conflict. blacks against mulattoes

L’Overture had risen to great power as a general of the revolutionary blacks, and many whites fled or were killed. The situation worsened when, on July 22, 1795, after the signing of the Treaty of Basel between Spain and France, Spain handed over the rest of the island to the French Republic in exchange for the peninsular territories occupied by the French. When the news reaches the island in October, there is a massive emigration of whites, whose presence on the island from this moment on is almost non-existent. This produces a power vacuum in the east, and civil conflicts begin between mulattoes and blacks for control of the territory, so Sonthonax, governor of the island, fearful of what L’Overture may do, negotiates an agreement with the mulattoes to displace him from power.

However, Sonthonax is recalled to France in 1797 and L’Overture remains in power. Given the enormous casualties suffered (23,000 of the 31,000 men who participated in the conflict), Great Britain negotiated peace with L’Overture in June 1798. Great Britain agreed not to intervene further on the island of Hispaniola. In exchange, the black leader promised not to export his revolution to the other Caribbean islands, since fear of this scenario had been one of the main causes that had motivated the allied offensive.

With the international situation calm, L’Overture was able to concentrate on internal problems. In 1799, Rigaud, a mulatto general who controlled the east and south, tried to seize power and thus avoid the black supremacy of L’Overture, who dominated the north and west. However, his offensive fails. L’Overture, after the initial surprise, manages to regroup and supported by his two generals Henri Christophe and Jean-Jacques Dessalines, will defeat the mulattos and expand his control to the entire island of Hispaniola at the beginning of 1801. On May 9, In 1801, L’Overture approved an Autonomist Constitution of Santo Domingo, which granted it perpetual full powers on the island, although still under French rule.

But L’Overture’s ambitions for power, as well as internal conflicts, will not end here. For the next 50 years the situation on the island will be one of continuous chaos and conflict. About it, we continue talking here.

Bibliography

Bryan EDWARDS. Historical survey of the French Colony on the island of St. Domingo. Ed.: John Stockdale, 1797. London (GBR)

Jose Luciano FRANCO. History of the Haitian revolution. Ed.: Academy of Sciences, 1966. Havana (CUB)

Erwin Rusch. Die Revolution von Saint Domingue. Ed.: Friederichsen/De Gruyter, 1930. Hamburg (ALE)

VV.AA. Political thought of emancipation. (1790-1825). Ed.: Ayacucho Library Foundation, 1985. Caracas (VEN).