The Caribbean and Latin America: Revolution and independence

1 IlieCaribbean and Latin America: Revolution and independence

The Caribbean and Latin America: Revolution and independence

The revolution in the UnitedStates proved to be the first ofa series of revolutions in theAmericas that would lead toindependence from France, Spainand Portugal, in chronologicalorder. Each revolution had

its roots not just in theEnlightenment but in therevolutions that had alreadyoccurred. Just like US

independence, the Haitianrevolution proved to be animportant cause of the revolutionsin Latin America. More

immediately, the FrenchRevolution and subsequentNapoleonic Empire providedthe catalysts for change.

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Caribbean Sea

This is a modern map of Hispaniola; on the eastern third of the island is Haiti, orthe French colony of Saint Domingue; on the west side was the Spanish colony ofSanto Domingo.

The Haitian Revolution, 1791-1804The Haitian Revolution brought forth ideas ofracial equality thatproved threatening to the rest of the Americas, especially to thoseregions that depended on slave labor. The revolution took place inthe French colony ofSaint Domingue, the eastern part of the islandof Hispaniola. The island was important to France; it produced theimportant commodity of sugar and provided two fifths of its overseastrade. It had a plantation economy that relied on slavery to keepits level of production high. On the eve of the revolution, thepopulation of Haiti was divided by race, legally and socially.

Whites were the dominant group in society, with a populationof 40,000 that was divided by class, but equal in legal privileges.Similarly, the 30,000 free non-whites {gens de coleur) were alsosocially diverse and only linked by the legal and societaldiscrimination that they faced. The overwhelming majority of thepopulation consisted of 500,000 slaves. While this might seem like ahomogenous group, ethnically they were diverse, and the rights andprivileges they had varied from plantation to plantation; some wereeven granted the right to farm their own land and sell theirproduce.

In 1789, the French Revolution provided the catalyst for change inthe colony. The whites were divided as the wealthy {grand blancs)tried to ensure continued dominance for themselves but the middleand lower classes {petit blancs) felt it was their right to rule andformed a National Guard to take action. The gens de coleur saw therevolution as their opportunity for equal rights, and in 1790 theNational Assembly in France granted them political rights. The whites

Discussion pointAs a French colony, St.Domingue was part of anabsolute monarchy. In such asociety, how can there bedifferences between legalequality and racial equality?

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