Slavery And The Haitian Revolution

The first half of the twentieth century gave rise to the independence and decolonization of the British Caribbean territories, which was largely made possible due to the independence awarded following the Haitian Revolution in 1804. When Haiti’s thirteen year rebellion finally culminated in its recognition as a separate, sovereign country, this became the catalyst for revolution throughout the region, included North and Latin America. Slavery would be officially abolished in the British Colonies in 1834 through the passing of the British Slavery Abolition Act, with France following suit in regards to their respective territories in 1848. The Haitian Revolution was led by Toussaint L’Ouverture, whose skill in guerrilla warfare and military tactics led to many victories. His lieutenant, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, was responsible for expelling Napoleon in 1803 and preventing the reinstitution of slavery in the colony, which had technically been originally abolished in the northern region of then Saint Domingue in 1793. Thus, Haiti became the first country to be founded by former slaves. Following the abolition of slavery, the British tried to introduce a transitory six year period of “apprenticeship” for the former slaves, which was subsequently rejected. With that came the introduction of indentured …show more content…
Most countries sought to be completely sufficient, opting for self-rule, and this choice presented its difficulties. There were, however, British territories that did consider assimilation to be more favorable such as The British Virgin Islands, Turks & Caicos, the Cayman Islands, and Montserrat. While not all anti-colonialist movements are equal, the differences in these approaches towards independence and decolonization directly affected the condition of French and British Caribbean territories in the years that