The Haitian Revolution lasted for approximately thirteen years, beginning in August of 1791 and coming to an end on January 1, 1804. The Haitian Revolution is primarily renowned not only because it was the first Latin American nation to gain independence, but also because upon liberation, Haiti became the first republic to be governed by people of African descent. Furthermore, the fact that a slave rebellion was of a significant influence in the creation of this revolutionary republic sets Haiti’s struggle for independence apart from other Latin American revolutions. However, while the slaves or African born bossales may have composed the majority of Haiti’s population, there were two other social/ethnic groups in Haiti’s caste system in the
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They made up more than half of Saint-Domingue’s population at 408,000, compared to the 20,000 gens de couleur and 24,000 whites in 1787. Theoretically, their treatment was supposed to be regulated by the Code noir or the Black Code issued by French King Louis XIV in 1685; it provided that slaves be properly fed, given at least two sets of clothing per year, and allowed for their education and Chritianization. In reality however, many slaves were victims of unspeakable cruelty: whipping, cutting off ears, cutting hamstrings, and cachots (private prisons) were all accepted and legal forms of punishment. Furthermore, while execution of slaves was not legal, masters were rarely punished for it. “A French observer in the 1780s described the scene he witnessed in Saint-Domingue’s sugar fields: ‘The sun blazed down on [the slaves’] heads; sweat poured from all parts of their bodies. Their limbs, heavy from the heat, tired by the weight of their hoes and the resistance of heavy soil, which was hardened to the point where it broke the tools, nonetheless struggled to overcome all obstacles. They worked in glum silence; all their faces showed their misery’” (Popkin, 2012, p.14). Despite this misery, despite the cruel treatment they often received and despite the fact that the slaves drastically outnumbered the gens de couleur and whites, deliberately working slowly and marronage (running away from the plantation) were the extent of slave rebellion before the gens de couleur started the revolution. While marrons or maroons (escaped slaves) did hide out in the mountains and formed small, independent groups, there were no major revolts in the years before the beginning of the revolution in
They made up more than half of Saint-Domingue’s population at 408,000, compared to the 20,000 gens de couleur and 24,000 whites in 1787. Theoretically, their treatment was supposed to be regulated by the Code noir or the Black Code issued by French King Louis XIV in 1685; it provided that slaves be properly fed, given at least two sets of clothing per year, and allowed for their education and Chritianization. In reality however, many slaves were victims of unspeakable cruelty: whipping, cutting off ears, cutting hamstrings, and cachots (private prisons) were all accepted and legal forms of punishment. Furthermore, while execution of slaves was not legal, masters were rarely punished for it. “A French observer in the 1780s described the scene he witnessed in Saint-Domingue’s sugar fields: ‘The sun blazed down on [the slaves’] heads; sweat poured from all parts of their bodies. Their limbs, heavy from the heat, tired by the weight of their hoes and the resistance of heavy soil, which was hardened to the point where it broke the tools, nonetheless struggled to overcome all obstacles. They worked in glum silence; all their faces showed their misery’” (Popkin, 2012, p.14). Despite this misery, despite the cruel treatment they often received and despite the fact that the slaves drastically outnumbered the gens de couleur and whites, deliberately working slowly and marronage (running away from the plantation) were the extent of slave rebellion before the gens de couleur started the revolution. While marrons or maroons (escaped slaves) did hide out in the mountains and formed small, independent groups, there were no major revolts in the years before the beginning of the revolution in