The Slave Revolt on Saint-Domingue

Giraudon/Art Resource, NY

Question!

Which group – whites, mulattos, or slaves – dominated the population in

Saint-Domingue (modern-day Haiti) in the 1790s?

Guess the population breakdown in percentages.

Saint-Domingue’s Racial Breakdown in the 18th Century

• 20,000-40,000 whites– 3.5% - 7%

• 30,000 free people of color– 5%– 15,000 mulattos

• 2.5%

• 500,000 slaves– 88%

• The most profitable European colony in the Caribbean• 1685 Code noir guarantees equality b/w free blacks and whites• 1760s colonial admin. institute discriminatory rules.• 1790 – Nat’l As. DOES NOT extend Const. changes to colonies

– July: Oge’s failed rebellion lead N.A. to grant citizenry to free blacks w/ prop.

• White elites furious; fighting begins b/w whites and free blacks

2nd Stage: Enter the Slaves• Aug. 22 – slaves revolts begin on plantations (2,000 rebels)

– voodoo a key component

• Aug. 27 – 10,000 rebels begin destroying sugar and coffee plantations

• April 4, 1792 – Nat’l As. gives full rights to all free people, but not slaves

• Spanish in Santo Domingo begin recruiting French slaves

– British and Spanish seeking to take the French portion of the island (mercantilism!!)

• Oct. 1793 – French abolish slavery in Saint Dominigue

• Feb. 4, 1794 – Fr. abolish slavery everywhere

• By 1796, French regain control of the island.

– Due in large part to Touissaint L’Ouverture, who switched sides from Sp. to Fr.

Toussaint L’Ouverture

Toussaint named Lieutenant Governor in 1796, Governor General 1797-1802

Toussaint controlled all of Saint-Domingue by 1800 after defeating white rival Rigaud. Still forced former-slaves to continue working on

plantations.Controlled entire island of Hispaniola (defeated

Spain) by 1801; drafted constitution & abolished slavery throughout island

In 1802, Napoleon (who took over France in 1799) tried to reestablish slavery in Saint-Domingue

Toussaint Louverture:Haitian Revolution (continued)

Toussaint agreed to truce when told by French General Leclerc (Napoleon’s brother-in-law) lie that if fighting stopped, slavery would not begin again; Toussaint imprisoned (died in French jail in 1803) & slavery reinstituted

Leclerc told Napoleon that all blacks over age 12 should be killed to preserve peace; when Leclerc died, successor Rochambeau brought man-eating dogs from Cuba to hunt blacks & worsened massacres Leclerc started

After Toussaint died, his former general Dessalines took command & defeated French troops, declaring the independent country of Haiti on Jan. 1, 1804

Accepting defeat in the New World, Napoleon pulled out entirely, negotiating the Louisiana Purchase w/ Jefferson in 1803

Significance?

“Haitians were the first, and remain the only, enslaved people in human history to have overthrown slavery and established an independent polity rule by former slaves in place of one controlled by their masters.”

--Historian James Sidbury