1

SCHOOL BASED
ASSESSMENT
CARIBBEAN HISTORY
YEAR 2017

NAME OF CANDIDATE: ANN MARIE KHADOO

NAME OF SCHOOL:
NIKETAN

SARASWATI VIDYA

REGISTRATION #:
CENTRE #:

090100

TITLE OF STUDY: HOW DID THE FRENCH

COLONY OF ST. DOMINGUE BECAME THE
INDEPENDENT COUNTRY OF HAITI?

TABLE OF CONTENT
Acknowledgement

Area of research

Introduction

Rationale

Report

Conclusion

Bibliography

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ACKNWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my special thanks and gratitude to my Caribbean History teacher
as well as the principal who gave me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful project on the
topic How the French colony of St Domingue did became independent country of Haiti
Secondly, I would like to thank my parents who helped me a lot in financing this project.
I would also like to thank my friends for helping and guiding me through this project.

AREA OF RESEARCH
How did the French Colony of St. Domingue became the independent country of Haiti?

INTRODUCTION
On the eve of the Revolution St. Domingue was by far the richest in the Caribbean, if
measured in terms of production and trade. It was the worlds largest producer of cane sugar. It
supplied half of the cane sugar that was used in the Americas and Europe. Its coffee was sold all
over Europe as was its cotton and indigo. The Haitian Revolution has often been described as the
largest and most successful slave rebellion in the Western Hemisphere. Slaves initiated the
rebellion in 1791 and by 1803 they had succeeded in ending not just slavery by French control
over the colony.

PICTURE SHOWING ST. DOMINGUE

RATIONALE
The reasons for doing this research are to be able to get a broader and wider knowledge
on this particular topic. The researcher would be able to gain additional knowledge about the
French colony of St. Domingue and why this particular colony became independent country of
Haiti. The researcher will also be able to obtain knowledge on how the French colony operated.
Also the researcher will be able to know more about the causes and effects of the revolution on
St. Domingue.

REPORT
The Haitian Revolution is unique in that the slaves succeeded in overthrowing the
planters, taking over the island completely, and remaining in power. Haiti thus became the first
black-ruled nation in the Western Hemisphere. However several factors had to come together for
this to happen. The Haitian Revolution was the result of a long struggle on the part of the slaves
in the French colony of St. Domingue, but was also propelled by the free Mulattoes who had
long faced the trials of being denoted as semi-citizens.

PICTURE SHOWING THE SLAVES AND THE MULATTOES AGAINST THE

FRENCH

In 1789 the American settled their new Republican form of government. In France in the
same year the National Assembly overthrew the power of the monarchy and aristocracy and went
on to issue its Declaration of the Rights of Man. This document insisted on the freedom and
equality of man and gave French Revolution in its slogan of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
These events created a stir in the French West Indies and especially in St. Domingue.
Several factors precipitated the event, including the affranchise' frustrations with a racist
society, the French Revolution, nationalistic rhetoric expressed during Vodoun ceremonies, the
continuing brutality of slave owners, and wars between European powers.
Until about 1760 the freed coloureds had been allowed many privileges than those on the
British Islands. However by the 1760s the white planters began insisting on limiting their
potential and social position. After about 1780 freed coloureds could not be officers in the
militia, carry swords, wear the same clothes as the Europeans or be elected. By 1789 the freed
coloureds were discontented and angry. Then they learnt about the Declaration of the Rights of
Man. This document stated that all free people in the French speaking world had a right to

liberty and equality but the withes interpreted it differently. To them it meant the freedom to run
the island in their own way without interference from the French government officials. In
October 1790, a coloured lawyer, Vincent Oge along with Jean-Baptiste Chavannes led a revolt
against the whites which was quickly defeated by the white forces. In February 1791 Oge and
Chavannes were brutally executed as a warning to others.
The slaves had suffered for more oppression than the freed coloureds and had a long
history or resistance. Resistance to slavery was kept alive at vodoun meetings. Vodoun was a
form of religion whose followers worshipped Catholic Saints and the vodouns. In 1790 and 1791
vodoun ceremonies gave cover to preparations for a slave revolt. The man behind this was
Boukman Dutty.
In August 1791 a rebellion of some one hundred thousand slaves burst across the
Northern part of St. Domingue. The slaves attacked plantations, burned cane fields and killed
planters and their families. The whites had been taken by surprise, partly because they were
taken up in their own quarrels. Soon all the groups were fighting each other: whites against
coloureds and blacks, coloureds against whites and blacks, and blacks against all comers.
In 1792 the French government was led by the Jacobins. It sent six thousand troops under
commissioner Sonthonax to restore law and order but the forces were resisted by the whites who
wanted the return of a monarchy in France. In 1793 Sonthonax decided that the only way to
bring peace to St. Domingue was to announce the end of slavery on the island.
The events in St. Domingue gave Britain and Spain the chance to strike at French power
in the Caribbean and even to capture the Pearl of the Antilles. In September 1793 British forces
landed in St. Domingue while Spanish troops crossed the further the frontier from Santo
Domingo. Fighting went on across the colony for six years.
Then in 1798 the British government dreaded to pull out. But for St. Domingue it had
two important results. First, the white planters and merchants lost control of their estates and
secondly, the victor in the six year war was not Sonthonax but Toussaint LOuverture-the Black
Jacobin.

PICTURE SHOWING TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE

Toussaint was the son of a coachman on the plantation in the north of St. Domingue. He
was born in 1743 and was a domestic slave who became steward of all the livestock on his
masters estate- a position usually given to a white man. He had some medical knowledge and
was able to read.
Toussaint wanted emancipation and in 1792 France declared war against Spain and so he
joined the Spanish forces as a mercenary because he thought that the French would preserve
slavery. The Spanish allowed him to command a force of 4000 blacks and with this he was called
Physician to the armies of the King.
When the Convection government in Paris abolished slavery in 1794, Toussaint felt that
he had to join the French republican forces in the west. He fought he way through the Spanish
army and by 1795 he was in command of twenty thousand soldiers fighting against the British
for freedom.
Toussaint was known abroad and he won the friendship and the support of the VicePresident of the United States in 1795 and the President in 1797. Toussaint imported thirty
thousand guns for the black forces from the United States. Toussaint soon became the real leader
of the French forces. He drove the British out and by 1798 they were in a desperate positon as a
result of Toussaints attack.
After the British had left St. Domingue, Toussaint turned against the coloureds and
French in the west and south. In 1799 the government of France, powerless to do anything,
accepted that Toussaint was in control of St. Domingue and appointed him as Governor-General.

In 1801 Toussaint issued a Constitution for St. Domingue which he put into operation
without waiting for approval from France. He made himself Governor-General for life with the
right to nominate his successor.

PICTURE SHOWING NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

Napoleon Bonaparte was unwilling to accept him and tried to bring Toussaint back under
his rule. He regarded Toussaint as an upset and referred to him as a gilded African. He did not
want St. Domingue to slip from his grasp so he sent his brother-in-law, Leclerc to: restore
slavery, recapture St. Domingue and bring it back under control of France and be-friend
Toussaint, but the chief aim was to capture him and send him to France. Leclerc defeated
Toussaint and took over the Governor-Generalship. Then in June 1802 Toussaint was taken
prisoner put on board a French warship and taken to France. After the death, Dessalines became
the next leader.
On 29 November1803 Dessalines, Christophe and other general named Clerveaux, the
commander of the black forces in eastern Hispaniola declared the independence of St Domingue.
Then on the 1 January 1804, at a meeting of blacks and coloureds at Arcahaye, Dessalines, the
general in chief , renounced all connection with France and renamed St Domingue Haiti
(meaning Land of mountains ).

CONCLUSION
The Haitian Revolution has often been described as the largest and most successful slave
rebellion in the Western Hemisphere. Slaves initiated the rebellion in 1791 and by 1803 they had
succeeded in ending not just slavery but French control over the colony.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bibliography
Ashdown, P., & Humphreys, F. (1988). Caribbean Revision History for CXC. Malaysia:
Macmillan Publishers Limited.
Beckles, H. M., & Shepherd, V. A. (2006). Freedoms Won. New York.
Beckles, H. M., & Shepherd, V. A. (n.d.). Liberties Lost The Indigenous Caribbean and Slaves
Systems.
Robert, G., & Shirley, H. (2003). Emancipation to Emigration. Thailand: Macmillan Publishers
Limited.
Shen, K. (2015, October 27). History of Haiti. Retrieved August 10, 2016, from Haitian
Revolution Begins: http://library.brown.edu/haitihistory/5.html
Washington, U. o. (n.d.). Haitian Revolution (1791-1804). Retrieved August 10, 2016, from
BLACK PAST.ORG: Remembered & Reclaimed: http://www.blackpast.org/gah/haitianrevolution-1791-1804