Similarities Between Haitian And French Revolution

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The Haitian and French Revolutions were very similar. The French Revolution inspired the Haitians in the lower class to revolt for more freedom and equality just like the French revolution. In many ways, the Haitians and French had similar economic, social and political issues that caused these revolutions to happen. Issues such as the social hierarchy, the form of government, and the allocation of resources and being overtaxed. The first major issue was social class structure of France and Haiti. In France there were several social classes called estates, and these estates were ranked from first to third. The French 1st estate that consisted of the catholic church, the 2nd estate consisted of the nobilities and the 3rd estate comprised of everyone else, the common people (Voyages pg. 496). The Haitian colony did not have estates like in France, rather the colony had the grand blancs, then the gens de couleur, the petit blancs, and on the at the bottom class were slaves. The 3rd estate and the Haitian lower classes had no decision making power in anything that happened in the country or the colony respectively. In France, the 1st and 2nd estates would conspire together to maintain dominance, leaving the 3rd estate with only one vote and no power. …show more content…

The Haitians thought they could also obtain freedoms similar to those in France. A key influence was Toussaint L’Ouverture who was a freed was a slave. Addiiontionalyl Toussaint’s master allowed him to read and it was his education which allowed him to become a leader. (UNESCO description of Toussaint L’Ouverture) L’Ouverture experienced 2 important things: what it was like to be a slave, and what it was like to be a poorly treated member of the lower class having few to no rights. Toussaint’s experience allowed him to lead the Haitian rebellion against French