By Gerald Horne
A review
The
revolution that created the United States of America was a turning point in the
history of the world. This revolution
made a clean break with the feudal order that was dominated by kings, queens,
and royal families. However, after the
revolution, chattel slavery continued to be the law of the land. This was in spite of the fact that the
Constitution declared, “all men are created equal.”
Thomas
Jefferson, a slave owner, wrote the Constitution. Jefferson lived an opulent lifestyle because
of the slaves he owned. He clearly did
not believe these slaves were his equals.
The Haitian Revolution
Then,
in 1791 a revolution in the French colony of San Domingue erupted. The primary goal of this revolution was to
abolish the dreaded institution of slavery.
Initially the revolutionary slaves sided with the Spanish who controlled
the eastern section of the island of Hispaniola. Then, as the revolution in France erupted,
the new French government abolished slavery.
The revolutionary government of San Donmingue responded to this
development by siding with France and taking control of the entire island.
Then,
the British invaded the island only to be defeated decisively. Napoleon betrayed the French revolution and
attempted to reestablish slavery on the island.
This decision led to Napoleon’s first decisive defeat and France lost
about 60,000 soldiers.
As a
result of this defeat, Haiti was established as an independent nation. Napoleon sold the French colony to the
United States. This sale is known as the
Louisiana Purchase.
Understanding
this background, my opinion is that the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) is one
of the many historical events we need to be aware of in order to begin to have
an understanding of the history of the world.
I didn’t learn about this in high school, but from C.L.R. James wonderful
book, The Black Jacobins: Toussaint
L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution.
While I believe that this book continues to be the best source for
information on that event, today we can read Gerald Horne’s book that looks at
the Haitian Revolution from a different perspective.
The
theme of Horne’s book Confronting Black
Jacobins looks at the interaction of revolutionary Haiti with the United
States, Britain, France, and the Dominican Republic. We can start the narrative of this book with
the fact that the nation of Haiti abolished slavery at a time when all the
other nations that dominated the Americas gouged out tremendous profits from
slave labor.
The
Caribbean islands had been the prime location to gouge out profits in the world
over 100 years before the Haitian Revolution.
Sales of sugar were the primary source of this fantastic wealth and the
French colony of San Domingue was the most lucrative center for this
trade. When the Haitian Revolution
erupted, this relationship of forces began to change. We can see this by taking a look at all the
nations affected because of this monumental revolution.
The
revolution transformed Haiti from a
place where hundreds of thousands of people lived in slavery, to a place where
former Black slaves became the political force of the nation. The Haitian constitution made it illegal for
Caucasians to own land. The government
actively worked to prevent its citizens from being kidnapped and sold into
slavery.
As a
result, for a time, there was little crime between Haitians. Murder was unheard of. For a time, the only crime on the island was
petty theft. This new atmosphere
attracted thousands of Black people from the United States.
These
U.S. citizens understood that they were treated as second-class citizens. They also understood that they could be
kidnapped and sold into slavery. Under
this environment thousands of Black citizens of this country were attracted to
a government run by Black people that outlawed slavery.
The slave owning republic, and the colonial powers
Gerald
Horne labeled the pre-Civil War United
States as the “slave owning republic.”
The Haitian Revolution struck a gripping fear into the minds of slave
owners. Haiti represented a nation where
slave owners lost virtually everything.
Haiti also was the place where former slaves freed themselves to bring
justice to those who had tortured them for over a century. Slave owners in this country took
extraordinary measures attempting to avoid the fate of the former slave owners
of San Domingue.
The
United States didn’t recognize Haiti until after the Civil War. Recognition of Haiti would mean that
representatives of Haiti and the U.S. would have to discuss numerous issues as
equals. Until the Civil War, slave
owners were the dominant force in this country, and they viewed recognition of
Haiti as totally unacceptable to their way of life.
The British Empire transformed itself
during the 19th century. On
the one hand, British industry became a dominant force because of the cotton
purchased from the United States that had been picked by slave labor. On the other hand, in 1834 the British
outlawed slavery in Jamaica responding to slave rebellions on that island. However, Britain had already recognized Haiti
in 1825. Part of the British
government’s motivation was to have a policy that challenged the other powerful
nations of the world.
The French government recognized Haiti in
1838. However, this came at a
price. The French threatened Haiti with
war unless Haiti paid France 60 million Franks as reparations for defeating
France in the Haitian Revolution. Rather
than risk fighting a war that might have been extremely destructive, the
Haitian government agreed to pay the insulting reparations for winning
independence.
The Spanish monarchy had been one of the most powerful in the world. This monarchy literally looted the Americas
for gold and silver. The problem was
that Spain didn’t develop manufacturing.
This meant that the gold and silver looted from the Americas went to
Britain, France, and Amsterdam. This
problem led to the decline of the Spanish empire.
Spanish
colonies throughout the Americas erupted in revolutions demanding
independence. Haiti gave the
revolutionary leader Simon Bolivar asylum while Spain viewed him as a
fugitive.
The creation of the Dominican Republic
During
the period of slavery, the colonial powers created divisions between Black and
colored people. These divisions
continued after the revolution. As I
mentioned, revolutionary former slaves took control of the eastern part of the
island of Hispaniola.
This
eastern section of the island had a much smaller population. The people were predominantly colored and
spoke Spanish. The colonial powers
fomented the divisions between the eastern and western parts of the island. The eastern section of the island received
heavy armaments that were used to become independent and establish the nation
of the Dominican Republic. While the new
government became independent of Haiti, they were also successful in resisting
Spanish attempts to colonize the island.
The
colonial powers also had their eyes on the Bay of Samana, considered to be one
of the most important in the world.
Samana is located in the Dominican Republic and the area of the bay
became the home of hundreds of Black immigrants from the United States.
Conclusion
With
all the problems that faced the nation of Haiti, I agree with the following
conclusion of Gerald Horne about the significance of the Haitian Revolution.
“Still,
the spirit of Back Jacobins has yet to be quelled, not least since the
revolutionary example of Haiti spread throughout the Americas and created a
general crisis of the slave system that could only be resolved—thankfully—with
its collapse. As a result, Africans in
particular and the international working class in general owe a massive debt of
gratitude to the Black Jacobins of Hispaniola.”
155
years after the Haitian Revolution, a revolutionary government took power in
Cuba. The revolution started in the
eastern section of Cuba that is closest to the nation of Haiti. Haitian slave owners as well as slaves who
left San Domingue because of the revolution immigrated to this eastern section
of Cuba. This French speaking community
had an enormous influence in Cuba. This
is just one example of how the Black Jacobins continue to influence our reality
today.
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