Haitian Revolution Slavery

Superior Essays
Essay #1 “Eyewitness Accounts of the Haitian Revolution
One of the key contributors to the expansion of the French Empire is the Haitian colony of the Caribbean. After the invasion of Haiti by the French in the mid-16th century, permanent settlements were then developed including enclave trading colonization when the French Indies Corporation was founded in the 1660s. With international trade underway slave labor was needed to cultivate the plantations within the colonies. The black slaves bore the burden and the labor of the plantations, additionally suffered torment and torture from their dehumanizing white masters. In 1789 in 1790 in an effort to extend the liberty and freedom of the French Revolution abroad, the French national assembly
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In one portion of the readings the author draws their perspective on how important slavery was to the colonies to white slave owners. Although white colonists were not on board with the French national assembly’s decision to allow free people of color civil and political liberties, they felt they needed to enlist the help of free blacks to maintain slavery in the colonies. White colonists felt they could appeal to free people of color who some of them were slave owners also to revolt against the abolishment of slavery to preserve their own economic gains as well as white slave owners. Free men of color along with mulattos denounced this alliance with white colonists and align themselves with slaves complying with the French national assembly to the principles of liberty and equality. Despite poor planning and insufficient training leading into the invasion of Tiburon, with staggering numbers in the favor of the black revolutionaries of Haiti they were able to extract one of the most horrific and staggering acts of mass murder scene during the revolution. The eyewitness account of the carnage draws a perspective of the situation by saying “they wanted to reach the seashore to escape up the main road, to hide themselves in the woods, but the blacks, who had …show more content…
During Verneuil’s eyewitness account he divulged about his encounter with Vincent Oge and the fair treatment he received from him. Verneuil’ encounter with Oge was one of the battles in what was a short-lived rebellion in the name of Civil liberties and freedoms to free black men, and not the abolishment of slavery. Verneuil also reflects on several conversations with Oge on trying to persuade him into reconsidering his plans to merge his ranks with slaves because Oge is to a slave owner and is seen in the same manner as white slave. The author of this eyewitness account is also vital from a political standpoint as he was one of many white refugees deported back to France by the French Commissioner Leger-Felicite Sonthonax. Verneuil later gave a testimony to the French national assembly of the incidents being counted during the Haitian

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