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Revolution on Hispaniola...

Hispaniola was plagued with violent rebellions throughout the eighteenth century, particularly on the French-held western side of the island, which had been partitioned with Spain in the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick. Saint Domingue, as the French side was called (now Haiti), was an immensely prosperous colony, particularly in terms of the sugar trade. On the eve of the French Revolution in 1788, Saint Domingue produced roughly three-quarters of the world’s sugar trade (and some forty percent of the world’s sugar crop), and the colony’s external trade was superior to that of the United States. Saint Domingue had a large and deeply stratified population of over 500,000 inhabitants, including 40,000 whites, 30,000 free people of color (Affranchis), and 450,000 slaves. This population was divided by the colonial system into three classes, the colonizers, the Affranchis, and the slaves, each with unique circumstances and freedoms. Race remained the primary determiner of social status, leaving the Affranchis, who frequently held comfortable positions as wealthy merchants, land owners and slave holders, free from any political power or equality with the white colonists. As the Affranchis economic power grew, they became increasingly demanding of political power on par with the white colonists. This was repeatedly denied. At first, the Affranchis were key components of the white colonists’ system of rule, staffing the militias and the army, and often hunting down escaped slaves for profit. But as the white colonists continued to horde power, even in the face of rapidly growing Affranchis and slave populations, the Affranchis switched sides. As the French Revolution in 1791-92 brought into the question the French practice of oppression versus equality for free colored peoples, so too did the issue of the rights of the Affranchis in the French colonies become increasingly pressing. White colonists of Saint Domingue strongly considered declaring independence from France, for fear of falling from power in the light of seemingly inevitable reforms within the French colonial system. Swept up in the wave of political emancipation that had begun transforming the French empire, the Affranchis rebelled against the white colonists, killing many, and were soon joined by the massive slave population, who rebelled massively on August 22, 1791. Out of the ensuing chaos that would at times involve both the English, who fought a proxy war against France via the slave and Affranchis armies, and the Spanish, who allied with the slaves from their holdings on the eastern side of the island, came the nation of Haiti on January 1st, 1804. Haiti holds the dual distinctions of being the only successful slave revolt in history, as well as being the second independent nation in the Western Hemisphere after the United States.

The History of Haiti
Author: Coupeau, Steeve
Published: Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2008.