Overview of the Haitian Revolution used to set the context for the Who Was Toussaint L'Ouverture? History Lab

1. Brief Overview of
the Haitian Revolution,
1791-1804
Eric Beckman
Anoka HS, MN
The Louverture Project
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity @GMU
McKay, et al, History of Western Society

2. Who was Toussaint Louverture?
Print made from an 1838 engraving
French print from
An 1802 engraving

3. Haiti

4. Haiti

5. Haiti
 Hayti, Taino word for the island
 Western half of Santo
Domingo, aka Hispaniola
 French colony of Saint-
Domingue, 1697-1804
 Second Independent nation-
state in Western Hemisphere
 Site of largest successful slave
revolt in history

6. French Saint-Domingue (Haiti)
 Sugar, coffee, and Sugar Mill, engraving from 17th c.
indigo French book
 Slave labor
 Richest colony

7. People of French St.-Domingue
 African Slaves
 Free people of color
Some biracial
Some black
 Whites
Petit blancs
Plantation
owners
Many absentee
owners

8. Boukman Rebellion, a massive slave revolt, 1791
• Secret meetings
• Vodou
• Armies
• Rebelling slaves
• Free men of color
• Royalist whites
• Republican whites
• Toussaint Louverture
emerged as a leader
• Spanish support
• French Revolution: Declaration
of the Rights of Man and
Citizen

9. Boukman's Rebellion became a war
Toussaint Louverture's
•
army wins victories
10,000 whites flee St.-
•
Domingue (Haiti)
National Assembly in France
•
enfranchises free men of
color
But, maintains slavery
•
Racial violence:
•
petit blancs v. free people of
•
color

10. Civil War in Haiti, years of fighting
oRoyalist v Republican
oWhite elite v Free men of
color
oRebelling Slaves
Toussaint Louverture's
o
army conquers northern Haiti
o Spanish guns
oSeveral armies

11. End of Slavery
• Rebelling Slaves
• French Proclamations
• St. Domingue, 1793
• All French territory,
1794
• Revolutionary armies
in Haiti join with French

12. Toussaint Louverture became a
French Official
 Leads his Army against
 Spanish & British
 Other Haitian armies
 Others lead by biracial Haitians
 Toussaint Louverture won victories over the
whole island of Santo Domingo

13. Napoloeon Bonaparte seizes power
in France, 1799
• Rules as dictator in the
name of the French
Revolution (?)

14. Toussaint Louverture rules all of Santo
Domingo as Governor-General, 1801-1802
Constitution of 1801 (for
all of Santo Domingo)
 Abolished slavery
 Elected legislature
Santo Domingo remains
French
Toussaint Louverture =
Governor General for life

15. Napoleon Sends an Army to
Reconquer St. Domingue (Haiti), 1802
Eventually, attempts to
reinstitute slavery
 Massive French casualties
50,000 of 58,000 die

French commander
deceives and imprisons
Toussaint Louverture

16. Louverture in French Prison
Toussaint Louverture
•
dies in French prison,
1803

17. Who was Toussaint Louverture?
Print made from an 1838 engraving
French print from
An 1802 engraving

18. Source:
Tobias Lear

19. Haitian Independence!
Former Slave Jean
Jacques Dessaline
and former “free man
of color” Alexandre
Petion unite to lead
Haitian revolutionaries
to victories over
French troops

20. Haitian Independence, 1804
French forces abandon

Haiti
Dessalines declares
Haitian independence,
1/1/1804
Dessalines declares
himself Emperor of Haiti,
rules 1804-1806
Desalines with the Haitian bicolor, blue over red

21. Haitian Revolution in World History
 Napoleon abandons idea of empire in the Americas
 sells Louisiana to the USA
 News spreads to the US
 Rebellious slaves
 Paranoid slave
 Haitian government shelters Simon Bolivar, before his
successful wars of independence
 Toussaint Louverture becomes a hero to millions striving
for freedom