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Economic:
An ideological continuity throughout the Haitian Revolution is the existence of their fine crops. Such crops included sugar, rum, cotton, tobacco, and indigo. These crops made the country wealthy and noticed on the world stage in the 1700s. Meanwhile, the 1800s were a different story. Most of the crop fields were demolished during all the fighting. The now freed blacks turned to subsistence farming for their food.
On July 26, 1801: Toussaint published a new constitution for Saint-Domingue which abolished slavery but allowed the importation of free blacks to work the plantations. The constitution recognized sugar as important to the Saint-Domingue economy and accepted Roman Catholicism as the state religion. The constitution professed loyalty and subservience to France.
Social:
Another continuity was that blacks were always the prominent racial group. Before the revolution began, blacks outnumbered whites on a 10 to 1 ratio. Staggering. Of course, once the revolution ended, the blacks killed off and ran off the remaining white social group. About 98% of the Haitian population was free blacks. Throughout the whole process, blacks were always on the top of in terms of numbers.
Nov. 2, 1802: The rebellers chose the red and blue flag as their banner. The story is that they took the three color French flag -- a band each of red, blue and white, and tore out the white, proclaiming that Haiti would drive out the whites.
January 1,1804: Jean-Jacques Dessalines declared Haiti independent after defeating the French army sent to capture Haiti once again. Over half the people in Haiti died before the struggle had ended. The United States, Britain, Spain and France, were all nervous about an all-black republic. After all, the large nations were all slave-owning states. It was a major step up in black independence because it as the very first successful African slave revolt.
Political:
My last ideological continuity is the constant political corruption during the 13 year revolution. Although some may think that France was fully in charge before,but that is an incorrect statement. France had to many things on their plate. France had to focus primarily on the constant fighting that was going on in Europe. The lack of focus to their Haitian colony helped the Haitian Revolution. Once the slave revolt was completed, they didn't know how to govern themselves, which added to the corruption that already was.
Economic:
Haiti began in 1750 and was considered the richest colony in the world! Once the revolution occurred, however, things changed. The world was cut off, and Haiti's inhabitants became reliant on subsistence farming. Ideologically, Haiti was thought to be declining. The imports and exports obviously practically vanished, which caused Haiti to become more and more poor. Also, in order to be legitimized in the world community. Later, Haiti was practically forced to pay the FRENCH for their "lost property" which amounted to about 150 million francs, or 21 billion dollars in today's money.
Social:
Before the Haitian Revolution, there were very distinct social classes. The whites were primarily considered the social leaders (with the exception of a few free blacks.) Ideologically, blacks before were treated as property, and even animals were treated better. After Independence Day,
(January 1, 1804), all thoughts towards blacks were changed forever. Once the revolt was over,all citizens were declared free and equal. This was the first independent black republic and only the second nation to gain independence from a country in Europe. It inspired and influenced, but also changed the way people thought about slavery.
There were four very distinct groups of people during the Haitian Revolution that had different interests and racial distinctions. A variety of social issues were the main causes of the revolution itself. Those groups are: the whites, the free people of color, the black slaves, and the maroons.
Political:
A political and ideological change was that blacks could be, and had to be, in charge of themselves. Before the revolution, the French owned and governed Haiti. Also, the planters and white men were in charge until they were killed. However, the revolution caused a lot of social and political instability in the region. Unlike the US and the English-Speaking Caribbean, where for the most part people just vote out whomever they don't like, Haiti, still inflicted their tradition of social upheaval whenever they had a ruler they disagreed with. This potentially caused political and social chaos.
The Whites: The whites were separated between two primary groups. First, there were "the planters". The planters were wealthy whites who were plantation owners and had many slaves.They were united in support of slavery because their wealth and position was very dependent on the slave economy. Secondly were the "petit blancs" who were much like that of "the planters", but they were much less powerful. They were artisans, shop keepers, merchants, teachers and various middle and underclass whites. They often had a few slaves, but were not wealthy like the planters.
Free People of Color: There were approximately 30,000 free persons of color in 1789. About half of them were mulattoes, children of white Frenchmen and slave women. These mulattoes were often freed by their fathers because of guilt. The other half were blacks who bought their freedom, or had been gifted it for many reasons. Free people of color were often more wealthy than petit blancs and occasionally more wealthy than the planters, which explains the whites' hatred toward the free blacks.
Black Slaves:There were about 500,000 slaves during the Haitian Revolution. The 400,000 field hands were the slaves who had the harshest and most hopeless lives. They worked from sun up to sun down in a difficult climate. They were not fed well, with almost no medical care, not allowed to learn to read or write, and in general were treated much worse than the work animals on the plantation. About 100,000 of the slaves were domestics who worked as cooks, personal servants and various artisans around the plantation manor, or in the towns. These slaves were generally treated better than the common field hands.
The Maroons: The maroons are runaway slaves who left and went into the mountains and settled in small villages. There, they kept up their African traditions . They were very anti-slavery, but wouldn't fight.
During the 1700s, the French colony of Saint Domingue was the most affluent colony in the world; more than the 13 Colonies. Its slave-produced tropical crops -- sugar, rum, cotton, tobacco, and indigo -- created their great wealth. These crops were vital to other countries of the world, and there was a high demand for the low supply of these crops. Slaves were becoming more and more upset because they were the cause for the wealth their owners were acquiring.
By the 1740s Saint-Domingue, together with Jamaica, had become the main supplier of the world's sugar. Sugar production depended on extensive manual labor provided by enslaved Africans in the harsh Saint-Domingue colonial plantation economy. The white planters who derived their wealth from the sale of sugar knew they were outnumbered by slaves by a factor of more than ten; they lived in fear of slave rebellion. White masters extensively used the threat of physical violence to maintain control and limit this possibility for slave rebellion. Although this threat cooled the tensions for a while, all that was needed was time before the slaves outraged. It all began August 21, 1791 when the free people of color rebelled.