AN INTRODUCTION
The general will of a society exists as a collection (though not as simply as a sum of its parts) of the wishes and opinions of the members of said society. In The Social Contract, Rousseau asserts the general will is the most important aspect of a functional society; it is imperative the leader is subservient to the general will, lest the people not be properly represented. When the general will is not allowed to act (as the Sovereign) through legislative means (i.e. the leader does not take the general will into account), then the society is doomed to be destroyed. The purpose of this essay is to contrast the varying leadership styles of the Roman general, Gaius Marcius Coriolanus, and the leader of the Haitian Revolution, …show more content…
European colonialism was at its height in the 18th century: the British were carving their way through India via the East India Company, the Portuguese were setting up slave trades in various parts of Africa, and the Spanish and French were attempting to divvy up which pieces of the New World and the Caribbean they could own (completely dismissing the local population or enslaving them). The island of Hispaniola was split into two sections, the Spanish’s section, St. Domingo, and the French’s section, St. Domingue. Focusing now on St. Domingue, the French forces enslaved the local population and used their free labor to extract the natural resources of the land (which at the time were bountiful). This made the slaveowners quite rich and negligent of the increasing revolutionary tendencies of the slaves. Seeing the success of the French Revolution, many free people of color sought the same freedoms of the French counterparts. They allied themselves with the Spanish against the French forces in the area for awhile, before switching to the side of the French, when France showed willingness to expand their rights by abolishing slavery. For the next few years, L’Ouverture lead the army of both free people of color and the slaves of the plantations against the oncoming Spanish forces, who were seeking to capitalize on the French’s confusion as their slaves revolted. After 1801, the French retreated their forces and recognized St. Domingue as a new nation referred to as Haiti. Later Toussaint L’Ouverture successfully lead forces to capture the Spanish colony St. Domingo and renamed it the Dominican
The general will of a society exists as a collection (though not as simply as a sum of its parts) of the wishes and opinions of the members of said society. In The Social Contract, Rousseau asserts the general will is the most important aspect of a functional society; it is imperative the leader is subservient to the general will, lest the people not be properly represented. When the general will is not allowed to act (as the Sovereign) through legislative means (i.e. the leader does not take the general will into account), then the society is doomed to be destroyed. The purpose of this essay is to contrast the varying leadership styles of the Roman general, Gaius Marcius Coriolanus, and the leader of the Haitian Revolution, …show more content…
European colonialism was at its height in the 18th century: the British were carving their way through India via the East India Company, the Portuguese were setting up slave trades in various parts of Africa, and the Spanish and French were attempting to divvy up which pieces of the New World and the Caribbean they could own (completely dismissing the local population or enslaving them). The island of Hispaniola was split into two sections, the Spanish’s section, St. Domingo, and the French’s section, St. Domingue. Focusing now on St. Domingue, the French forces enslaved the local population and used their free labor to extract the natural resources of the land (which at the time were bountiful). This made the slaveowners quite rich and negligent of the increasing revolutionary tendencies of the slaves. Seeing the success of the French Revolution, many free people of color sought the same freedoms of the French counterparts. They allied themselves with the Spanish against the French forces in the area for awhile, before switching to the side of the French, when France showed willingness to expand their rights by abolishing slavery. For the next few years, L’Ouverture lead the army of both free people of color and the slaves of the plantations against the oncoming Spanish forces, who were seeking to capitalize on the French’s confusion as their slaves revolted. After 1801, the French retreated their forces and recognized St. Domingue as a new nation referred to as Haiti. Later Toussaint L’Ouverture successfully lead forces to capture the Spanish colony St. Domingo and renamed it the Dominican