Part 7: The Saint Dominque (Haitian) Revolution On the night of August 21, 1791, the slaves of Saint Dominque (Haiti) were in full revolt against their French slave owners. Inspired by the houngan (priest) Dutty Boukman during a religious a vodou ceremony a week earlier, the slaves along with Maroons had taken control of the entire Northern Province of Saint Dominque within ten days. Whites kept control of only a few isolated and fortified camps. The slaves sought revenge on their masters, killing, raping, torturing, and mutilating men, women, and children. Within a few weeks over 100,000 slaves had joined the revolt. Over a period of two months, 4,000 whites had been killed and over 180 sugar plantations had been burned, as well as and hundreds of coffee and indigo plantations. By 1792, the slave rebels controlled a third of Saint Dominque. To protect France’s economic interest, world’s largest sugar producer, the newly elected French government granted civil and political rights to free blacks and free people of color (mulattos) in March 1792. This was also a ploy to draw the free people of color to the side of the whites, thus, keeping them from joining the black slave revolt.1 Other European countries, as well as the United States, were not pleased with this decision. However, the French government was bent on stopping the slave revolt. France also sent 6,000 troops to Saint Dominque. To see that these policies were enforced, France sent Leger Sonthonax as Civil Commissioner to Saint Dominque. In 1793, France declared war on Great Britain. The white planters in Saint Dominque who were royalist (opposed to the new French Republic) made agreements with Great Britain giving it sovereignty over Saint Dominque of the island of Hispaniola. Spain which controlled the other part of Hispaniola (Dominican Republic) also joined Great Britain against France. Many French planters as well as some free people of color left Saint Dominque for the shelter of British controlled Jamaica. This left only 6,000 whites in Saint Dominque. Spain invaded Saint Dominque and was joined by a slave army led by General Toussaint L’ Ouverture. For most of the conflict, the fighting was done by the black slave army with the aid of Spain and Great Britain, which supplied them with food, ammunition, arms, medicine, naval support, and military advisors. On June 20, 1793, Francais Galband, who was sympathetic to the royalists, attempted to take control of Cap-Francois. Cap-Francois was the capital and the seat of the French Republic power in Saint Dominque. However, the city was bombarded by Galband and burned. Francais Galband along with several whites left Saint Dominque with many never to return. The number of whites remaining in Saint Dominque was roughly 3,500. Civil Commissioner Leger Sonthonax who had been against the slave uprising, now reached out to them in order the save Saint Dominque as a colony of the French Republic. The person he sought was General Toussaint L’ Ouverture. General L’ Ouverture agreed to fight for the French in exchange for the freedom of all slaves. On August 29, 1793, just two years after the slave rebellion had started, Sonthonax proclaimed that the slaves in the north province were free (this did not apply to all slaves). And even this proclamation had severe limits on their freedom. At this time General L’Ouverture began to change his philosophy and political stance on the French. But he was not ready to accept fully the terms of Sonthonax’s proclamation. In September and October, Sonthonax granted freedom to all slaves in Saint Dominque. However, the slaves were still reluctant to join Sonthonax and fight for the French. In the meantime, there were still white colonist opposed the emancipation of the slaves as well as many free people of color. On February 4, 1794, the French National Convention adopted this act and abolished slavery in all French colonies. But it wasn’t until May of that year, when news reached General L’Ouverture, that his well-disciplined and battle tested freed slaves would join the French. Footnote: 1. Black slaves were not the only ones involved in their fight for freedom during the Saint Dominque Revolution. There were also white sympathizers, free people of color, and a few remaining Tainos.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 04:55:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015