How Did Free People Of Color Affect The Haitian Revolution

1083 Words5 Pages

The Haitian Revolution is a very important role in history not only for the former French Colony Saint-Domingue but for the rest of the Western Hemisphere. Though many Americans have heard about the French Revolution the Haitian Revolution ties in deeply with their colonizer and is up for debate whether the French Revolution made the Haitian one possible as well. This insurrection would be a light for the rest of the modern world that the institution of slavery would soon become a thing of the path paving a way for freedom and equality. One of the major players in this war was the Free People of Color who went from being on the side of the white ruling hierarchy to the Slave Rebellions.
Free People of Color have been prevalent in the Saint-Domingue …show more content…

French Government was hesitant to hear the pleas of their citizens of different racial backgrounds. Julien Raimond details the tough life bestowed upon them for having slightly different skin pigment, if a man wants the property of a man of color, including his wife or daughter, he can have it unless the man of the house objects. However, in objecting the white male can abuse and beat the Free Man of Color in his own house with just stating that “This mulatto disrespected me.” A man can be imprisoned or sent away in the meantime of time in order for the man to obtain his goal of courting the wife or daughter of the Free Man of Color. Through this it questions whether they were truly …show more content…

Ogé one of the wealthiest men of color worked as a merchant and worked his way into high society by bringing up populist topics such as free trade, debt, as well as representation of colonial officials. France had a relationship with Haiti similar to England and United States before the American Revolutionary War broke out one of using the colony to benefit only the needs of the home country. What many of the colonists demanded was the right to free trade instead of a strict embargo policy with a direct pipeline to France. When Ogé broke out it frayed the nerves of the Planters’ Club it was the beginning of the end for him. The tension broke out with the call of eventual emancipation of slaves. Ogé foreshadowed many future events that occurred with the Slave Insurrection from blood flowing to sacrificing himself for the public