How Did The French Revolution Influence The Haitian Revolution

The Haitian Revolution lasted from 1791 to 1804. Before the revolution, blacks and mulattoes wanted equality, and also independence from France. Slaves worked from before dawn till after dark. They were underfed, undernourished, and overworked by their owners. Owners used violence and terror to force slaves to work. They would burn them in ovens, pour boiling cane sugar on them, and put salt, pepper, or lemon on whip wounds. Slaves resisted slavery through infanticide, suicide, and plotting to kill their owners. Many slaves would run away to less populated places to become maroons and form their own communities. They also practiced Vodou, an outlawed religion that was created by the slaves in Haiti. As time passed by, things began to change and the colony would be different from then on. “In July 1801, Toussaint Louverture issued a new constitution that pleased neither the French nor the masses in Saint-Domingue. The constitution completely abolished slavery [...] and declared that all citizens had equal rights.” (Choices 34). Although the constitution sounded like it benefitted the blacks, it did not do much. “But it also upheld some of the tenets of the colonial system. For example, it outlawed Vodou, in
The French Revolution was started by the underrepresented majority of the population, and the Haitian Revolution started in the same way. The French Revolution also embodied ideas from The Enlightenment. “[...] the French Revolution was influenced by Enlightenment ideals, particularly the concepts of popular sovereignty and inalienable rights.” (History.com). These ideas spread all over the world including the Caribbean, which influenced the slaves’ way of thinking in Saint-Domingue. The slaves would use ideas from The Enlightenment to rationalize how wrong and unfair it was for them to be oppressed and forced into their current situation, which led to their unity and