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In the late 1700s, there were two successful revolutions in the Americas. The first was in the United States, which won independence from Britain in 1783. The second was in Haiti, which at the time was the French colony of Saint-Domingue. That second revolution began with a mass uprising of enslaved Haitians in August 1791.
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The economy of the Americas was very different in the 1700s than it is today. The Caribbean was an economic center.
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The booming sugar and coffee plantations of colonies like Saint-Domingue and Jamaica created an enormous amount of wealth. Though only the size of Maryland, Saint-Domingue created as much wealth for France as the 13 North American colonies did for England.
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The American Revolution came first. It began, of course, in 1776. While it was aimed at winning freedom from England's rule, the freedom it won was not for everyone. Slavery continued and even expanded following the revolution.
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Troops from Saint-Domingue also played a direct role in the American Revolution. In 1779, several hundred free blacks from Saint-Domingue joined the French military, which was backing the American rebels.
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United states won independence from Great Britain.
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A third revolution, in France, is also deeply connected with the other two. That revolution began in 1789 and lasted until 1799.
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When the year 1789 began, it must have seemed impossible that the slave system would ever be overturned. Yet, by 1793 all the slaves in Saint-Domingue had been freed. Also almost 90 percent of the Haitian population was enslaved.
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The Haitian Revolution went through several stages. The first lasted between 1789 and 1791. It started when free people of color began to fight for political rights, at first peacefully, and then violently. In 1791, tens of thousands of enslaved people in the north of Haiti rose up against the plantation system. They burned the sugarcane fields and killed slave masters.
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In 1793, the slave movement forced local officials to declare an end to slavery in the colony.
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The end of slavery throughout the French empire in 1794.
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Starting in late 1801, however, Napoleon Bonaparte began to reverse France's ban on slavery. He also began to strike out against Saint-Domingue's new leaders.
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Adams offered support to Toussaint Louverture, leader of the Haitian Revolution. At one point the U.S. Navy helped Louverture defeat one of his enemies, André Rigaud. (In 1802, Louverture was arrested and deported to France. He later died there in prison, leaving the leadership of the military to Dessalines.)
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Jefferson was much less willing to support Haiti. He was fearful the example of slave revolt might spread to the United States.
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In 1802 the leader of the Haitian revolution (Toussaint Louverture) was arrested.
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By 1804, the Haitian colony had become a new nation, led by a formerly enslaved man named Jean-Jacques Dessalines.
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For the Haitian revolutionaries, it became increasingly clear that Napoleon aimed to bring about a return to slavery. This led to outright war between French and Haitian forces. The Haitian rebels managed to outfight the French. In January 1804, Haiti won its independence.
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Haiti's Declaration of Independence was not just a declaration of the right to self-rule. Even more importantly, it was a powerful attack on slavery and racism.
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No foreign nation even recognized Haitian independence officially until France did so in 1825.
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The United states didn't recognize the Haitians as independent until 1862.
