1. Haitian Revolution
Maria Barun, Rachel Shin, Zoe Koch, Laura Smith, Kylie Garner, Sara Plomondon

2. Contextualization
Discovered in early 1600s by former pirates and buccaneers
Originally called St. Domingue
French colony...tremendously helped the French economy
Island produced sugar, cotton, indigo, and coffee
Full of slave filled plantations
Slave system promulgated by Louis XIV (aka Louis the Great)
Louis XIV sent a group of French men and representatives to take over the island’s people and economy
French culture dominated the island
Both Christianity and Petwo Vodou were practiced by the islanders

3. Causes of Revolution (SPICE)
Inherently cruel slavery
Population of 40,000; more than half (about 28,000) were people of color
Series of violent conflicts between slave owners and slaves
Large maroon communities around island that would attack plantations for food, weapons, tools, and recruits (plantation owners lost many slaves)
The French sent about 500 gens de couleur to North America to help with the American Revolution
White settlers wanted to govern themselves but refused the proposals for equality for the gens de couleur, which was the last straw before the Haitian Civil War broke out

4. Goals of the Revolution
Abolish slavery in St. Domingue
Independence from slaves
Change the social classes
4 groups
White landlords in France
Wealthy free people of color
Poor whites
Slaves of color
Human rights for everyone regardless of heritage

5. Results of the Revolution (SPICE)
First successful slave revolt in history
Strong army created by Louverture
New democratic government
New Constitution created
Hundreds of thousands people died, not just Haitians, French Soldiers
Fighting, Yellow Fever
Environment greatly destroyed
Fires decimated the island
Renamed island from Saint-Domingue to Haiti, what the island was called by the native inhabitants before Columbus’s arrival

6. Timeline of Major Events
1760s: Rights of colored people increasingly taken away
1793: Toussaint had built a strong and skilled slave army
1801: Toussaint created a constitution of equality and citizenship
1803: Saint Domingue declares independence
August 1791: Beginning of slave revolts after civil war had broken out
1797: Army of 20,000 led by Toussaint controlled Saint-Domingue
1802: Napoleon sent 40,000 troops to Saint Domingue
January 4, 1804: Proclamation of the establishment Haiti

7. Global Impact
Napoleon retreated his forces and gave up building an empire in the Western Hemisphere. Napoleon reversed the French abolition of slavery and reinstated slavery in the French colonies
Revolutionary ideals traveled beyond Saint-Domingue to the Spanish and Portuguese colonies
US Gov. worried a similar thing would happen in USA
In 1807, Britain permanently abolished the slave trade, although the practice of slavery was not abolished in the British Empire until 1834