Differences Between The American And The Haitian Revolution

There are many countries in the world, and all of them have different aspect, politics, culture, education and other opportunities they offer. There are poor countries but not forget some of them are also rich too. The United States of America has been classified as the greatest country in the world. Although they have some similarities, however I would not trade Haiti for the United States. I grew up in Haiti, but I am currently living in the United States. One thing for sure I will always love Haiti more than I love the United States.

The Haitian Revolution was one of the most important slave revolts in Latin American history. It started a succession of other revolutionary wars in Latin America and ended both colonialism and imperialism in the Americas. The Haitian Revolution affected people from all social castes in Haiti including the indigenous natives, mestizos, mulattos and the Afro-Latin. The idea of starting a rebellion against France began with the colony’s white elite class seeking a capitalist market. These elites in the richest mining and plantation economies felt that the European governments were limiting their growth and restricting free trades. However, the Afro-Latin, mestizos and mulattos turned the Haitian Revolution into a war for equality and built a new state. The Haitian Revolution, with the support of it large slave population and lower class citizens, eliminated slavery and founded the Republic of Haiti. Tin this essay I will discuss how mestizos, mulattos and the Afro-Latin Americans population in Haiti participate in the fight for independence and how they creation of new republics.

It was during the late half of the eighteenth century that would experience a series of turbulence across the Atlantic World. In a time that can be called an era of revolution, the Atlantic World faced a multitude of uprisings. The American Revolution in 1765 would be the start of the age of revolutions, and would later inspire the revolutions of other countries across the Atlantic, such as the French Revolution in 1789, the Haitian Revolution in 1791, and later the Latin American Revolutions during the early nineteenth century. The events of these revolutions created shockwaves across the Atlantic that would bring new developments that had a lasting impact on the world. However, since slavery was an integral part to what had transpired in

After the age of enlightenment, colonies and nations around the world began questioning their rulers and ruling nations. Liberal and nationalist ideas spread across Europe and the world, especially after the French Revolution. When these beliefs spread to the colonies of America, independence movements and revolts occurred. The Latin American revolution and Haitian revolution were both significant events during the 19th century that affected both their respective nations and the world. While both revolutions resulted similarly such that a social hierarchy based on race existed after independence, they differ in that while the Latin American revolutions placed an emphasis on ending the Spanish casta system, Haitian revolution was based on freeing slaves.

The revolutionary processes that occurred in North America and South America differed in that there was no goal for a social reform present in the North American Revolution, however, the main goal of the Haitian Revolution was for the change of the rigid social class system and abolishment of slavery. In Saint-Domingue the social class system followed the idea that the whiter a person was, the better. This meant that the people of color were of the lower class with the slaves. Before the revolution in Haiti began, the white settlers in Saint-Domingue who sought to govern themselves opposed the ideas to give political or legal equality to the slaves. Because of this opposition, a large slave revolt broke out against the white settlers. The Haitian revolution then began, fueled by the goal of the abolishment of slavery and the want for political equality. Opposite to this, the goals of the North American Revolution were mainly political and economic reforms. During the American Revolution, slavery was seen throughout all 13 colonies, and was not fought. The main goal of the American Revolution was to gain political freedom from the mother country and stop harsh economic policies like the unfair taxation that was inflicted upon the colonies. Unlike the slaves in Haiti, the slaves did not revolt, and there was no social reform that took place during the revolution. Therefore, the revolutions differed in that there was no goal for social reform in

The U.S. and Haiti both became independent nations in the same time period, but what sparked each uprising clearly shaped each country differently. When reading the Haitian Declaration of Independence what stands out the most in the document is the anger that has built up for generations and is finally released. For example Laurent Dubois and John Garrigus state in the first paragraph “In the end we must live independent or die.” This clearly shows that citizens of Haiti would rather die than be enslaved under the cruel rule of the French again. The tone that’s expressed through the Haitian Declaration of Independence is completely different than that of the American Declaration of Independence. Clearly the Americans who wrote this document had never faced cruelty over generations of family members like the Haitians but instead were being undermined by the King of Great Britain and laws he either passed or didn’t pass that greatly affected export and well being of Americans. What is most interesting to me is that both documents are declaring independence, but the Haitian document is so much more powerful and I guess “revolutionary”. I felt ten times more empowered and as a citizen at the time would feel a lot more empowered reading that document.

In 1789, locations across the globe were affected by the French Revolution. This was a revolt initiated by the people that would change France forevermore, but it also changed Haiti. Unexpectedly, the French Revolution had a significant influence on the Haitian Revolution, a major slave revolt where slaves forcefully took their freedom for the first time in history. The French Revolution impacted the Haitian Revolution by changing the mindsets of the people, inspiring the Haitian Constitution, and initiating the final phase.

The Haitian Revolution and the Latin American Revolution were revolutions that occurred in the 17th and 18th century, Mostly to obtain independence from their mother country. Haiti, under the rule of France, was one of the richest colony in the world with thousands of enslaved Africans working for sugar and coffee plantations, where as, Latin America, under the rule of Spain, had various people in different social classes, getting segregated. Although both revolutions look very similar to each other on the outside, for they were both trying to declare independence, in fact, there are more differences than there are similarities.

The Haitian idea of the revolution originated with the hearing of the success of the French Revolution and the creation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (Doc 2). Since Haiti was under the rule of France, word broke out to the slaves that the French overcame the government, giving hope for the slaves under their rule. The revolution leaders “gathered to affirm their commitment to one another at a voodoo ritual,” (Doc 5) as voodoo was a combination of African and Haitian culture. This meeting occurred on August 14, 1791 and a week later, the revolution against the French began. After their success of the battle against the French, the Haitian leader, Jean Jacques Dessalines, spoke to the Haitian people on January 1st, 1804 on the gain of their independence. Jean Jacques Dessalines states “we must at last live independent or die” and to renounce France (Doc

a. According to Jacob Crawfurd of crawfurd.dk With the French arrival a revolution started once again and when it was finally over, an army of black slaves had their victory against the army of Napoleon. On January 1st 1804, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, an African-born ex-slave could declare Haiti independent. It was the first black republic in the world and the first country in the Western hemisphere to abolish slavery completely

Many times throughout history, we can see the effects of independent thought. There was the revolt of the slaves in Rome led by Spartacus, The Zanj Rebellion in the Middle East, and The Civil War in the United States. However, The Haitian Revolution is one of the most effective and swift Slave revolts of all time. The causes of the Haitian Revolution were quite simple and was similar to any other kind of slave revolt. Many ideas carried around by slave traders at the time such as treating slaves as property, using social/racial classes, and oppressive control ultimately tipped the slaves over the edge. Ideas of independence also sparked the revolution, and one key inspiration to the cause was The French Revolution. This is not very

Throughout history, there have been dozens of times when people were extremely upset with the government that was ruling over them. However, these angry citizens only revolt a fraction of the time, due to fear of the government. Two examples of when people stood up for their rights and revolted are the French Revolution and the Haitian Revolution. These revolts are loosely connected, as many say that the Haitian Revolution was inspired by the French Revolution. The French Revolution started in 1789 and continued all the way until 1814. The people in France had discontent with the classes, as 98% of the French population was living in serious poverty. The French people

The Haitian Revolution is based on the political purpose that France had when they fought to possess Saint-Domingue (now called Haiti). France, like other empires at the time, was trying to extend its wealth and power. Therefore, possessing Haiti, having a lot of gold, sugar, coffee, indigo and others were one way to be strong and powerful. Being driven by the profits that Haiti were emanating, African slaves were continuously brought to Haiti, first to replace the Aboriginals that had died previously, but also to increase their profits. This led to the slaves outnumbering the French colonizers. Later on, the free people of color were demanding more right to the French government and after their refusal, the slaves and the free people of color revolted which led to the Haitian revolution (Simpsons 1942, 487). The French colonizers were already struggling about the equality between themselves because there was a hierarchy present within the White community. Moreover, what created a reaction to help slaves to revolt was the “religious ceremony performed at Bois Caïman by the Maroon voodoo priest Dutty Boukman, which was attended by representative slaves from several plantations” (Laguerre 1989, 1). Boukman called the help of the spirits to revolt against the white colonists. The revolution of Haiti in 1804 was a social and political uprising in the French Colony of Saint-Domingue. Voodoo rapidly became Haiti’s way out of slavery, as it helped them reunite together and gain the

Toussaint Louverture organized an army of twenty thousand that controlled most of Saint-Domingue and spread a constitution that granted equality and citizenship to all of its residents. However, he did not want to declare independence from France because he did not want to aggravate Napoleon Bonaparte into attacking the island, which he ended up doing later. After his death following his arrest, the black generals that succeeded Toussaint defeated the French troops that survived yellow fever and had driven them out of the colony. In late 1803, they declared independence, the establishment of Haiti soon followed. Although they had abolished French rule, French is the main language spoken in Haiti today. The victory of the Haitian revolution signifies the first and only successful slave revolt in modern

The Haitian Revolution is known to be one of the main focal points in the history of slave. It is known for being the biggest and triumphant slave revolution in the Western Hemisphere. The Haitian Revolution was the only revolt that led to the creation of a state free from slavery. Past the struggling, the people of Haiti eventually, after this whole situation, won their independence from the mother country France. This event in American history is crucial to teaching about the lives of slaves and the struggle of slavery.