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Haiti: An Island in Name Only
A unit examining the global implications of the Haitian slave revolt
The Humanities in Latin America and Caribbean Studies…A Key to the Past, Present, and
Future
Kelly Reynolds
Summer 2006
Day 1
Title: Colonial history of Haiti
Concept/Main Idea of Lesson: The history of Haitian colonial rule will be examined using two
separate articles as catalysts for discussion.
Intended Grade Level: 9-12
Infusion/Subject Area(s): Social Studies, World History
State and National Curriculum Standards:
Florida Sunshine State Standards


Time, Continuity, and Change 1:4
People, Places, and Environments 2:1,2,and 6
NCSS Standards


Individual Development and Identity: Social studies programs should include
experiences that provide for the study of individual development and identity.
Time, Continuity, and Change: Social studies programs should include experiences
that provide for the study of the ways human beings view themselves in and over
time.
I. Instructional Objective: Students will examine the foundations of slavery in Haiti and look
at the organization of the slaves as they revolt and eventually win their independence
from France.
II.
Learning Activities Sequence:
a. Set Induction/Lesson Initiating Behavior: Open the class by asking a
few questions that will get the students thinking about revolutions on a
general level. 1. Ask your students to discuss in pairs the following
questions:

Is there anything worth losing your job for?
Going to jail for?

Dying for?

What is a revolution? Write this definition on a piece of chart
paper.

Why do people begin revolutions?


What kind of choices and decisions have to be made by people
deciding to revolt?

III.
http://www.itsyourworld. org/schools/lessonPlans/lesson2. php
b.
Learning Activities: Now that the students are situated in the revolution topic,
give a brief lecture describing the colonial history of St. Domingue (later Haiti).
Once you have talked about the colonists’ need for slaves to work the sugar
fields, pass out the article The Haitian Revolution Revisited. Have them read it
out loud to make sure they understand the language. After a discussion of
some of the reasons the people of St. Domingue revolted, pass out the article
The Slave Who Defeated Napoleon. This is a brief narrative of Toussaint
L’Ouverture and will provide students with a general overview of the revolution
that would ensue do to the conditions presented in the previous article.
c.
Closure: After discussing the articles, ask the class if they feel the Haitians
were justified in their actions against their French government.
Evaluation: After a few students have expressed their opinions on the question
used in the closure activity, have students write their own opinion down on a
sheet of notebook paper which will be submitted for a grade.
They should address the following questions in their writing:
 Were the Haitians justified in starting a revolution? Why/why not?
 What other way could the Haitians possibly achieved their freedom without
revolting?
 Would you have joined in the revolution if you were living in Haiti at the time?
IV.
Materials and Resources: The Haitian Revolution Revisited
Selections from The Black Jacobins, First of three parts
From Haiti Progress, Vol. 18, no. 22, 16-22 August 2000.
Jennifer Brainard. The Slave Who Defeated Napoleon.
http://www.historywiz.com/toussaint.htm
V.
References: Bentley, Jerry H. (2003). Traditions and Encounters. New York,
NY: McGraw-Hill.
Bulliet, Richard (2005). The Earth and Its People. Boston,
MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Stearns, Peter N. (2004). World Civilizations: The Global Experience.
New York, NY: Pearson Longman.
VI.
Internet Links
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/169.html
http://www.historywiz.com/toussaint.htm
The Haitian Revolution Revisited
Selections from The Black Jacobins, First of three parts
From Haiti Progress, Vol. 18, no. 22, 16-22 August 2000
Two hundred and nine years ago on Aug. 17, the French colony of Saint-Domingue erupted in a giant
slave rebellion. It would mark the beginning of thirteen years of revolution, culminating in the 1804
declaration of independence of Haiti, the first nation in Latin America.
Sixty-two years ago, a Trinidadian scholar named C.L.R. James published an account of that first and
last successful slave revolution, entitled The Black Jacobins. The work has become the definitive
English-language account of the period.
In recognition both of the revolution and James, we will reproduce passages from The Black Jacobins
over the next three weeks. We encourage any reader who has not read the book to do so, and anyone
who has, to return to it. Rarely has any writer so concisely presented and effectively analyzed one of
history's most pivotal class struggles.
James' many footnotes detailing his sources have been omitted, and some paragraphing has been
added to ease reading. We have retained James' references to the colony as San Domingo. The first
selection comes from the chapter entitled The Property.
The stranger in San Domingo was awakened by the cracks of the whip, the stifled cries, and the
heavy groans of the Negroes who saw the sun rise only to curse it for its renewal of their labours and
their pains. Their work began at day-break: at eight they stopped for a short breakfast and worked
again till midday. They began again at two-o'clock and worked until evening, sometimes till ten or
eleven.
A Swiss traveller has left a famous description of a gang of slaves at work. They were about a
hundred men and women of different ages, all occupied in digging ditches in a cane-field, the
majority of them naked or covered with rags. The sun shone down with full force on their heads.
Sweat rolled from all parts of their bodies. Their limbs, weighed down by the heat, fatigued with the
weight of their picks and by the resistance of the clayey soil baked hard enough to break their
implements, strained themselves to overcome every obstacle. A mournful silence reigned. Exhaustion
was stamped on every face, but the hour of rest had not yet come. The pitiless eye of the Manager
patrolled the gang, and several foremen armed with long whips moved periodically between them,
giving stinging blows to all who, worn out by fatigue, were compelled to take a rest - men or women,
young or old.
This was no isolated picture. The sugar plantations demanded an exacting and ceaseless labour. The
tropical earth is backed hard by the sun. Round every carry of land intended for cane it was necessary
to dig a large ditch to ensure circulation of air. Young canes required attention for the first three or
four months and grew to maturity in 14 or 18 months. Cane could be planted and would grow at any
time of the year, and the reaping of one crop was the signal for the immediate digging of ditches and
the planting of another. Once cut, they had to be rushed to the mill lest the juice became acid by
fermentation. The extraction of the juice and manufacture of the raw sugar went on for three weeks a
month, 16 or 18 hours a day, for seven or eight months in the year.
Worked like animals, the slaves were housed like animals, in huts built around a square planted with
provisions and fruits. These huts were about 20 to 25 feet long, 12 feet wide and about 15 feet in
height, divided by partitions into two or three rooms. They were windowless and light entered only
by the door. The floor was beaten earth; the bed was of straw, hides or a rude contrivance of cords
tied on posts. On these slept indiscriminately mother, father, and children. Defenseless against their
masters, they struggled with overwork and its usual complement - under-feeding. The Negro Code,
Louis XIV's attempt to ensure them humane treatment, ordered that they should be given, every
week, two pots and a half of manioc, three cassavas, two pounds of salt beef or three pounds of salted
fish - about food enough to last a healthy man for three days. Instead, their masters gave them half-adozen pints of coarse flour, rice, or peas, and half-a-dozen herrings. Worn out by their labours all
through the day and far into the night, many neglected to cook and ate the food raw. The ration was
so small and given to them so irregularly that often the last half of the week found them with nothing.
Even the two hours they were given in the middle of the day, and the holidays on Sundays and feastdays, were not for rest, but in order that they might cultivate a small piece of land to supplement their
regular rations. Hard-working slaves cultivated vegetables and raised chickens to sell in the towns to
make a little in order to buy rum and tobacco; and here and there a Napoleon of finance, by luck and
industry, could make enough to purchase his freedom. Their masters encouraged them in this practice
of cultivation, for in years of scarcity the Negroes died in thousands, epidemics broke out, the slaves
fled into the woods, and plantations were ruined.
The difficulty was that though one could trap them like animals, transport them in pens, work them
alongside an ass or a horse and beat both with the same stick, stable them and starve them, they
remained, despite their black skins and curly hair, quite invincibly human beings; with the
intelligence and resentments of human beings. To cow them into the necessary docility and
acceptance necessitated a régime of calculated brutality and terrorism, and it is this that explains the
unusual spectacle of property-owners apparently careless of preserving their property: they had first
to ensure their own safety.
For the least fault, the slaves received the harshest punishment. In 1685 the Negro Code authorized
whipping, and in 1702 one colonist, a Marquis, thought any punishment which demanded more than
100 blows of the whip was serious enough to be handed over to the authorities. Later the number was
fixed at 39, then raised to 50.
But the colonists paid no attention to these regulations and slaves were not infrequently whipped to
death. The whip was not always an ordinary cane or woven cord, as the Code demanded. Sometimes
it was replaced by the rigoise a thick thong of cow- hide, or by the lianes - local growths of reeds,
supple and pliant like whalebone. The slaves received the whip with more certainty and regularity
than they received their food. It was the incentive to work and the guardian of discipline. But there
was no ingenuity that fear or a depraved imagination could devise which was not employed to break
their spirit and satisfy the lusts and resentment of their owners and guardians - irons on the hands and
feet, blocks of wood that the slaves had to drag behind them wherever they went, the tin-plate mask
designed to prevent the slaves eating the sugar-cane, the iron collar. Whipping was interrupted in
order to pass a piece of hot wood on the buttocks of the victim; salt, pepper, citron, cinders, aloes,
and hot ashes were poured on the bleeding wounds. Mutilations were common, limbs, ears and
sometimes the private parts, to deprive them of the pleasures which they could indulge in without
expense. Their masters poured burning wax on their arms and hands and shoulders, emptied the
boiling cane sugar over their heads, burned them alive, roasted them on slow fires, filled them with
gunpowder and blew them up with a match; buried them up to the neck and smeared their heads with
sugar that the flies might devour them; fastened them near to nests of ants or wasps; made them eat
their excrement, drink their urine, and lick the saliva of other slaves. One colonist was known in
moments of anger to throw himself on his slaves and stick his teeth into their flesh.
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/169.html
The Slave Who Defeated Napoleon
by Jennifer Brainard
Napoleon was one of the greatest generals who ever lived. But at the end of the 18th century a selfeducated slave with no military training drove Napoleon out of Haiti and led his country to
independence. The remarkable leader of this slave revolt was Toussaint Breda (later called Toussaint
L'Ouverture, and sometimes the “black Napoleon”). Slave revolts from this time normally ended in
executions and failure – this story is the exception.
It began in 1791 in the French colony of Saint Dominique (later Haiti). Though born a slave in Saint
Dominique, Toussaint learned of Africa from his father, who had been born a free man there. He
learned that he was more than a slave, that he was a man with brains and dignity. He was fortunate in
having a liberal master who had him trained as a house servant and allowed him to learn to read and
write. Toussaint took full advantage of this, reading every book he could get his hands on. He
particularly admired the writings of the French Enlightenment philosophers, who spoke of individual
rights and equality.
In 1789 the French Revolution rocked France. The sugar plantations of Saint Dominique, though far
away, would never be the same. Spurred on by such Enlightenment thinkers as Jean-Jacques
Rousseau, the early moderate revolutionaries considered seriously the question of slavery. Those
moderate revolutionaries were not willing to end slavery but they did apply the "Rights of Man" to all
Frenchmen, including free blacks and mulattoes (those of mixed race). Plantation owners in the
colonies were furious and fought the measure. Finally the revolutionaries gave in and retracted the
measure in 1791.
The news of this betrayal triggered mass slave revolts in Saint Dominique, and Toussaint became the
leader of the slave rebellion. He became known as Toussaint L'Ouverture (the one who finds an
opening) and brilliantly led his rag-tag slave army. He successfully fought the French (who helped by
succumbing to yellow fever in large numbers) as well as invading Spanish and British.
By 1793, the revolution in France was in the hands of the Jacobins, the most radical of the
revolutionary groups. This group, led by Maximilian Robespierre, was
responsible for the Reign of Terror, a campaign to rid France of “enemies of the
revolution.” Though the Jacobins brought indiscriminate death to France, they
were also idealists who wanted to take the revolution as far as it could go. So
they again considered the issue of “equality” and voted to end slavery in the
French colonies, including what was now known as Haiti.
There was jubilation among the blacks in Haiti, and Toussaint agreed to help the
French army eject the British and Spanish. Toussaint proved to be a brilliant
general, winning 7 battles in 7 days. He became a defacto governor of the
colony.
In France the Jacobins lost power. People finally tired of blood flowing in the
streets and sent Maximilian Robespierre, the leader of the Jacobins, to the guillotine, ending the Reign
of Terror. A reaction set in. The French people wanted to get back to business. More moderate leaders
came and went, eventually replaced by Napoleon, who ruled France with dictatorial powers. He
responded to the pleas of the plantation owners by reinstating slavery in the French colonies, once
again plunging Haiti into war.
By 1803 Napoleon was ready to get Haiti off his back: he and Toussaint
agreed to terms of peace. Napoleon agreed to recognize Haitian
independence and Toussaint agreed to retire from public life. A few months
later, the French invited Toussaint to come to a negotiating meeting will full
safe conduct. When he arrived, the French (at Napoleon's orders) betrayed the
safe conduct and arrested him, putting him on a ship headed for France.
Napoleon ordered that Toussaint be placed in a prison dungeon in the mountains, and murdered by
means of cold, starvation, and neglect. Toussaint died in prison, but others carried on the fight for
freedom.
Six months later, Napoleon decided to give up his possessions in the New World. He was busy in
Europe and these far-away possessions were more trouble than they were worth. He abandoned Haiti
to independence and sold the French territory in North America to the United States (the Louisiana
purchase).
Years later, in exile at St. Helena, when asked about his dishonorable treatment of Toussaint,
Napoleon merely remarked, "What could the death of one wretched Negro mean to me?"
http://www.historywiz.com/toussaint.htm
Day 2
Title: Anatomy of a Revolution
Concept/Main Idea of Lesson: What factors make a revolt a revolution?
Intended Grade Level: 9-12
Infusion/Subject Area(s): Social Studies, World History
State and National Curriculum Standards:
Florida Sunshine State Standards
 Time, Continuity, and Change 1:3 and 4
NCSS Standards


Individuals, Groups, and Institutions: Social studies programs should include
experiences that provide for the study of interactions among individuals, groups, and
institutions.
Power, Authority, and Governance: Social studies programs should include
experiences that provide for the study of how people create and change structures of
power, authority, and governance.
I.
Instructional Objective: Students will analyze the components leading up to the
French and Haitian Revolution using a model by Crane
Brinton.
II.
Learning Activities Sequence
a.
Set Induction/Lesson Initiating Behavior: Play the Beatles’ song Revolution.
Have a copy of the lyrics displayed on the overhead projector. Ask students for
their reactions to the song. Do they think the Beatles are for/against
revolution, or can they tell from the lyrics?
b.
Learning Activities: As a class, discuss Brinton’s model of revolutions and
analyze how the French Revolution fits into this model. Students have already
studied the French Revolution, so this should be a review. Then after you
have done this as a class, they can break into groups of 3 or 4 and apply this
model to the Haitian Revolution. Their groups should try to give an example
for each condition Brinton suggests should be present, as well as examples for
the course that the revolution took. They should use their notes from the
previous lesson as well as any appropriate textbook to examine to what extent
the Haitian Revolution fits the model. The class will come back together for a
discussion of their findings and analyze their examples.
c.
Closure: Play the song Revolution again, and ask if they can predict what the
Beatles might have though about the Haitian Revolution.
III.
Evaluation: Students will show their understanding of the Haitian Revolution by
writing a response in which they answer the questions asked at the bottom of
Anatomy of a Revolution worksheet.
IV.
Materials and Resources: Brinton Crane. Anatomy of a Revolution
http://www.historyteacher.net/EuroProjects/ExamReviewSheets/AnatomyOfARe
volution.htm
Lyrics for Revolution by the Beatles
V.
References: Bentley, Jerry H. (2003). Traditions and Encounters. New York,
NY: McGraw-Hill.
Bulliet, Richard (2005). The Earth and Its People. Boston,
MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Stearns, Peter N. (2004). World Civilizations: The Global Experience.
New York, NY: Pearson Longman.
V.
Internet Links
http://www.historyteacher.net/EuroProjects/ExamReviewSheets/AnatomyOfARe
volution.htm
Revolution (Lennon/McCartney)
You say you want a revolution
Well you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be alright
Alright Alright
You say you got a real solution
Well you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well you know
We're doing what we can
But when you want money for people with minds that hate
All I can tell you is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be alright
Alright Alright
You say you'll change the constitution
Well you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well you know
You better free your mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know know it's gonna be alright
Alright Alright
Anatomy of a Revolution by Crane Brinton
CONDITIONS WHICH SEEM TO BE PRESENT AS CAUSES OF MAJOR
REVOLUTIONS:
1. People from all social classes are discontented.
2. People feel restless and held down by unacceptable restrictions in society, religion, the
economy or the government.
3. People are hopeful about the future, but they are being forced to accept less than they
had hoped for.
4. People are beginning to think of themselves as belonging to a social class, and there is
a growing bitterness between social classes.
5. The social classes closest to one another are the most hostile.
6. The scholars and thinkers give up on the way their society operates.
7. The government does not respond to the needs of its society.
8. The leaders of the government and the ruling class begin to doubt themselves. Some
join with the opposition groups.
9. The government is unable to get enough support from any group to save itself.
10. The government cannot organize its finances correctly and is either going bankrupt or
trying to tax heavily and unjustly.
THE COURSE THAT REVOLUTIONS SEEM TO TAKE:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Impossible demands made of government which, if granted, would mean its end.
Unsuccessful government attempts to suppress revolutionaries.
Revolutionaries gain power and seem united.
Once in power, revolutionaries begin to quarrel among themselves, and unity begins to
dissolve.
The moderates gain the leadership but fail to satisfy those who insist on further
changes.
Power is gained by progressively more radical groups until finally a lunatic fringe gains
almost complete control.
A strong man emerges and assumes great power.
The extremists try to create a "heaven on earth" by introducing their whole program and
by punishing all their opponents.
A period of terror occurs.
Moderate groups regain power. The revolution is over.
RESULTS --> Examine the results of the revolution with these questions in mind:
1. Did the ideals of the revolution change as its leadership changed?
2. Were the original goals of the revolution achieved? At what point? Were
these achievements conserved?
3. Which social classes gained most from the revolution? Which lost? Did the
original ruling group or individuals from this group return to power?
VII. How was the old political, social, and economic order of society [Ancien
Regime] changed as a result of the revolution?
http://www.historyteacher.net/EuroProjects/ExamReviewSheets/AnatomyOfARevolution.htm
Day 3
Title: Global consequences of the French Revolution
Concept/Main Idea of Lesson: The French Revolution leads to the uprising and eventual
independence of Haiti.
Intended Grade Level: 9-12
Infusion/Subject Area(s): Social Studies, World History
State and National Curriculum Standards:
Florida Sunshine State Standards
 Time, Continuity, and Change 1:3
NCSS Standards


Time, Continuity, and Change: Social studies programs should include experiences
that provide for the study of the ways human beings view themselves in and over
time.
Power, Authority, and Governance: Social studies programs should include experiences
that provide for the study of how people create and change structures of power,
authority, and governance.
I.
Instructional Objective: Students will analyze the Declaration of Rights of Man and
determine how this document affected different groups of people on St. Domingue
(later Haiti).
II.
Learning Activities Sequence
a.
Set Induction/Lesson Initiating Behavior: Put the following quote on the board
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution
inevitable" JFK. Ask students to think about the validity of this idea. Ask for
volunteers to share their opinions with the class.
b.
Learning Activities: This activity is part of a larger lesson that can be found at
http://www.learner.org/channel/courses/worldhistory/support/activities_17.pdf
· In pairs, read the French Declaration of the Rights of Man. Find passages
that suggest that the political and economic rights of all people under the
control of the French government WILL be protected.
· Read the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and find passages that
suggest that the political and economic rights of all people under the control of
the French government will NOT be protected.
Come back together as a class and discuss their ideas.
Pass out the Bridging World History handout. After reviewing the timeline and
passage regarding the different groups of people in St. Domingue, split the
class into pairs.
Working in pairs again, they will answer the discussion questions and turn in
for evaluation.
c.
Closure: Refer back to the set induction quote and ask students if they have
changed their opinion concerning this quote. Ask for students to share
why/why not?
III.
Evaluation: The discussion questions from each pair will be graded.
IV.
Materials and Resources
The Declaration of the Rights of Man
Bridging World History worksheet (pgs 127&128)
http://www.learner.org/channel/courses/worldhistory/support/activities_1
7.pdf
Discussion questions (Bridging World History website)
http://www.learner.org/channel/courses/worldhistory/support/ac
tivities_17.pdf
V.
References: Bentley, Jerry H. (2003). Traditions and Encounters. New York,
NY: McGraw-Hill.
Bulliet, Richard (2005). The Earth and Its People. Boston,
MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Stearns, Peter N. (2004). World Civilizations: The Global Experience.
New York, NY: Pearson Longman.
VI.
Additional Suggested Readings: Randall Robinson. Honor Haiti, Honor Ourselves
Forget Haiti, Forget Ourselves
http://www.counterpunch.org/robinson01012004.html
VII.
Internet Links
http://www.counterpunch.org/robinson01012004.html
http://www.historywiz.com/rightsofman.htm
http://www.learner.org/channel/courses/worldhistory/support/ac
tivities_17.pdf
The Declaration of the Rights of Man
HistoryWiz Primary
Source
Approved by the National Assembly of France, August 26, 1789
The representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assembly, believing that the
ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole cause of public calamities and of the
corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural,
unalienable, and sacred rights of man, in order that this declaration, being constantly before all the
members of the Social body, shall remind them continually of their rights and duties; in order that the
acts of the legislative power, as well as those of the executive power, may be compared at any
moment with the objects and purposes of all political institutions and may thus be more respected,
and, lastly, in order that the grievances of the citizens, based hereafter upon simple and incontestable
principles, shall tend to the maintenance of the constitution and redound to the happiness of all.
Therefore the National Assembly recognizes and proclaims, in the presence and under the auspices of
the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and of the citizen:
Articles:
1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the
general good.
2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of
man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.
3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may
exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.
4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of
the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the
society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law.
5. Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society. Nothing may be prevented which is not
forbidden by law, and no one may be forced to do anything not provided for by law.
6. Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or
through his representative, in its foundation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or
punishes. All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all
public positions and occupations, according to their abilities, and without distinction except that of
their virtues and talents.
7. No person shall be accused, arrested, or imprisoned except in the cases and according to the forms
prescribed by law. Any one soliciting, transmitting, executing, or causing to be executed, any arbitrary
order, shall be punished. But any citizen summoned or arrested in virtue of the law shall submit
without delay, as resistance constitutes an offense.
8. The law shall provide for such punishments only as are strictly and obviously necessary, and no
one shall suffer punishment except it be legally inflicted in virtue of a law passed and promulgated
before the commission of the offense.
9. As all persons are held innocent until they shall have been declared guilty, if arrest shall be deemed
indispensable, all harshness not essential to the securing of the prisoner's person shall be severely
repressed by law.
10. No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their
manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.
11. 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, but shall be responsible for such
abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.
12. The security of the rights of man and of the citizen requires public military forces. These forces are,
therefore, established for the good of all and not for the personal advantage of those to whom they
shall be intrusted.
13. A common contribution is essential for the maintenance of the public forces and for the cost of
administration. This should be equitably distributed among all the citizens in proportion to their
means.
14. All the citizens have a right to decide, either personally or by their representatives, as to the
necessity of the public contribution; to grant this freely; to know to what uses it is put; and to fix the
proportion, the mode of assessment and of collection and the duration of the taxes.
15. Society has the right to require of every public agent an account of his administration.
16. A society in which the observance of the law is not assured, nor the separation of powers defined,
has no constitution at all.
17. Since property is an inviolable and sacred right, no one shall be deprived thereof except where
public necessity, legally determined, shall clearly demand it, and then only on condition that the owner
shall have been previously and equitably indemnified.
Source: The Avalon Project, Yale Law School
http://www.historywiz.com/rightsofman.htm
Discussion Questions for the Declaration of the
Rights of Man
· Discuss how each of the groups on Saint Domingue might react to the French Declaration
of the Rights of Man.
· Predict how the conflict on Saint Domingue might make other colonial powers or other
slave-owning societies uneasy. It is important to remember how valuable Saint Domingue
was for France’s foreign trade revenue and imports.
· Discuss how the events of one revolution led to events in the other revolution.
· Compare the goals and effects of the Haitian and French revolutions.
http://www.learner.org/channel/courses/worldhistory/support/activities_17.pdf
January 1, 2004
Honor Haiti, Honor Ourselves
Forget Haiti, Forget Ourselves
By RANDALL ROBINSON
Part I
January 1, 1804--January 1, 2004:
This day is sacred.
It is the 200th anniversary of the Haitian Revolution.
Fought by Haitians.
Won for us all.
Between 1791 and 1804, hundreds of thousands of Africans enslaved in Haiti
ignored the rivers, forests, precipices, swamps, mountains, gorges,
bloodhounds, rifles, cannon, and whips that separated them and united to
launch a massive, brilliantly executed, spectacular war of liberation that the
armies of Spain, England, and France (with the help of the United States) all
fought desperately--and failed absolutely--to crush.
The Haitian Revolution was no "lucky break" involving "a few unruly slaves."
This was no "plantation uprising."
St. Domingue (as Haiti was then called by the French) was at that time the most
prosperous colonial possession of any European power. It created far greater
wealth for France than the thirteen American colonies combined. Its massive
wealth-generating capacity caused it to be known far and wide as "The Pearl of
the Antilles" and its French owners had a clear and proven management
strategy for profit maximization: push the slaves to their absolute physical limit,
work them literally to death, and then quickly import replacement slaves from
Africa who would, in turn, be worked to death. This, St. Domingue's plantocracy
had discovered, controlled operating costs, kept the pace of economic activity at
a highly efficient and productive pace, minimized slack and wastage, and
produced massive, stupendous profits.
Two hundred years ago today, however, after a 13-year war of liberation, the
slaves of St. Domingue celebrated their victory over France and other European
powers by establishing the Republic of Haiti. They had wrested from Napoleon
the engine of France's economic expansion, banished slavery from the land, and
ended European domination of 10,000 square miles of fertile land and hundreds
of thousands of slaves to work it.
They had shattered the myth of European invincibility.
"Most have assumed that (Haiti's) slaves had no military experience prior to the
revolution," John K. Thornton explains in African Soldiers in the Haitian
Revolution. "Many assume that they rose from agricultural labour to military
prowess in an amazingly short time.... However, it is probably a mistake to see
the slaves of St. Domingue as simply agricultural workers, like the peasants of
Europe... ...A majority of St. Domingue's slaves, especially those who fought
steadily in the revolution, were born in Africa... ...In fact, a great many... ...had
served in African armies prior to their enslavement and arrival in Haiti... ...Sixty
to seventy per cent of the adult slaves listed on (St. Domingue's) inventories in
the late 1780's and 1790's were African born... ... ...(coming) overwhelmingly
from just two areas of Africa: the Lower Guinea coast region of modern Benin,
Togo and Nigeria (also known as the "Slave Coast"), and the Angola coast
area....
"Where the African military background of the slaves counted most was in those
areas, especially in the north (of St. Domingue), where slaves themselves led
the revolution, both politically and militarily... ... ...These areas...threw up the
powerful armies of Toussaint Louverture and Dessalines and eventually carried
the revolution."
A successful revolution in Haiti, Thornton explains, "required the kind of skill and
discipline that could be found in veteran soldiers, and it was these veterans,
from wars in Africa, who made up the general will of the St. Domingue revolt...
...Kongolese armies contributed the most to St. Domingue rebel bands...
...(Their) tactical organization was very different from that of Europe... ...(and
they) had learned to deal successfully with Portuguese armies and tactics in the
years of struggle (in Africa), driving out invaders... ...No doubt these tactics
could help those who found themselves in St. Domingue on the eve of the
revolution.
"Kongolese armies seem to have been organized in...platoons...that struck at
enemy advancing columns and sustained an engagement for a time before
breaking off and retreating... ...They made use of cover, both from terrain and
from woods and tall grass, in hiding their movements and directing their fire.
When they fled it was not possible to follow them." Portuguese troops who had
fought the Kongolese in Africa also reported that the Kongolese used "shocks-larger engagements involving massed Kongolese units. According to the
Portuguese accounts, large bodies were assembled for shocks supported by
artillery, sometimes they formed in extensive half moon formations which
apparently sought partial envelopment of opposing forces, in other cases in
columns of great depth along fronts of 15-20 soldiers....
"Their tactics showed a penchant for skirmishing attacks rather than the heavy
assaults favoured by Europeans in the same era... ...Kongolese armies had a
higher command structure that could mass troops quickly, and soldiers were
also accustomed to forming effectively into larger units for major battles when
the situation warranted.... ...Dahomey's armies included a fairly large
professional force... ...Oyo relied heavily on cavalry forces, had relatively few
foot soldiers and throughout the 1700's was the pre-eminent...military power in
(west Africa)... ...Dahomey's troops... ...fought in close order using fire
discipline quite similar to that of Europe... ...
"It was from these disparate 'arts of war' that the revolutionary African soldier
of St. Domingue was trained... ...
"One can easily see, in the formation of the bands mentioned in the early
descriptions of the (Haitian Revolution), the small platoons of the Kongolese
armies, each under an independent commander and accustomed to considerable
tactical decision making; or perhaps those small units characteristic of locally
organized Dahomean units; the state armies of the Mahi country; or the coastal
forces of the Slave Coast... ...
"In addition the pattern of attacks with small scale harassing maneuvers, short,
sustained battles and then rapid withdrawals are also reminiscent of the
campaign diaries of the Portuguese field commanders in Angola. Felix Carteau,
an early observer of the war in the north of St. Domingue noted that the (slave
revolutionaries) harassed French forces day and night. Usually, he commented,
they were repelled, but each time, they dispersed so quickly, so completely in
ditches, hedges and other areas of natural cover that real pursuit was
impossible. However, rebel casualties were light in these attacks, so that the
next day they reappeared with great numbers of people. They never mass in the
open, wrote another witness, or wait in line to charge, but advance dispersed,
so that they appear to be six times as numerous as they really are. Yet they
were disciplined, since they might advance with great clamor and then suddenly
and simultaneously fall silent....
"It was not long before observers noted that the rebels (in St. Domingue) had
developed the sort of higher order tactics that was also characteristic of
Kongolese forces, or those of the Slave Coast....
"In addition to these tactical similarities to African wars, especially in Kongo,
there were other indications of the African ethos of the fighters... ...they
marched, formed and attacked accompanied by the 'music peculiar to
Negroes....' Their religious preparation, likewise, hearkened back to Africa....
"It is unlikely that many slaves would have learned equestrian skills as a part of
their plantation labor... ...Since there was virtually no cavalry in Angola, one can
speculate that rebels originating from Oyo might have provided at least some of
the trained horsemen. Also, the Senegalese, though a minority, also came from
an equestrian culture... ...
"African soldiers may well have provided the key element of the early success of
the revolution. They might have enabled its survival when it was threatened by
reinforced armies from Europe. Looking at the rebel slaves of Haiti as African
veterans rather than as Haitian plantation workers may well prove to be the key
that unlocks the mystery of the success of the largest slave revolt in history."
St. Domingue's policy of working its slaves to death and then quickly importing
replacements from Africa proved to be the ultimate karmic boomerang. St.
Domingue's African-born slaves not only were not yet broken psychologically,
but they were also in possession of significant military training and experience
gained on the other side of the Atlantic. And they combined with brilliant,
indefatigable, St. Domingue-born blacks like Toussaint L'Ouverture and
Dessalines to create a black revolutionary juggernaut the likes of which Europe
and the United States had not seen before--or since.
The blacks of St. Domingue forced the world to see both them and the millions
of other Africans enslaved throughout the Americas with new eyes. No longer
could it be assumed that they could forever be brutalized into creating massive
fortunes and building sprawling empires for the glory of Europe and America.
On January 1, 1804, hundreds of thousands of slave revolutionaries established
an independent republic and named it Haiti in honor of the Amerindian people,
long since killed off by European brutality and diseases, who had called the land
Ayiti--Land of Many Mountains. They had banished slavery from their land and
proclaimed it an official refuge for escaped slaves from anywhere in the world.
They had defeated the mightiest of the mighty. They had shattered the myth of
European invincibility.
Europe was livid. America, apoplectic. The blacks in St. Domingue had forgotten
their place and would be made to pay. Dearly. For the next two hundred years.
Toussaint L'Ouverture, Dessalines, and their slave revolutionaries must forever
live in our hearts as inspiring, authentic counterweights to the "yassuh-nosuhscratch-where-ah-don'-itch-and-dance-tho-there -ain'-no-music" image of our
forebears that Europe and the United States have drilled into our psyches.
And we must remember that history forgets, first, those who forget themselves.
Via means direct and indirect, crass and subtle, there have been whispers and
street corner shouts that "current conditions in Haiti" make our celebration of
the Haitian Revolution "inappropriate" at this time.
We, whose souls and psyches have been bleached of everything prior to the
Middle Passage are now being told that we must tear from our consciousness
and rip from our hearts the most dramatic and triumphal assertion of forebears'
dignity, worth, and perspicacity since the Middle Passage.
How diabolically contemptuous.
Not only must we not forget the Haitian Revolution, we must celebrate it.
Today, through all of this its bicentennial year, and beyond.
And we must research, understand, and expose what happened to Haiti and in
Haiti since the revolution. We must become fully conversant with the role of "the
world's leading democracies" in Haiti between 1804 and today. We must
develop a keen understanding of the repercussions of the 61-year economic
embargo that the United States imposed on Haiti in response to its declaration
of independence, and we must recognize the current-day consequences of
France forcing Haiti to pay 90 million in gold francs (equivalent today to some
$20 billion) in 1825 as "compensation" for Haiti declaring its independence--or
be crushed militarily by France.
Today, "the world's leading democracies" cluck and gloat at their ongoing
stranglehold--in the form of a crushing financial embargo--on today's
descendants of Toussaint, Dessalines, and their freedom fighters. Throughout
the Americas, we who benefited from the daring war waged by the slaves of St.
Domingue, must reject the maneuverings of the world's most powerful nations
in Haiti and find ways to build bridges to the Haitian people and the officials
they choose--through the ballot--to lead them.
Just over two hundred years ago, after there had been a "cessation of
hostilities" and the brilliant military strategist Toussaint L'Ouverture had already
retired to a quiet life in the St. Domingue country-side, France decided,
nonetheless, to arrest and ship him to a prison cell 3,000 feet up the Jura
Mountains of France where he would freeze to death. As he stepped on board
the boat that would forever take him away from St. Domingue, Toussaint issued
a promise to his captors and a call to us all.
"In overthrowing me, you have cut down in St. Domingue only the trunk of the
tree of liberty. It will spring up again by the roots for they are numerous and
deep."
We are those roots.
The revolution was fought by Haitians, but won for us all.
Through our work and with our resources, in a spirit of self-respect and selfawareness, we must serve as counterweights to the powerful nations who deem
the ballot box sacrosanct in their countries, but surreptitiously encourage and
manipulate its rejection by "the opposition" in Haiti. We must serve as
proponents of political civility and social justice in Haiti while "the world's
leading democracies" slyly encourage recalcitrance, tumult, and division. We
must reject being manipulated by the corporate media into embracing the
notion that in France, Germany, the United States and other "civilized nations"
elections are the only legitimate determinant of the will of the people, but in
Haiti those street demonstrations specially selected by the corporate media for
coverage tell us all we need to know about anybody's will. We must impress
upon all Haitians the fact that the outside world does not distinguish between-and cares nothing about--Lavalas, Convergence, or any other political grouping.
The world sees only "Haiti," "Haitians," and all the connotations that western
media have attached thereto. Those nations that two hundred years ago failed
desperately in their attempts to crush the Haitian Revolution today have a deep
psychic need to "prove" Toussaint's progeny capable of nothing but disaster. We
must reach out to and work with our Haitian brothers and sisters to prove these
nations wrong.
Throughout the Diaspora, we must stand with and defend Haiti--on this the
anniversary of the Haitian Revolution, throughout this bicentennial year, and for
all time. For in so doing, we stand for and defend ourselves.
Randall Robinson is founder and former president of TransAfrica. He is an
author and lives in the Caribbean.
http://www.counterpunch.org/robinson01012004.html
Day 4
Title: The global impact of Haiti’s revolution
Concept/Main Idea of Lesson: Using a set of documents, students will explain how the
Haitian Revolution was a global social, economic, and political event in its formulation,
process, and legacy.
Intended Grade Level: 9-12
Infusion/Subject Area(s): Social Studies, World History
State and National Curriculum Standards:
Florida Sunshine State Standards
 Time, Continuity, and Change 1:3
 People, Places, and Environments 2:1,2,3 and 6
NCSS Standards

Global Connections: Social studies programs should include experiences that provide
for the study of global connections and interdependence.
I.
Instructional Objective: Students will use documents to construct a valid argument
about global processes.
II.
Learning Activities Sequence:
III.
a.
Set Induction/Lesson Initiating Behavior: Project a picture depicting the
Haitian Revolution. Ask students spiraling questions such as:
 What do you see?
 Who is in the picture?
 What is the main idea of the picture?
 What conclusions can you draw about the people in the scene?
Making students examine the picture will help prepare them for the DBQ.
b.
Learning Activities: Students will write an essay using the given documents.
The directions and question are included in the DBQ worksheets.
c.
Closure: Re-project the same image from the beginning of the class period
and ask the students to take one more look at it. Did they miss anything in
their initial interpretation of it? If so, ask for volunteers to share some of their
new ideas about the image.
Evaluation : The essay written in class will be scored using the AP World History
scoring rubric. (attached)
IV.
Materials and Resources: Haitian Revolution DBQ packet compiled by Deb Johnston
of Northeastern University
AP World DBQ scoring rubric
V.
References: Bentley, Jerry H. (2003). Traditions and Encounters. New York,
NY: McGraw-Hill.
Bulliet, Richard (2005). The Earth and Its People. Boston,
MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Stearns, Peter N. (2004). World Civilizations: The Global Experience.
New York, NY: Pearson Longman.
VI.
Internet Links: http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/dgeggus/htnrevn.htm
Images that can be used for set induction (day 4)
http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/dgeggus/htnrevn.htm
http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/dgeggu
s/htnrevn.htm
http://hhhknights.com/apwh/rdbq.pdf
Day 5
Title: Legacies of Haiti’s slave revolt
Concept/Main Idea of Lesson: Napoleon’s attempt to restore French control in Haiti is
coupled with the U.S. interest in stopping L’Ouverture.
Intended Grade Level: 9-12
Infusion/Subject Area(s): Social Studies, World History
State and National Curriculum Standards:
Florida Sunshine State Standards
 People, Places, and Environments 2:2 and 6
NCSS Standards

Global Connections: Social studies programs should include experiences that
provide for the study of global connections and interdependence.
I. Instructional Objective: Students will read articles about the economic and social
consequences Haiti experienced after its independence from France. They will then
defend or justify the actions of the United States in their position towards Haiti.
II. Learning Activities Sequence
a.
Set Induction/Lesson Initiating Behavior: Think/Pair/Share
Ask students to think about this question: Why would events in Haiti during
this time period hold so much interest to the United States’ government?
b.
Learning Activities: Students will read the America’s Debt to Haiti by Robert
Parry and then construct a visual rendering of the “debt”, as suggested by the
article. Students make work in groups or alone. This is most effective when
students are allowed to use poster paper.
c.
Closure: Students will share their drawings with the class and provide
explanations of their visuals.
III.
Evaluation: Students will be graded on their visual depiction as well as their
participation and presentation.
IV.
Materials and Resources Robert Parry. America's Historic Debt to Haiti
V.
References:
Bentley, Jerry H. (2003). Traditions and Encounters. New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Bulliet, Richard (2005). The Earth and Its People. Boston, MA:
Houghton Mifflin.
Stearns, Peter N. (2004). World Civilizations: The Global
Experience. New York, NY: Pearson Longman.
VI.
Additional Suggested Readings: Early Beginnings: The First Successful Slave
Revolt and a Free Nation-- Compiled by Elizabeth Harper for the Online
NewsHour
VII.
Internet Links
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/haiti/history.html
http://edusolution.com/ourworld/haiti/page4.htm
America's Historic Debt to Haiti
By Robert Parry
Thomas Jefferson conspired to defeat the Haitian Revolution
But events in Paris and Washington conspired to undo the promise of Haiti’s new freedom.
The chaos and excesses of the French Revolution led to the ascendance of Napoleon
Bonaparte, a brilliant military commander possessed of legendary ambition. As he expanded
his power across Europe, Napoleon also dreamed of rebuilding a French empire in the
Americas.
In 1801, Thomas Jefferson – an owner of 180 slaves himself – became the third President of
the United States. Jefferson, who was deeply troubled by the slaughter of plantation owners
in St. Domingue, feared that the example of African slaves fighting for their liberties might
spread northward.
“If something is not done, and soon done,” Jefferson wrote about the violence in St.
Domingue in 1797, “we shall be the murderers of our own children.”
So, in 1801, the interests of Napoleon and Jefferson temporarily intersected. Napoleon was
determined to restore French control of St. Domingue and Jefferson was eager to see the
slave rebellion crushed.
Through secret diplomatic channels, Napoleon asked Jefferson if the United States would
help a French army traveling by sea to St. Domingue. Jefferson replied that “nothing will be
easier than to furnish your army and fleet with everything and reduce Toussaint
[L’Ouverture] to starvation.”
But Napoleon had a secret second phase of his plan. Once a French army had subdued
L’Ouverture and his slave army, Napoleon intended to move his forces to the North
American mainland, basing a new French empire in New Orleans and settling the vast
territory west of the Mississippi River.
In May 1801, Jefferson picked up the first inklings of Napoleon’s other agenda. Alarmed at
the prospect of a major European power controlling New Orleans and thus the mouth of the
strategic Mississippi River, Jefferson backpedaled on his commitment to Napoleon,
retreating to a posture of neutrality.
Still – terrified at the prospect of a successful republic organized by freed African slaves –
Jefferson took no action to block Napoleon’s thrust into the New World.
In 1802, a French expeditionary force achieved initial success against the slave army in St.
Domingue, driving L’Ouverture’s forces back into the mountains. But, as they retreated, the
ex-slaves torched the cities and the plantations, destroying the colony’s once-thriving
economic infrastructure.
L’Ouverture, hoping to bring the war to an end, accepted Napoleon’s promise of a
negotiated settlement that would ban future slavery in the country. As part of the
agreement, L’Ouverture turned himself in.
Napoleon, however, broke his word. Jealous of L’Ouverture, who was regarded by some
admirers as a general with skills rivaling Napoleon’s, the French dictator had L’Ouverture
shipped in chains back to Europe where he died in prison.
Infuriated by the betrayal, L’Ouverture’s young generals resumed the war with a
vengeance. In the months that followed, the French army – already decimated by disease –
was overwhelmed by a fierce enemy fighting in familiar terrain and determined not to be
put back into slavery.
Napoleon sent a second French army, but it too was destroyed. Though the famed general
had conquered much of Europe, he lost 24,000 men, including some of his best troops, in
St. Domingue before abandoning his campaign. The death toll among the ex-slaves was
much higher, but they had prevailed, albeit over a devastated land.
In 1804, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the radical slave leader who had replaced L’Ouverture,
formally declared the nation’s independence and returned it to its original Indian name,
Haiti. A year later, apparently fearing a return of the French and a counterrevolution,
Dessalines ordered the massacre of the remaining French whites on the island.
Though the Haitian resistance had blunted Napoleon’s planned penetration of the American
mainland, Jefferson reacted to the bloodshed by imposing a stiff economic embargo on the
island nation. In 1806, Dessalines was brutally assassinated, touching off a cycle of political
violence that would haunt Haiti for the next two centuries.
By 1803, a frustrated Napoleon – denied his foothold in the New World – agreed to sell New
Orleans and the Louisiana territories to Jefferson. Ironically, the Louisiana Purchase, which
opened the heart of the present United States to American settlement, had been made
possible despite Jefferson’s misguided collaboration with Napoleon.
“By their long and bitter struggle for independence, St. Domingue’s blacks were
instrumental in allowing the United States to more than double the size of its territory,”
wrote Stanford University professor John Chester Miller in his book, The Wolf by the Ears:
Thomas Jefferson and Slavery.
But, Miller observed, “the decisive contribution made by the black freedom fighters … went
almost unnoticed by the Jeffersonian administration.”
The loss of L’Ouverture’s leadership dealt another blow to Haiti’s prospects, according to
Jefferson scholar Paul Finkelman of Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
“Had Toussaint lived, it’s very likely that he would have remained in power long enough to
put the nation on a firm footing, to establish an order of succession,” Finkelman told me in
an interview. “The entire subsequent history of Haiti might have been different.”
For some scholars, Jefferson’s vengeful policy toward Haiti – like his personal ownership of
slaves – represented an ugly blemish on his legacy as a historic advocate of freedom.
Even in his final years, Jefferson remained obsessed with Haiti and its link to the issue of
American slavery.
In the 1820s, the former President proposed a scheme for taking away the children born to
black slaves in the United States and shipping them to Haiti. In that way, Jefferson posited
that both slavery and America’s black population would be phased out. Eventually, Haiti
would be all black and the United States white.
Jefferson’s deportation scheme never was taken very seriously and American slavery would
continue for another four decades until it was ended by the Civil War. The official hostility of
the United States toward Haiti extended almost as long, ending in 1862 when President
Abraham Lincoln finally granted diplomatic recognition.
By then, however, Haiti’s destructive patterns of political violence and economic chaos had
been long established – continuing up to the present time. Personal and political
connections between Haiti’s light-skinned elite and power centers of Washington also have
lasted through today.
Recent Republican administrations have been particularly hostile to the popular will of the
impoverished Haitian masses. When leftist priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide was twice elected
by overwhelming margins, he was ousted both times – first during the presidency of George
H.W. Bush and again under President George W. Bush.
Washington’s conventional wisdom on Haiti holds that the country is a hopeless basket case
that would best be governed by business-oriented technocrats who would take their
marching orders from the United States.
However, the Haitian people have other ideas, much as they did two centuries ago. Their
continued support for the twice-ousted Aristide reflects a recognition that the Big Powers
often don’t have the interests of Third World countries at heart.
Also, unlike most Americans who have no idea about their historic debt to Haiti, many
Haitians know this history quite well. The bitter memories of Jefferson and Napoleon still
feed the distrust that Haitians of all classes feel toward the outside world.
“In Haiti, we became the first black independent country,” Aristide told me in an interview
15 years ago. “We understand, as we still understand, it wasn’t easy for them – American,
French and others – to accept our independence.”
http://edusolution.com/ourworld/haiti/page4.htm
Early Beginnings: The First Successful Slave Revolt and a Free Nation
When armed rebels launched an uprising Feb. 5, 2004, in the northwestern city of
Gonaives that ultimately led to the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, their
chosen site had historical significance. It was in that same western port city where
Haiti's ex-slaves declared independence from France 200 years ago.
On Jan. 1, 1804, Haiti became the first black republic when it won the world's only successful slave revolt.
Since then, freedom has proved elusive as Haitians suffered under a series of dictators interspersed with
more than 30 military coups.
Among the richest colonies of the 18th century French empire, Haiti, then called St. Domingue, depended
on slaves imported from western Africa to work sugar and coffee plantations. France and Spain -- both
fighting for dominance in the New World -- agreed in 1697 to divide the Caribbean island of Hispanola
into St. Domingue and the Spanish-controlled Santo Domingo, or present-day Dominican Republic.
Across the Atlantic, however, the egalitarian principles of the 1789 French Revolution threatened to tear
apart the empire. News of the democratic revolution inspired slaves in Haiti to rebel en masse against the
French white colonialists in 1791. The slaves quickly seized control of plantations, but the rebellion was
soon quashed by French, Spanish and British troops, all fearing the Haitian revolt could spark a wave of
massive slave uprisings throughout the New World colonies.
Despite the initial setback, the enslaved Africans -- galvanized by the leadership of Jamaican voodoo
priest Boukman Dutty, and military generals François-Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture, Jean Jacques
Dessalines and Henri Christophe -- waged a 13-year fight for independence against the despised white
slave owners. Toussaint, the grandson of an African chief, announced the abolition of slavery in 1801.
The last battle occurred in 1802 when French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, driven by his ambitions to
control the western hemisphere, dispatched an army led by his brother-in-law, Gen. Charles LeClerc, to
arrest Toussaint and subdue the revolt. The Haitians, however, put up such a strong resistance that the
French army eventually withdrew and conceded defeat.
In 1804, Dessalines declared himself emperor, in the tradition of Emperor Napoleon; he and other military
leaders created a constitution, which officially renamed St. Domingo as "Hayti," and recognized the
equality of all citizens, regardless of skin color. Two years later, Dessalines was assassinated and the
country split into a black-controlled north and a mulatto-ruled south.
France, meanwhile, refused to recognize the sovereignty of its former colony until Haiti agreed to pay 90
million gold francs in restitution in 1838. The United States, fearing the black-governed Caribbean nation
could undermine the U.S. slave system, did not recognize Haiti's independence until 1862 during the
administration of President Abraham Lincoln.
The 19th Century: Power Struggles
Throughout the 19th century, the fledgling republic struggled under a series of tyrannical and ineffectual
leaders, as the light-skinned mulatto elite jockeyed for power.
"Of the 22 heads of state between 1843 and 1915, only one served out his prescribed term of office, three
died while serving, one was blown up with his palace, one presumably poisoned, one hacked to pieces by
a mob, one resigned. The other 14 were deposed by revolution after incumbencies ranging in length from
three months to 12 years," James Leyburn, the late historian at Washington and Lee University,
summarized in his 1966 book, "The Haitian People."
These early leaders accomplished very little, but initiated a dangerous tradition of
ignoring the Haitian constitution, preferring to rule by decree and violence, according to
Webster University professor Bob Corbett. A cornerstone to maintain power was the
use of private militias to intimidate political opponents, Corbett notes.
Haiti's escalating political and economic disorder drew the attention of foreign governments, particularly
Germany and the United States, two countries with the greatest investments in Haiti.
After an angry mob tore apart the sitting president Gen. Vilbrun Guillaume Sam in Port-au-Prince, U.S.
President Woodrow Wilson in 1915 deployed soldiers and Marines to protect American and foreign
economic interests.
For the next 19 years, the United States essentially governed Haiti, installing figureheads into the
presidency amenable to U.S. policies. Though political structures languished under the U.S. occupation,
the United States established Haiti's first professional military force, the Garde d'Haiti. U.S. military forces
withdrew from Haiti in 1934 after a formal power transfer to the Haitian military, the country's most
cohesive and effective institution.
When the country's civil government failed to assert control over national strikes and increasingly chaotic
protests, leaders in the new Haitian army seized power in 1946. A three-member military junta, led by
Gen. Paul Magloire, briefly governed and held the country's first direct presidential election. The new
civilian president, Dumarsais Estime -- initially favored by the upper class -- alienated members of the
military and the wealthy class after proposing that Voodoo be considered a religion on the same status as
Roman Catholicism, fostering labor unions and enacting an income tax.
Four years later, Magloire, backed by the army and the wealthy, seized power and ruled the country until
1956, marking a time of unusual peace and prosperity.
But, Magloire's increasing corruption, political repression, as well as the devastating destruction of
Hurricane Hazel in 1954, brought an end to the period modernization and paved the way for the brutal
dictatorship of the Duvalier family.
The Duvalier Regime
Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, then perceived as a mild-mannered country doctor, won the presidency in
an election rigged by the Haitian army in 1957. To the surprise of the elite and army, Duvalier quickly
consolidated his government, filled positions with loyal associates, rewrote the constitution and declared
himself president for life in 1964.
Following a failed coup attempt, Duvalier became increasingly distrustful of the military and formed
several personal militia groups to maintain his power. In the tradition of other strong-arm dictators before
him, Duvalier created his own rural militia, formally called the Volunteers for National Security -- later
known as the Ton Ton Macoutes -- to intimidate or murder his perceived political opponents. Along with
the Macoutes, named after a mythological bogeyman, Duvalier formed the "Palace Guard," who
represented his personal power base within the military. These private militias enabled Duvalier to
entrench his authority by terrorizing the public; an estimated 30,000 Haitians were killed for political
reasons during his 14-year rule, according to the U.S. Library of Congress.
Corruption and financial embezzlement also characterized Duvalier's rule, as the leader funneled money
to his personal armies and to pay off Haitian elites for their political support. In 1962, U.S. President John
F. Kennedy suspended U.S. funding to Haiti over charges that Duvalier had misappropriated the aid.
Nevertheless, Duvalier enjoyed some popular support among the nation's black majority for his avowed
dislike of the established light-skinned elites and his efforts to foster a dark-skinned middle class.
Before Duvalier died in 1971, he designated his 19-year-old son, Jean-Claude "Baby
Doc" Duvalier, as Haiti's new leader. The Haitian elites largely accepted the nondemocratic transfer of power, believing that they would continue to enjoy financial
benefits and even regain some of their political clout lost under Duvalier's dictatorship.
Since many world leaders viewed Baby Doc, better known as a flamboyant playboy than a leader, as a
less repressive leader than his father, foreign governments gradually resumed aid to Haiti, as did the
United States in 1971.
The 1983 creation of a new constitution -- Haiti's 20th since 1801 -- and the February 1984 legislative
elections, heavily weighted in favor of Duvalierist candidates, did little to legitimize Duvalier's rule. In the
wake of the elections, Haitians, suffering from famines and diseases, grew less and less tolerant of
Duvalier's extravagance, corruption and disregard for his nation.
In 1985, a series of protests swept through the country, starting -- once again -- in the city of Gonaives.
Amid the social chaos, the military, led by Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy and Col. Williams Regala, hatched a
plot to oust Duvalier from the presidency. Threatened by Namphy and Regala, Duvalier fled the country
for France in February 1986. The army appointed Namphy head of the new National Governing Council,
responsible for overseeing a two-year transition to democracy.
As part of a revolt -- known in Creole as "operation dechoukaj," or operation uprooting -- the council set to
destroy the deeply entrenched Duvalierist government. The council annulled Duvalier's constitution and
helped create a new constitution that outlawed Duvalier political groups. Haitians approved the 1987
constitution by popular vote and prepared for national elections, in what appeared to be an auspicious
step toward a democracy in Haiti.
The elections, however, came to a halt when armed paramilitary groups, linked to Duvalier's Ton Ton
Macoutes and senior army officers, massacred several dozen voters shortly after the polls opened.
Following the aborted 1987 election, Haiti was ruled by a series of provisional governments,
characterized by their tumultuous, brutal and repressive rule.
In 1988, political scientist Leslie Manigat became president through army-run elections, but Namphy
overthrew Manigat three days later and declared himself president. Several months later, Lt. Gen.
Prosper Avril, a former Duvalier aide, overthrew Namphy in what would be the fourth military-dominated
government to rule Haiti since the fall of the Duvalier regime. Unlike Namphy, Avril held onto his
dictatorship for the next two years by cracking down on the burgeoning democratic movements and
terrorizing his political opponents and union members.
Upon pressure from U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Alvin Adams and the international community, Avril finally
resigned, allowing for foreign assistance to organize a presidential election.
Nascent Democracy
The country's first democratic elections finally took place on Dec. 16, 1990, following a campaign marred
by political violence.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide -- a politically active Roman Catholic priest, well known throughout the country for
his support of the poor and opposition to Baby Doc Duvalier's regime -- won 67.5 percent of the popular
vote in a presidential election that international observers deemed largely free and fair.
Aristide took office on Feb. 7, 1991, forming a coalition with Prime Minister Rene Preval and promising to
improve the quality of government. The international community offered more than $500 million in aid to
assist Haiti's transition to democracy.
The prospects for Haiti's nascent democracy,
however, collapsed that September when Aristide
was overthrown in a violent military coup led by
Generals Raoul Cedras and Philippe Biamby,
backed by dissident army officials and partly funded by wealthy Haitian business
leaders, the NewsHour's Elizabeth Farnsworth reported Dec. 21, 1999.
Aristide began a three-year exile in Venezuela and later the United States, working hard to court
international support. Meanwhile, several thousand Haitians were killed under the de facto military
dictatorship of Raul Cedras, prompting the international community to levy trade, oil and arms embargoes
on the Caribbean nation. Between 1991 and 1994, tens of thousands of Haitians fled the country, many
attempting to seek refuge in the United States.
In 1994, after Cedras refused to relinquish power to Aristide, the U.N. Security Council passed Res. 940
authorizing member states to form a multinational force and "to use all necessary means" to facilitate the
departure of the military regime and the restoration of Aristide's presidency. On Sept. 19, the multinational
force landed in Haiti peacefully and Cedras and his supporters left the country, leading to Aristide's return
that October.
Upon returning to power, Aristide in 1995 disbanded the army and created a civilian police force.
Aristide's effort to purge the military of those involved in the 1991 coup prompted many military officials to
flee to the Dominican Republic, The New York Times reported. Meanwhile, U.S. and U.N. peacekeeping
troops remained in Haiti to help safeguard Aristide's presidency and prepare for the upcoming
parliamentary and presidential elections.
Following elections that international monitors considered technically flawed, Preval, Aristide's first prime
minister and a prominent member of his Lavalas Family Party, became president in February 1996.
Latest Rebellion
In 2000, Aristide won the presidential elections that main opposition groups, united as the Democratic
Convergence, boycotted in protest over disputed parliamentary elections that his Lavalas Family Party
had dominated six months earlier. The Democratic Convergence accused Aristide's supporters of using
violence and intimidation to guarantee his victory at the polls.
Electoral observers from the Organization of American States also expressed strong doubts about the
validity of the elections. Consequently, international governments, including the United States and other
foreign aid donors, suspended at least $500 million in aid.
Despite concerns of rigged elections, on Feb. 7, 2001, Aristide was sworn in as the new Haitian
president. That same day, the Democratic Convergence swore in Gerard Gourgue as head of its own
provisional government.
Under pressure from the OAS, Aristide agreed to reform the electoral process, but did not seek
involvement from any members of the opposition. The Democratic Convergence rejected Aristide's
reforms and, in response, the government tried to have Gourgue arrested.
Since then, Haiti's government has been ostracized by most world leaders, and cut off from much-needed
financial assistance. The country also gained notoriety as a hub for narcotrafficking and other illicit
activities.
With the opposition and Aristide's supporters at an impasse, widespread political violence plagued Haiti.
In December 2001, a group of armed men opened fire in the presidential palace and killed five people, an
attack which Aristide's Lavalas Party called a coup attempt. Shortly thereafter, the offices and homes of
opposition party leaders were ransacked and set on fire, and members of opposition groups and
journalists became targets of violence. The opposition groups alleged Aristide's vigilantes, known as
"chimeres," named after a fire-breathing monster in Haitian mythology, were responsible for the threats
and attacks against their members.
Political tensions reached a boiling point in September 2003 when a former Aristide supporter, Amiot
Metayer, leader of a militia in Gonaives called the "Cannibal Army," was murdered. Just before his
murder, Metayer, a popular hero in northern Haiti, had escaped from prison, along with several members
of a right-wing anti-Aristide gang, known as the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, allied
with the Cedras dictatorship.
Metayer's brother, Butteur Metayer, claimed that Aristide's private police killed Amiot Metayer to prevent
him from revealing information about the murders of opposition figures. Aristide's government denied the
allegations.
By early February, the Cannibal Army renamed itself the Gonaives Resistance Front and began killing
Aristide's supporters. On Feb. 5, 2004, the GRF announced it seized control of the entire city of
Gonaives; more than a dozen police officers were killed or mutilated.
-- Compiled by Elizabeth Harper for the Online NewsHour
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/haiti/history.html
Preassessment
The following are a few questions designed to get a sense of how much you know or
have heard about Haiti. Please try to answer all questions, as this will help me
ascertain your prior knowledge and modify this week’s lesson content.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What is Haiti’s significance to World History?
What was France’s relationship to Haiti?
What country does Haiti share an island with?
What are the main languages of Haiti?
Have you ever known anyone from Haiti?
What adjectives come to mind when you think of Haiti?
Post-Evaluation
Please match the descriptions with the appropriate individual from the list below.
Each individual will be used at least once, and can be used many times.
(5 points each)
A. The Beatles
D. Crane Brinton
G. Thomas Jefferson
B. Napoleon
C. National Assembly of France
E. Toussaint L’Ouverture F. John F. Kennedy
H. Dessalines
1. ___
This person wrote Anatomy of a Revolution which many historians use to
interpret and study revolutions.
2. ___
Who said "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make
violent revolution inevitable"?
3. ___
Their “Revolution” song was released in 1968 and became a smashing
success.
4. ___
Who approved The Declaration of the Rights of Man on August 26, 1789?
5. ___
Who is commonly referred to as “the slave that defeated Napoleon?”
6. ___
He tricked Toussaint L’Ouverture into agreeing to a meeting, and then put
him in prison where he was killed.
7. ___
He promised to help Napoleon’s army defeat the Haitian uprising by
offering supplies and support.
8. ___
He was the radical slave leader who replaced L’Ouverture after his death
and declared St. Domingue a free nation. He renamed it Haiti.
9. ___
He was frightened that slave revolts in St. Domingue would spread
northward and affect the United States.
10. __
He dreamed of rebuilding a French empire in the Americas (especially
North America).
Short answer section
You are to choose 2 out of the 3 questions below and answer each as completely as
you can.
Each of the 2 questions you answer is worth up to 25 points each.
 How are the Haitian and French Revolutions related?
 Why did the conflict on St. Domingue make other colonial or slave-owning

societies uneasy? What did foreign leaders do in response?
Do you think the Haitian Revolution would have been as successful as it was
without Toussaint L’Ouverture? Answer must include specific actions he took to get full
credit for this question. A simple yes or no is not acceptable.
Answers to matching section
1.D 2.F 3.A 4.C 5.E 6.B 7.G 8.H 9.G 10.B
Answers to short answer section will vary.