Post on 05-Jun-2018
transcript
Background of Saint Domingue
French Colony
Treaty of Rijswijk (1697) ceded western third of Hispaniola from
Spain to France
Richest colony in the West Indies
Driven by slave labor & plantation agriculture
Sugar, coffee, cocoa, indigo, tobacco, cotton…
Social Hierarchy: Whites
Gran Blancs - ~20,000; planters;
Owned slaves
Disenchanted with France (trade restrictions; no formal
representation w/French gov’t)
Petit Blancs
Less powerful than planters
Artisans, shop-keepers, merchants, teachers, etc.
May have a few slaves
Less independence-minded; loyal to France
Committed to slavery& very anti-black (competition for
jobs & power)
Social Hierarchy: Free Persons of Color
~30,000
Half mulattoes, often freed by father-masters
Mulattoes feared by slaves – unpredictable treatment by masters,
so slaves didn’t want to associate w/them
Half purchased freedom or were manumitted
Strove to be more ‘white’ than whites – denied African roots, well
educated, Catholics…
Desired independence to gain more freedoms & independence
Social Hierarchy: Blacks
Slaves ~500,000
Outnumbered free people 10:1
VERY bad slavery conditions
Divided behavior by occupation:
Domestic Slaves – 100,000 – better treated; identified more with white & mulatto masters; often remained loyal to masters
Field Hands – 400,000 – harshest, most hopeless lives
Maroons – estimated tens of thousands
Runaway slaves
Lived in small villages in the mountains
Kept African ways
Bitterly anti-slavery, but were not going to fight for freedom alone
Sometimes raided plantations
Motivations for Independence
French Revolution began 1789, sparking Haitian Revolution in 1791
Exclusif – system requiring Saint-Domingue to sell 100% of her exports to France alone &
buy 100% imports from France
Prices favorable to France
Contraband trade grew with British in Jamaica & to the United States
Planters united with free people of color to rebel against oppression of France
Curious alliance… whites continued to oppress free people of color
Petit Blancs remained outside – not willing to ally with free people of color
This did NOT include slaves (this movement driven by slave owners envisioning a free Saint-
Domingue with slaves, like the US)
Slave Rebellions
Simultaneously, slave rebellions occurred
Slave owners, petit blancs, and free blacks all feared slave revolts
Poisons used against masters (Grew naturally)
No allies & not even unified among slaves (some remained loyal to
masters)
Maroons were in contact, but had no formal alliances
Earliest Period of Revolution: 1789-1791
People of Saint-Domingue had to choose sides during French Rev.
White Cockades – loyal to monarchy
Red Cockades – supported revolution
More fluid identification than in France
26 August 1789 – Declaration of the Rights of Man & Citizen adopted
Interested free persons of color
French remained ‘gradualist’ in ideas of freeing slaves (wanted to maintain prosperity of West Indian colonies)
28 March 1790 – General Assembly declared “all the proprietors … ought to be active citizens”
Exclude petit blancs?
Argue citizenship for free persons of color who owned property? (most did…)
1789-1791
Conflicting demands on people’s loyalties >> changes in ‘sides’ and
allies
Petit blancs & white planters allied against French bureaucrats over local control…
but gran blancs did not advocate for full rights for petit blancs (didn’t last long)
White planters & free blacks (all rich) allied too late
Result: 3-sided civil war
Petit blancs formed a Colonial Assembly at St. Marc
White planters saw this as against their interests; formed own at Cape Francois
Split between colonial whites strengthened French gov’t officials
Petit & Gran blancs carried out individual wars of terror against blacks
Oge Rebellion
Rich mualtto Vincent Oge had been in Paris in March 1790
Attempted to get the General Assembly to specify provisions of citizenship for free persons of color , but failed
Returned to Saint-Domingue & force issue
Met with anti-slavery advocate Thomas Clarkson in England, then went to the U.S. to meet with abolitionists &
purchase arms
Formed a military band in Saint-Domingue with Jean-Baptiste Chavannes
Rejected help of black slaves
Forces badly beaten in November; Oge & Chavannes escaped to Santo Domingo
Spanish arrested & returned them
9 March 1791
Captured soldiers hanged
Oge & Chavanned tortured to death in the public square (Rack)
End of first mini-war in Haitian Rev. – slaves not yet involved or even at issue!
Slave Rebellion of 21 August 1791
Typical date of the beginning of Haitian Revolution
Increasing slave desertion >> many maroons
Woman at Petwo Voodoo service on 14 August sacrificed a black pig;
speaking in voice of Ogoun, Voodoo warrior spirit, announced names of
those who were to lead the slaves & maroons in a revolt: Boukman, Jean-
Francois, Biassou, & Jeannot
Toussaint, Henry Christophe, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, & Andre Rigaud took
places later
Maroons & slaves readied themselves for the assault
Whole northern plain surrounding Cape Francois was in flames
Plantation owners murdered
Women raped & killed
Children slaughtered & bodies mounted on poles
More than 1,000 whites killed
Revolt in the South
Mireblaais had a union of people of color & slaves, menacing the whole southern region
Defeated white soldiers out of Port-Au-Prince
Marched on the city
Did not want to defeat the whites, rather to join them (Free people of color still not that concerned
with emancipating slaves)
In response, on 20 September 1791, the Colonial Assembly recognized the May decree &
citizenship of all free persons of color, regardless of property or birth status
Meanwhile, in France the uprising prompted the General Assembly to change its mind on the
May Decree & revoked it on 23 September
Ordered 3 commissioners to go to Saint-Domingue with 18,000 soldiers to restore slavery, order, &
French control
French Response
Commissioners arrived in December 1791
Had 6,000 instead of 18,000 troops
Whites had broken alliance with free people of color
Some whites joined free blacks
South & West divided into three factions & whites in Port-au-Prince were
weakened
Became apparent that the troops could not restore peace
Reversed itself again & gave full citizenship to people of color on 4 April
1792
Prepared Second Civil Commission to go to Saint-Domingue & enforce
the April 4 Decree
Sent Felicite Leger Sonthonax
Review
By 1790 the colony of Saint-Domingue -- present day Haiti -- was torn by numerous dissensions:
Many white planters wanted independence from Revolutionary France.
Free persons of color, attracted to the concept of equality embedded in the doctrine of The Rights of
Man, were struggling for full rights of citizenship.
Slaves, hearing the talk of human equality, and oppressed by inhuman conditions, revolted to
improve their lot.
Each group strove against the other, making strange alliances both inside the colony and with
factions in France, England, the U.S. and Spain.
Saint-Domingue was a colony in full revolt, and on the verge of being lost to France. The French National Assembly sent the Second Civil Commission to try to save the colony for
France and restore Saint-Domingue's productivity.
Sonthonax Arrives
By early 1792, slaves controlled most of the northern plain
But, French more scared of struggle between free persons of color & white planters
Whites wanted independence & looked at U.S. as an example
Free persons of color looked to France as their sole hope (had citizenship)
Needed to end quarrel between whites & free blacks, then easily reinstall slavery
Sonthonax arrived 18 September 1792 & quickly achieved 3 goals
Pacified/contained slave rebellion
Defeated primary white resistance
Held colony for France
February 1793
France declared war on Britain
British navy cut off Sonthonax’s supply line
British invaded Saint-Domingue, unraveling Sonthonax’s achievements
Louis XVI guillotined >> France became a republic w/o a king
Provided new grounds for resistance from white planters
Some became royalists (king would return old patterns)
Toussaint L’Ouverture
Former slave who joined rebellion as medical officer
Ability to organize, train, & lead became apparent
Rode to become a general, first under Biassou, then
on his own
Did not trust French after the execution of Louis XVI
Made alliance with the Spanish, who were also at war
with France
February Takeaway Points
Colonists now had foreign support & reopened
struggle against the April Decree
Slaves had gone over to the Spanish
Sonthonax faced with invasion from British out of
Jamaica
Could not count on reinforcements from France…
SO, Sonthonax Frees All Slaves!
British probably going to attack, as well as the
Spanish with their Saint-Domingue slave army
Galbaud, a Frenchman left in charge of Cap
Fancois betrayed Sonthonax
It looked like Galbaud’s forces might win, so Sonthonax
offered freedom & citizenship to 15,000 slaves >> quickly defeated Galbaud
Freed newly freed slave soldiers’ families next
23 August 1793 – unilaterally decreed
emancipation of slaves
Hoped the 500,000 slaves would join the fight on behalf of
France
British Invasion
Landed at Jeremie on 19 September 1793
Welcomed by white property owners who agreed Saint-
Domingue would become a British colony
Slavery would be reinstated
People of color would lose citizenship
British economic policy would favor colonists more so than
France’s had
Captured Port-au-Prince by 4 June 1794 as well as most
port towns
Looked as though the French could not hold out against
the British / Spanish onslaught
L’Ouverture Switches Sides
Went to the French side
Fighting for emancipation
Having problems with the Spanish (didn’t trust him)
Knew Spanish were not strong in Europe
Having problems with Jean-Francois and Biassou
Black & mulatto forces followed
Removal of Spanish
Defeated by French in Europe – 22 July 1795
Ceded Santo Domingo to the French
L’Ouverture’s army took over later
Spanish black armies disbanded
Many joined L’Ouverture
Jean-Francois retired to Spain
Biassou went to Florida
Britain developed difficulties too
Ceased fighting to address rebellion in Jamaica
Internal Power Struggle
Toussaint L’Ouverture vs. Andre Rigaud & Villatte
Mulattoes suspicious of L’Ouverture
Plotted against L’Ouverture & the French
First move against General Laveaux (governor & head of French forces)
Taken at Le Cap by Villatte
L’Ouverture marched on Cap Francois with 10,000 men
Mulatto forces capitulated & released Laveaux on 22 March
Villatte fled into exile
Laveaux made L’Ouverture Lieutenant Governor
Sonthonax Returns
L’Ouverture realized Sonthonax and Laveaux stood in his way
Engineered an election where Sonthonax & Laveaux were
‘elected’ to return to France to the National Assembly
Took a while to get Sonthonax to leave
3 Challenges left to L’Ouverture’s authority:
Belief of the National Assembly that he was not loyal to France
Andre Rigaud & mulatto forces
Santo Domingo next door
L’Ouverture & Independence
Appeared loyal to France & sympathetic to
U.S. support in Saint-Domingue’s
independence
Strong French culture in Saint-Domingue,
especially among the affronchais (Freed before
the emancipation) to separate themselves from
slaves
The War of Knives
16 June 1799 – Rigaud attacked Petit Goave
Killed many with swords
Gruesome excesses on both sides of this civil war
Eventually centered around Rigaud’s stronghold at Jacmel
Jean-Jacques Dessalines besieged for L’Ouverture
Dessalines would become first president & emperor of Free Haiti in 1804
Petion, Rigaud’s general, would become the president of the Republic of Haiti in 1807
Jacmel fell 11 March 1800
Rigaud fled to France; worked for Napoleon
Dessalines then employed by L’Ouverture to pacify the south
Butchered mulattoes, estimated from 200 to 10,000
1800 & Conquest of Santo Domingo
By August, L’Ouverture was ruler of Saint-Domingue & no foreign
power was on soil
Governor-general of whole colony
Santo Domingo was intolerable
Spanish ceded the colony to France in 1795,
but never actually turned it over
Spanish presence there was actually in
France’s interest, to check the rebellion
Now Toussaint wanted to claim authority of the entire island
Captured Santo Domingo City 26 January 1801
Consolidated power & emerged as governor-general of Hispaniola
Constitution
26 July 1801 – Toussaint published new constitution
Abolished slavery
Allowed importation of free blacks to work plantations
Roman Catholicism as state religion
Claimed himself governor-general for life
All men 14-55 in state militia
Remained loyal & subservient to France… but didn’t run it by Napoleon
first!
US & Britain didn’t believe the loyalty claims; strove to out-do one another in trade
w/Saint-Domingue
Napoleon declared “This gilded African” would have to go
Leclerc Invasion
Charles Leclerc – brother-in-law of Napoleon – sent with
12,000 soldiers
Instructed to make ties & break them
Promise black leadership places in French government … then
deport black leaders who seemed troublesome
Disarm blacks & return colony to slavery
Didn’t fool many
Arrived 2 February 1802 in Cap Francois, defended by
Henri Christophe (second president & only King of Haiti)
Threatened to burn the city to the ground if Leclerc tried to
disembarck… & he did!
Final Stage of Revolution: the Leclerc Campaign
Quickly took control of coastal towns, although Haitians burned them as they retreated
Phase 1: Crete-a-Pierrot
Desalinnes defended former British fort
Both sides claimed victory (French had fort, but lost
more men)
Haitians retreated to the Cahos mountains >> guerilla
war from then on
Phase 2: Surrender
26 April – Christophe & troops surrendered; Toussaint on 1 May
At first, Toussaint retired to his plantation… debate over if he plotted revenge at that point
Met with the French 7 June >> shipped to prison in France
Fort de Joux; died 7 April 1803
Final Uprising
Haitians incensed by treatment of L’Ouverture
Leclerc’s men unsuccessful in disarming blacks from June to October 1802
Dessalines & Cristophe worked with the French – more interested in own power than
anything
Dessalines flipped & took leadership of the rebels
Rebel leaders met 2 November at Arcahaye, south of St Marc
Elected Dessalines commander-in-chief
Chose red & blue as their banner
Same day – Leclerc died of yellow fever & General Rochambeau took command, reinforced by another 10,000 troops
By this point, most maroons also saw French as the enemy & joined with the Haitians to drive out the French
Dessalines & Rochambeau
Both capable & ruthless leaders
Traded atrocities: torture, rape, murder, mass murder of non-
combatants, mutilation, forcing families to watch…
Rochambeau’s forces made considerable gains in early
1803 despite yellow fever & increasing numbers of Haitian
fighters
Britain & France reengaged in war on 18 May 1803 >> Britain
supported Dessalines with arms & naval support
Same war also cut supplies to Rochambeau
French held only Le Cap by end of October
Evacuated 19 November 1803
Independence Day
1 January 1804
France formally removed from Hispaniola after 13 years of war
Country in ruins
Masses uneducated & struggling
Other nations – U.S., Britain, Spain, France – skeptical & nervous
about all-black republic
Haitian Heads of State
Name Began Office Left Office Title(s)
Toussaint Louverture 1 January 1791 6 May 1802 Governor-General for Life
Jean-Jacques Dessalines 1 January 1804 17 October 1806 Emperor of Haiti
Henri Christophe 17 October 1806 8 October 1820 President of the State of Haiti -1811; King
of Haiti 1811-1820 (northern Haiti)
Alexandre Petion 17 October 1806 29 March 1818 President; President for Life (southern
Haiti)
Jean-Pierre Boyer 30 March 1818 13 February 1843 President for Life (all of Hispaniola was
Republic of Haiti from 1822)
Michel Martelly 14 May 2011 Present President