Haitian Revolution DBQ

593 Words3 Pages

The American Revolution was the archetype for the rest of the world's major revolutions. Every major revolution is made official with some version of a declaration starting with the most famous, the Declaration of Independence. Document 2 is a section from Haities “Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.” This document states their declaration for liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. The origin of the Haitian Revolution was caused by the consistent unfair and cruel treatment of the colored workers and slaves in Haiti. Document 1 is a writing called the “Black Code” listing the “French legal code for the regulation of slavery”. The list states the amount of food each slave is required to be fed and the religion they …show more content…

The Haitian Revolution has been seen as the first successful slave revolt in the western hemisphere where the slaves got rid of their oppression and created their own government. Hatie claimed to be a republic, and wrote their own declaration to rule by. In the declaration it clearly outlaws slavery and legal bias from skintone. “Men are born free and equal in rights; social distinctions may be based only upon the general usefulness.”(Document 2). The French did not make it easy for the Hatians to gain their freedom. The White President of the colonial Assembly in Saint-Domingue wrote “We have not brought half a million slaves from the coasts of Africa to make them into French citizens.”(Document 3) This quote shows the backlash the Revolution gained from the current white authority figures. Another example of struggles the Haitian Revolution faced was after Haiti gained freedom from France, Napoleon went to Haiti prepared to battle and reinstate slavery. As explained in Document 4, Napoleon's army did not win because of the battle knowledge the Hatians had gained combined with the Republican French army not understanding the disagreement with Haitians' want for freedom. The Hatians strong mentality towards their gaining independence powered them through each of the roadblocks to their governmental freedom. The sketch in Document 5 is a picture of a scene representing the Haitian army hanging and killing the white French army. The success of the Haitians Revolt is still seen as an impressive feat in