haitian revolution

1. DISCUSS THE VIEW THAT
INTERNAL INSTABILITY AND
EXTERNAL HOSTILITY
UNDERMINED THE NOW
HAITIAN STATE BETWEEN
1804 AND 1825.
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2. Overview of the Haitian revolution
effects.
 The immediate post-revolutionary period of Haitian history was a terribly difficult one.
The country was in shambles. Most of the plantations were destroyed, many skilled
overseers were gone (either dead, in hiding, or having fled for their lives because of
the treatment of slaves), skilled managers were often also gone, the former slaves did
not want to work someone else's plantation, there was a grave fear that France would
re-invade, and the rest of the international community was either openly hostile or
totally uninterested in Haiti. If ever an historical moment stood out, Haiti's Revolution
is one such event and is Haiti's glory forever, and a major source of national pride.
Perhaps with the determination of today's progressive groups, Haiti could be at the
beginnings of a new "great moment," though it is much slower to success than most
would wish -- but, then, so were the earliest years of the Revolution.
 At any rate, January 1, 1804 left Haiti facing a desperate task. She was:
 virtually broke.
 her base of wealth, the agriculture of sugar, coffee, spices and indigo, was in physical
ruins, most plantations having been burned and ravaged.

3.  the management structure of agriculture was in total disarray. Formerly
worked by unwilling slaves and overseen by foreigners, Haiti was now
populated by free peasants unwilling to work for another and wanting their
own land.
 the international community was overtly hostile to this former slave nation.
Remember that the U.S., France, Britain and Spain were all still slave
nations. Haiti's servile revolution was a frightful model to these powerful
nations. (This hostility was not overridden by the fact that some nations,
Britain first and foremost and the U.S. to a significant degree, continued to
carry on a quiet trade with this nation that they regarded as an international
pariah.)
 a huge source of revenue: slave trade, was now closed to Haiti. (Though
some Haitians suggested renewing it to increase the number of field
workers.)
 despite a constitution of free persons, already in 1804 the directions toward
despotic rule by a small rich, powerful elite clique was forming.
 finally, the external world was changing. The coming Industrial Revolution
was already coming to claim its place in world history. This would have
three notable impacts on Haiti:

4.  Her agriculture products and slave trade, so central to European economy in the
previous century, would begin to make her potential economic potential less
important, even in some ideal world's free trade.
 Her lack of natural resources appropriate to industrialization, the lack of capital
and skilled industrialists would condemn her to an increasingly less important
potential.
 The international community's hostility toward Haiti and deliberate marginalization
of her, would mean that the Industrial Revolution world virtually pass Haiti by. If
one looks at Haiti in mid-1995, one sees a small modicum of electric service and
telecommunications, and a handful of assembly plants. But, in the main, nearly
200 years after the Haitian Revolution, and 150 years after the vigor of the
industrial revolution, Haiti is a nation to which the Industrial Revolution never
came.
 This was the situation that depopulated Haiti faced on January 1, 1804. (Probably
fewer than 350,000 Haitians survived the revolution.)
 The earliest days of the Haitian nation, from 1804 until 1820, are the story of the
response to these difficult conditions by three main leaders: Jean-Jacques
Dessalines, Henry Christophe and Alexander Petion. My treatment will emphasize
that the short rule of Dessalines, and the longer rule of Christophe in northern Haiti,
failed to solved these problems and to return Haiti to her position of wealth and
importance she held before independence. Further, I will argue that Petion's rule in
the south set the tone and social structures in place that determined the economic
and social life of Haiti for the next century.

5. External Hostility & Internal
Instability
 Thus I would argue that two main factors dominate the short rule of
Dessalines:
• hatred of the French and readiness to defend against their suspected
return.
• the difficult task of rebuilding Haiti's agricultural system.
 Dessalines first decided to get rid of the French who were in Haiti. Early in
1804, his first year of rule, he had the French killed, sparing only a few
doctors, priests and essential exporters. It is generally thought that around
20,000 French were slaughtered, and it was a brutal and harsh
extermination. This had important consequences for Haiti, giving her critics
something concrete to latch onto and helping to build the picture of a
savage nation incapable of being part of the world community.

6.  At the same time, Dessalines, realizing the horrible economic position of Haiti decided to
get the economy moving again and decided to reinstate the French plantation system and
rebuild the sugar industry. This presented a difficult problem. How was one to get free
people to do the work formerly done by slaves?
 This was not a new problem, thought the environment of the problem was new. The slaves
had been free since 1794. Toussaint had introduced a system call fermage and managed
to significantly rebuild the sugar trade. After Dessalines, Henry Christophe would have
even greater success with this system, but eventually the plantation system died out within
the first decade of independence.
 Under fermage the land belonged to the government. It would be leased out to managers
and worked by workers who were obligated to remain on the land in much the same way
that serfs were in Europe. The workers, while bound to the land, did receive 25% of the
value of the crops to divide amoung themselves, and housing, food, clothing and basic
care. However, their lives were vigorously regulated and discipline was strict. While the old
slave whip was gone, discipline did use the cocomacaque stick.
 When Dessalines heard that Napoleon was to be made an emperor, he decided to do so
too, and actually beat Napoleon to the coronation. On October 8, 1804 Jean-Jacques
Dessalines became JACQUES I, EMPEROR. Unlike Henry Christophe a few years later,
he did not create any other nobles, claiming that he alone was noble.

7.  Perhaps that spirit characterizes much that went wrong with Dessalines. He was
stern, even cruel, demanded unflinching obedience and ruled with an iron hand. This
was not what most of the Haitian people thought that had fought a war of
independence for, and discontent was widespread.
 Aside from the massacre of the French, another of Dessalines' actions which had
long-term affects was his invasion of Santo Domingo (today's Dominican Republic).
He was able to rush across Santo Domingo toward the capital city, but was not able
to take it, partially because of an accidental arrival of French ships. Eventually he
had to withdraw. But the entire war had been so brutally effected by Dessalines and
his troops that this laid the ground for the hatred between these two nations.
 There was growing discontent with the rule of Jacques I. This was especially
pronounced in the south and Dessalines march on the south to put things in order.
On Oct. 17, 1806, just short of three years after independence, Emperor Jacques I
was assassinated as he marched.
 Haiti was now plunged into a chaotic period of political maneuvering and civil war
that divided Haiti into two nations under two different leaders for the next 12 years.
Actually, at one time there were actually 4 Haitis, but for this story I'm just
concentrate on the two main Haitis.

8.  The civil war came about because of political maneuvering. Henry
Christophe assumed that he would become the ruler to succeed Jacques I.
Alexander Petion, leading political figure in the south and a mulatto, had
other ideas. However, Petion's folks played up to Henry, then
outmaneuvered him politically. They agreed to elect him president, but then
saddled him with a constitution that left him with virtually no power, all the
genuine power being reserved for senate, of which Petion was the head.
 (It is interesting to note that a very similar constitutional tactic is being
played out now. On March 29, 1987 Haiti received a new constitution. This
constitution downplayed the position of president and elevated the role of
Prime Minister. The first president to actually have to live under this new
constitution has been Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who, from a constitutional
standpoint, holds nothing like the powers of Haitian presidents from 1806
until today.)
 At any rate, Christophe marched on the south, but the military move didn't
settle anything, and a sort of stand off occurred. Finally, Christophe simply
retreated into his strongly held north and declared the State of Haiti on Feb.
17, 1807. Shortly after, on March 9, 1807, Petion was elected president of
the Republic of Haiti, and there were two Haitis.

9.  And two very different Haitis there were. My position on them is this. The north (soon to
become the Kingdom of Haiti) is well known, flashy and quite interesting. But, it is the
Republic of Haiti and the rule of Alexander Petion which is definitive of the future of Haiti.
Given this view, I will briefly treat of Christophe's colorful rule, and focus on what seems to
me the more important and formative of the two Haitis, Petion's Republic.
 On March 26, 1811 Henry Christophe had himself crowned King Henry I and changed the
name of his "country" to the Kingdom of Haiti. Unlike Dessalines, he created a large batch
of nobles and organized his kingdom more along the lines of European monarchies. Henry
was a dictatorial king, but a man who saw the importance of development and set out to
bring his kingdom into the modern world. He began an ambitious project of education, at
least for the children of the elite, and spent incredible wealth and energy on monuments
and buildings.
 Two of his most famous monuments were his own palace of Sans Souci in the village of
Milot and the Caribbean's most famous monument, the huge citadelle on the mountain top
of La Ferriere. The Citadelle had an ostensible military purpose. Like Dessalines, King
Henry I expected France to attempt to re-invade and retain Haiti as a colony. Since no one
formally recognized Haiti as an independent nation, she was, to the world at large, a
colony in rebellion. Henry's fears were not without solid foundation. His plan for the
Citadelle was to have an impregnable fortress to which he could retire with a large army
and from this fortress carry on a guerilla war. The strategy was a very good one, thought
the Citadelle never had to be tested for that purpose.

10.  The civil war came about because of political maneuvering. Henry
Christophe assumed that he would become the ruler to succeed Jacques I.
Alexander Petion, leading political figure in the south and a mulatto, had
other ideas. However, Petion's folks played up to Henry, then
outmaneuvered him politically. They agreed to elect him president, but then
saddled him with a constitution that left him with virtually no power, all the
genuine power being reserved for senate, of which Petion was the head.
 (It is interesting to note that a very similar constitutional tactic is being
played out now. On March 29, 1987 Haiti received a new constitution. This
constitution downplayed the position of president and elevated the role of
Prime Minister. The first president to actually have to live under this new
constitution has been Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who, from a constitutional
standpoint, holds nothing like the powers of Haitian presidents from 1806
until today.)
 At any rate, Christophe marched on the south, but the military move didn't
settle anything, and a sort of stand off occurred. Finally, Christophe simply
retreated into his strongly held north and declared the State of Haiti on Feb.
17, 1807. Shortly after, on March 9, 1807, Petion was elected president of
the Republic of Haiti, and there were two Haitis.

11.  On March 26, 1811 Henry Christophe had himself crowned King Henry I
and changed the name of his "country" to the Kingdom of Haiti. Unlike
Dessalines, he created a large batch of nobles and organized his kingdom
more along the lines of European monarchies. Henry was a dictatorial king,
but a man who saw the importance of development and set out to bring his
kingdom into the modern world. He began an ambitious project of
education, at least for the children of the elite, and spent incredible wealth
and energy on monuments and buildings.
 Two of his most famous monuments were his own palace of Sans Souci in
the village of Milot and the Caribbean's most famous monument, the huge
citadelle on the mountain top of La Ferriere. The Citadelle had an
ostensible military purpose. Like Dessalines, King Henry I expected France
to attempt to re-invade and retain Haiti as a colony. Since no one formally
recognized Haiti as an independent nation, she was, to the world at large, a
colony in rebellion. Henry's fears were not without solid foundation. His plan
for the Citadelle was to have an impregnable fortress to which he could
retire with a large army and from this fortress carry on a guerilla war. The
strategy was a very good one, thought the Citadelle never had to be tested
for that purpose.

12.  But this success in the production system was the beginning of the end of Henry I's power at
the same time. The Haitian masses did not fight a war of independence to be introduced to a
social system that looked to them very much like slavery. Many fled to the south where no
such system existed, and others, while not feeling the ability or desire to flee, built up and
increasing hatred of the system of Henry I, despite it's seeming "success."
 Henry's world came crashing down once Petion died in the south and Jean-Pierre Boyer, his
successor, launched an attack on the north. This was a signal to those within Henry's realm
that an uprising was possible. Many in the masses rose up in personal indignation of the
fermage and other dictatorial aspects of Henry's rule. Many in the army and elite rose up in
an internal power struggle. Henry's own failing health due to a stoke, weakened his position
and finally on October 13, 1818, rather than be taken by his enemies, Henry I, Henry
Christophe, committed suicide, thus ending the divided Haitis.
 Alexander Petion's Republic of Haiti, and the establishing of a social system.
 In is my own view that the rule of Alexander Petion, and his successor Jean-Pierre Boyer, is
the most important rule in the history of Haiti. Obviously the this period from 1807 to 1818
under Petion and then 1820-1843 under Boyer is not possible without the revolution and the
particular designs of Dessalines and Christophe, nonetheless, the far reaching impact of
Petion's mode of government has shaped Haiti in a unique manner.

13.  Alexander Petion was, in the main, a do-nothing leader. He
lived a comfortable life in Port-au-Prince, was fair and
quite honest, but didn't intend to exercise much force on his
people. He had an army and did utilize them to keep things
peaceful in his country, especially holding down the
rebellion of Goman in the Far Western part of the southern
peninsula.
 Unlike Dessalines and Christophe, he did nothing to
reinvigorate the economy. Consequently there was little
economy. But the decisive decision of Petion was to
redistribute land as a means of paying soldiers, since the
treasury had no funds. Petion divided the land into small
portions, giving somewhat larger grants to officers and
smaller ones to the common soldier.

14.  However, the effect was that Petion created a country of peasants
living on their own land doing subsistence agriculture and having little
or no involvement with government, or the life of the cities, much less
with the external world. Sugar virtually ceased to exist as a notable
crop and coffee, which could be harvested by the individual farmer on
his small plot, because the dominant crop.
 Despite all of this change, Haiti looks much like the world of 1818!
The huge mass of Haitian people still struggle along doing subsistence
farming and supplementing this with a bit of trade at the markets. The
rich of the cities still make their money by ownership of rural land, and
exporting crops which they've gotten from the peasant for
sharecropping, or purchasing for a pittance at market. The elite are
more color-mixed than in the past, but it is still a very tiny portion of
the people, in the vicinity of 3% who live lives a great wealth,
extracting that wealth from the peasants, who live lives of extreme
poverty and powerlessness.

15.  In 1825, the French King, Charles X, demanded that Haiti pay an
"independence debt" to compensate former colonists for the slaves
who had won their freedom in the Haitian Revolution. With warships
stationed along the Haitian coast backing up the French demand,
France insisted that Haiti pay its former coloniser 150m gold francs
– ten times the fledgling black nation's total annual revenues.
Under threat of a French military invasion that aimed at the re-
enslavement of the population, the Haitian government had little
choice but to agree to pay. Haiti's government was also forced to
finance the debt through loans from a single French bank, which
capitalised on its monopoly by gauging Haiti with exorbitant interest
rates and fees.
The original sum of the indemnity was subsequently reduced, but
Haiti still disbursed 90m gold francs to France. This second price
the French exacted for the independence Haitians had won in battle
was, even in 1825, not lawful.

16. THIS IS THE END OF MY
PRESENTATION 