Haitian Revolutions: Crash Course World History #30

Ideas like liberty, freedom, and self-determination were hot stuff in the late 18th century, as evidenced by our recent revolutionary videos. Although freedom was breaking out all over, many of the societies that were touting these ideas relied on slave labor. Few places in the world relied so heavily on slave labor as Saint-Domingue, France's most profitable colony. Slaves made up nearly 90% of Saint-Domingue's population, and in 1789 they couldn't help but hear about the revolution underway in France. All the talk of liberty, equality, and fraternity sounds pretty good to a person in bondage, and so the slaves rebelled. This led to not one but two revolutions, and ended up with France, the rebels, Britain, and Spain all fighting in the territory. Spoiler alert: the slaves won. So how did the slaves of what would become Haiti throw off the yoke of one of the world's great empires? John Green tells how they did it, and what it has meant in Haiti and in the rest of the world.

Hi, I’m John Green.

This is Crash Course World History.

And apparently it’s

revolutions month here at Crash Course,
[seriously… all month]

because today we are going to discuss
the oft-neglected Haitian Revolutions.

The Haitian Revolutions
are totally fascinating

and they involve two
of my very favorite things.

1.
Ending slavery and

2.
Napoleon getting his feelings hurt.

I can’t help myself, Napoleon.

I like to see you suffer.

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So,

the French colony in Saint Domingue

began in the 17th century
as a pirate outpost.

And its original French inhabitants

made their living selling leather
and a kind of smoked beef

called boucan.

All that beef actually came from
cattle left behind by the Spanish,

who were the first Europeans
to settle the island.

But anyway,

after 1640,

the boucan-sellers started to
run low on beef.

And they were like,

“You know what would pay better
than selling beef jerky?

Robbing Spanish galleons,”
[beef jerky still winner of taste test]

which as you’ll recall were loaded

with silver mined from South America.
[heavy metallic undertaste]

So, by the middle of the 17th century,

the French had convinced many
of those buccaneering captains

to give up their pirating and
settle on the island.

[arrrr you kidding?]

Many of them invested
some of their pirate treasure

in sugar plantations,

which, by 1700 were thriving

at both producing sugar
and working people to death.

And soon,

this island was the most
valuable colony in the West Indies,

and possibly in the world.
[sugar is pretty much totally awesome]

It produced 40% of Europe’s sugar,

60% of its coffee,

and it was home to more slaves
than any place except Brazil.

And as you’ll recall from
our discussion of Atlantic slavery,

being a slave in a sugar-production
colony was exceptionally brutal.

In fact,

by the late 18th century,

more slaves were imported to
Saint Domingue

EVERY YEAR—

more than 40,000—

than the entire white population
of the island.

By the 19th century,

slaves made up about
90% of the population.

And most of those slaves
were African born,

because the brutal living
and working conditions

prevented natural population growth.

Like,

remember Alfred Crosby’s
fantastic line,

“it is crudely true that if man’s caloric
intake is sufficient,

he will somehow stagger to maturity,

and he will reproduce?”

Yeah, well,

not in 18th century Haiti,

thanks to Yellow Fever

and smallpox

and just miserable working conditions.

So,

most of these plantations
were pretty large,

they often had more than 200 slaves,

and many of the field workers—

in some cases, a majority—

were women.

Colonial society in Saint Domingue
was divided into four groups,

which had important consequences
for the revolution.

At the top,

were the Big White planters who
owned the plantations

and all the slaves.

Often these Grand Blancs

were absentee landlords

who would just rather stay in France
and let their agents do,

you know,

the actual brutality.

Below them

were the wealthy free people of color.

Most of the Frenchmen
who came to the island were,

you know, men,

and they frequently
fathered children with slave women.

[not An Abundance Of love stories]

These fathers would often
free their children.

Wasn’t that generous of them.

So,

by 1789,

there were 24,800
free people of color along with

about 30,000 white people

in the colony.

The free people of color contributed
a lot to the island’s stability.

They served in the militia,

and in the local constabulary,

and many of the wealthier ones

eventually owned plantations and slaves
of their own. [ #awkward ]

And then,

below them on the social ladder
were the poor whites,

or the petit blancs,

who worked as artisans and laborers.

And at the bottom were the slaves

who made up the overwhelming majority.

I know what you’re thinking:

this is a recipe for permanent
social stability.

No, it wasn’t.

Okay,

so when the French Revolution
broke out in 1789,

all these groups had something
to complain about.

The slaves, obviously,

disliked being slaves.

The free people of color were still
subject to legal discrimination,

no matter how wealthy they became.

And the poor whites,

in addition to being poor,

were resentful of all the privileges
held by the wealthy people of color.

And the Grand Blancs were complaining
about French trade laws

and the government’s attempts

to slightly improve the living
and working conditions of slaves.

[#slaveowningwhitepeopleproblems]

Basically they were saying

that government shouldn’t be in
the business of regulating business.

So everyone was unhappy,

but the slaves were by far
the worst off. [Ya think?]

Mr. Green, Mr. Green!

You’re always saying
how much slavery sucks,

but is it really any worse
than having to work for,

like, subsis--

Yeah,

I’m gonna stop you right there,

Me from the Past,

before you further embarrass yourself.
[good call, You From the Now]

You often hear from people attempting to comprehend
the horrors of slavery that slavery couldn’t

have been all that bad,

and that it wasn’t that different
from working for minimum wage.

And that we know this because

if it HAD been so bad,

slaves would have just revolted,
which they never did.

Yeah. Well,

1.
equating slavery to poor working conditions

ignores the fact that if you work at, like,
Foxconn, Foxconn doesn’t get to sell your

children to other corporations.

And 2.
As you are about to see,

SLAVES DID REVOLT.

So,

the unrest in what became Haiti
started in 1789

when some slaves heard a rumor that
the King of France had freed them.

Even though it was across the ocean,

word of the changes in France
reached the people of Haiti,

where The Declaration of Rights
of Man and Citizen,

while terrifying to planters,

gave hope both to
free people of color and to slaves.

At the same time, some petit blancs
argued that there was inadequate

discrimination against blacks.
[quite a classy crowd pleaser there]

They identified with
the third estate in France,

and they called for interest rates
to be lowered

so they could more easily
pay their debts.

[if wishes were horses…]

And they began lobbying
for colonial independence.

The psychology here shows you

the extent to which slaves
were not considered people.

I mean,

these radical petit blancs thought

that they were the oppressed people
in Saint Domingue because

they couldn’t afford to own slaves.

And they thought if they
could become independent from France,

they could take power
from the people of privilege

and institute a democracy
where everyone had a voice--

except for the 95% of people
who weren’t white.

Then in 1791,

these radical petit blancs seized
the city of Port au Prince.

You’ll remember that by 1791,

France was at war with most of Europe,

and just like with the 7 Years War,

the wars of Revolutionary France played
out in the colonies as well as at home.

So the French government
sent troops to Saint Domingue.

Meanwhile,

urges toward liberty, fraternity,
and equality

were only growing in France,

and it didn’t seem very equitable to
grant citizenship based solely on race.

So in May of 1791,

the National Assembly gave full French
citizenship to all free men of color.

I mean,

if they owned property,

and had enough money,

and weren’t the children of slaves.

The petit blancs weren’t
thrilled about this,

and that led to fighting breaking out between
them and the

newly French free people of color.

And then in August of 1791,

the slaves were like,

“Um, hi, yes. Screw all of you.”
[expletives deleted]

And a massive slave revolt broke out.

Among the leaders of this revolt

was Toussaint Breda,
a former slave of full African descent,

who later took the name
Toussaint L’ouverture.

L’Ouverture helped mold the slaves into
a disciplined army that could withstand attacks

from the French troops.

But again,

the context of the wider revolution
proves really important here.

So,

the Spanish had consistently supported
slave revolts in Saint Domingue

hoping to weaken the French.

But, by 1793
they were offering even more support.

In fact,

L’Ouverture became an officer
in the Spanish military

because the emancipation of the slaves
was more important to him than

maintaining his rights
as a French Citizen.

So then,

in October of 1793

the British,

whom as I’m sure you’ll recall
were also at war with France,

decided to invade Saint Domingue.

And at that point,

the French military
commanders were like,

We are definitely going to lose
this war if we fight

the British,

the Spanish,

and the slaves,

so let’s free the slaves.

So they issued decrees
freeing the slaves

and on February 4, 1794

the National Convention
in Paris ratified those decrees.

By May,

having learned of the
Convention’s actions,

L’Ouverture switched
allegiances to the French

and turned the tide of the war.

Thus,

the most successful
slave revolt in human history

won freedom and citizenship for

every slave in the French Caribbean.

But emancipation didn’t end the story
because the French were still at war

with the Spanish and the English
in Saint Domingue.

Luckily for France,

L’Ouverture was an excellent general,

and luckily for the people
of the island,

L’Ouverture was also
an able politician.

And between 1794 and 1802,

he successfully steered
the colony toward independence.

So,

although slavery was abolished,

this didn’t end the plantation system

because both L’Ouverture
and his compatriot Andre Rigaud

believed that sugar was vital
to the economic health of the island.

But now at least people
were paid for their labor

and their kids couldn’t be sold.

Now you can compare it to Foxconn.

But soon,

L’Ouverture and Rigaud came into conflict
over Rigaud’s refusal to give up control

over one of the Southern states on the island,

and there was a civil war,

which L’Ouverture,

with the help of his
able lieutenant Jacques Dessailines,

was able to win after 13 months
of hard fighting.

L’Ouverture then
passed a new constitution,

and things were going
pretty well on Saint Domingue

with the small problem that it
was still technically part of France,

which meant that it was about
to be ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte.

Let’s go to the Thought Bubble.
[Finally!]

So, in 1799,

Napoleon seized power in France
in a coup.

And, his new regime, called the Consulate
(because he was the First Consul a la the

Roman Republic) established a new constitution
that specifically pointed out its laws did

not apply to France’s overseas colonies.
Napoleon had plans to reconstruct France’s

empire in North America that it had lost most
of in the 7 Years’ War,

and to do this he needed tons of money from
France’s most valuable colony, Saint Domingue.

And the best way to maximize profits?

Why, to reintroduce slavery, of course.

["gotta get offa this merry-go-round"]

That’s certainly what the former slaves
thought was the plan when in 1802, a French

expedition commanded by Napoleon’s brother
in-law

Charles-Victor-Emmanuel-
I-Have-Too-Many-Names - Leclerc

showed up in Saint Domingue.

This started the second phase
of the Haitian revolution,

the fight for independence.

So, Leclerc eventually had L’Ouverture arrested
and shipped to France where he died in prison

in 1803.

But this itself did not spark an uprising
against the French because L’Ouverture wasn’t

actually that popular, largely because he
wanted most blacks on the island to continue

to grow sugar.

Instead, the former slaves only started fighting
when Leclerc tried to take away their guns,

thus beginning a guerrilla war that the French,
despite their superior training and weapons,

had absolutely no chance of winning.

Although the French were
exceedingly cruel,

executing women as well as men and

importing man-eating dogs from Cuba,

the Haitians had the best ally of all:

Disease,

specifically in the form of
Yellow Fever,

which killed thousands of French
soldiers, including Leclerc himself.

Oh,

it’s time for the Open Letter?

Stan!

Where is my chair?

Stan,

you’re telling me
the yellow chair has been lost?

The yellow chair
is the star of the show.

The stars, in order, are

1. me,

2. yellow chair,

3. the chalkboard,

4. Danica,
[bazinga]

5. Meredith the Intern,

6. you, Stan.
You’re sixth.

[Sorry Thought Bubblers, must be
Johnny Bookwriter's domestic list]

Oh, I’m mad.
[Not as mad as the ThoughtBubblers…]

Let’s see what’s
in the secret compartment today.

It’s a giant squid of anger!!!

I’M A GIANT SQUID OF ANGER!!!!

Oh, no.

It broke.

An open letter to disease.

Dear disease,

why do you always put yourself
at the center of human history?

Most of you are just tiny,
little single-celled organisms,

but you’re so self-important
and self-involved

that you’re always interfering with us.

Admittedly,

sometimes you work for the good guys,

but usually you don’t.

It seems like even though you’re constantly
interfering with human history,

you don’t even care about it.

I just hate when people,

and also microbes,

are super self-involved.

Like,

don’t tell me you gotta take a day off
to go to your mom’s birthday party,

Stan.

That’s not imagining me complexly.
[there it is]

I’ve got needs over here.

Best wishes,
John Green.

So continued defeat and the death of his troops
eventually convinced Napoleon to give up his

dreams of
an American empire

and cut his losses.

He recalled his surviving troops,

of the 40,000 who left,
only 8,000 made it back.

And then,

he sold Thomas Jefferson Louisiana.

And that is how former slaves in Haiti

gave America all of this.

On January 1, 1804,

Dessaillines who had defeated
the French,

declared the island of
Saint Domingue independent

and re-named it Haiti.

Which is what the island had been
called by the native inhabitants

before the arrival of Columbus.

The Haitian Declaration of Independence
was a rejection of France and,

to a certain degree

of European racism and colonialism.

It also affirmed,

to quote from the book
Slave Revolution in the Caribbean,

“a broad definition of the new country as
a refuge for enslaved peoples of all kinds.”

So,

why is this little island so important

that we would devote
an entire episode to it?

[cuz we're an office of sugar junkies?]

First,

Haiti was the second free and independent
nation state in the Americas. It also had

one of the most successful slave revolts ever.

Haiti became the first modern nation to be
governed by people of African descent, and

they also foiled Napoleon’s attempts to
build a big new world empire.

Of course,

Haiti’s history since its revolution
has been marred by tragedy,

a legacy of the loss of life
that accompanied the revolution.

I mean, 150,000 people died in
1802 and 1803 alone.

But the Haitian revolutions matter.

They matter because the Haitians,

more than any other people
in the age of revolutions,

stood up for the idea that

none should be slaves,

that the people who most
need the protection of a government

should be afforded that protection.

Haiti stood up for the weak
when the rest of the world failed to.

The next time you read about
Haiti’s poverty,

remember that.

Thanks for watching.

I’ll see you next week.

Crash Course is

produced and directed
by Stan Muller.

Our script supervisor is
Danica Johnson.

The show is ably interned by
Meredith Danko.

And our graphics team is
Thought Bubble.

Oh, right,

I write it with my high school
history teacher Raoul Meyer.

Actually, he does most of the work,

who am I kidding.
[plenty of folks, apparently ;]

Last week’s
phrase of the week was

“fancy footwear.”

If you want to guess
this week’s phrase of the week

or suggest future ones,

you can do so in comments,
where you can also ask questions

that will be answered by
our team of historians.

Thanks for watching Crash Course,

and as we say in my hometown,

Don't forget to Always Take
A Banana To A Party.

...woo!