Haitian Declaration Of Independence Research Paper

The Revolutionary Cry of Haiti

The Haitian Declaration of Independence, was written by Louis Boisrond- Tonneree and read by General Dessalines on January 1, 1804. The document was then translated by Dr. Laurent Dubois and Dr. John Garrigus in the book Slave Revolution in the Caribbean 1789-1804: A Brief History with Documents. The Haitian declaration of Independence was heavily influenced by the French Revolution, which partly took place because of financial difficulty, i.e. price raises and taxes. Also, the commoners were unsatisfied with the system of hierarchy and wanted equality in all aspects: religious, political and social, just to name a few. The French commoners, nobles, along with a few clergies, invented The National Assembly. The

The frustration of Haiti, which was named Saint Dominigue at the time, came from the ruler Napoleon Bonaparte who sent troops to Saint Dominigue to reintegrate slavery into the island once more. Back in 1790, free black men commanded the French to grant them equal rights based on The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens. An article from The Declaration of the Rights of a Man and Citizen states, “Men are born and remain free and equal in right.” Another article of the same document states, “The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom…” The French allowed black men their full rights under the Rights

The Haitian Declaration of Independence was written in French instead of their native kreyole. The meeting of the declaration took place in Gonaives and was headed by one of the late Toussaint’s generals, Jean-Jacques Dessalines. Saint Domingue’s name officially changed to what we know now as Haiti. Less than 350,000 Haitians survived the revolt. Although many Caribbean islands revolted, Haiti by far carried the most success. Inevitably, slavery ended in Haiti, however, the land was left poor and the soil was left destroyed. There was once opportunity in Haiti, the French were aware that Haiti was rich in sugars, coffee, indigo and cotton. Dessalines was now in power and being aware of the economic downfall of Haiti, he reinstalled the sugar plantation industry. As imagined, free people were not willing to do a slave’s work and thus the restoration of the sugar plantation failed