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The French Revolution
The French Revolution was very influential in Saint Domingue. The White population was either royalists or revolutionaries.
The Mixed - Race population fought for civil rights.
The unrest gave the opportunity for a people to rebel against the French.
This caused the people in Saint-Domingue to question their independence movement for freeing slaves of color. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
During this time, the Declaration of the RIghts of Man stated more freedom amongst people of color. The petit blancs were angry with the free people of color who had all the protection and wealth they didn’t, and started a three way war. This was the first mini-war that lead up to the Revolution. -
The Death of Oge and Chavannes
Oge and Chavannes were men of color who wanted citzenship like the whites in Saint Domingue, but were declined because of their color. They marched on the stronghold of the colonists where they were badly beaten. They escaped to Santo Domingo where they were arrested and tortured to death. This event set the stage for the Slave Rebellion. -
The Slave Rebellion
The Slave Rebellion was the beginning of the Haitain Revolution. During this time, the slaves rose against their masters for their own independence, and were led by Toussaint-Louverture. Toussaint-Louverture had made peace with the French and stopped the fighting only to be arrested. -
The People of Cape Francois recognized the Paris Decree of May
The whites in Cape Francois recognized the Paris Decree of May and took it one step further. They gave all men of color citizenship along with the whites. The French thought this was endangering the colonial status in Saint Domingue and later revoked the rule. -
The May Decree was revoked
The French realized the dangers the May Decree had brought to Saint Domingue's colonial status and revoked the rule three days later. They planned to bring 18,000 troops over to Saint Domingue to bring back order, slavery, and French control. However; only 6,000 of their troops went to Saint Domingue, and were much weaker then planned. By the time their troops had arrived in Saint Domingue, Saint Domingue was divided into three battling factions. -
The Decree of 1792
Paris had realized that the only way to bring peace back to Saint Domingue was to unify everyone. The Decree of 1792 made it so free men of color were given full citizenship along with the whites. -
Refugee Crisis
Competing factions fought each other for control for the capital of Saint Domingue
The fights caused many fires which destroyed many buildings
The refugees piled on ships in the harbor
They were brought to places such as Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore and Virginia. -
Sonthonax' Emcipation
After the Decree of 1792 in April, The French National Assembly had appointed three people to enforce this decree. He quickly made an alliance with the free people of color. Britain planned to invade Saint Domingue, and forced Sonthonax to free most slaves. He emcipated all slaves hoping they would come together to fight for their freedom, however they lost and Britain took over Saint Domingue. This caused slavery to be reinstated and free men of color to lose their citizenship -
Haitain Constitution
Also known as the Toussaint's constitution, this constitution got rid of slavery in Haiti, however still did not allow free black men to work on plantations. It accepted Roman-Catholicsm as the state religion. The constitution implied that Toussainst was loyal towards France, but was taken more seriously as the leader of Saint Domingue.
