...The uprising of nearly 100,000 slaves in Saint-Domingue from 1791-1804 was the largest insurrection of slaves in history. The Haitian Revolution resulted in the creation of the first successful independent freed slave state in the world, a fact that rocked the socio-political, economic, and moral foundations of the Caribbean.[1] However, in the period following the Revolution, there is a noted increase of slavery in the Caribbean as a whole. Did the success of the Haitian uprising merely serve as a lesson for Caribbean planters and reinforce the slave society? To answer this question one must examine the factors that led to the Revolution’s success both externally, in the European metropoles, and internally, in the psychological and socio-political dynamics of Caribbean societies. Therefore, the Haitian Revolution appeared to impede abolition in the Caribbean in the short term because it reinforced white stereotypes of African savagery and inferiority, convinced planters of the danger of liberal and abolitionist ideals, and created a large void in the coffee and sugar markets which other colonies quickly filled by introducing more slave labor. While these effects should not be minimized, they were merely the logical aftershock of the tumultuous events in the established racial hierarchy. Ultimately, the Haitian Revolution was a major turning point in abolitionist history because it restructured the balance of power in the Caribbean thereby allowing a political gap for British...
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...economic success. Millions of African and Indigenous slaves suffered at the expense of European settlers. The objective of the Europeans was to strip African and Indigenous people of their land, possessions, dignity, and even their lives in order to benefit themselves. Given the results of slavery and a look at the society in which we live today, this objective was not a complete success. Some forms of resistance were impactful, while others caused more harm than good. African slaves have been shown to use more secretive forms of resistance while Indigenous slaves used more open forms. Considering the various forms of resistance that African slaves used in comparison to the forms that Indigenous slaves used, and the outcome of this resistance, it can be stated that African slaves were far more victorious in their endeavours for emancipation than Indigenous slaves were. The land that Indigenous people occupied was highly sought after by Europeans for economic activity, as it contained commodities and people who they established as cheap and productive labour (Beckles and Shepard, 118.) Because of this, the Indigenous people were mistreated, enslaved, and stripped of their own land and freedoms. They were forced to work under conditions which led to the death of much of the population with causes such as malnutrition, starvation, and outbreaks of disease. As a result of this mistreatment, Indigenous people in the Caribbean mainly used open strategies of resistance such as attack...
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...In researching the topic of slave resistance, most historians agree on the point that enslaved blacks resisted slavery in whatever methods they could. Slave resistance was widespread throughout the West Indies during the period of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The resistance took on various forms and these will be examined in this essay. Since enslaved blacks were forcibly brought to the West Indies, slave owners realized that it was necessary to control the enslaved. In this regard, slave laws were introduced as a way of keeping the slaves in line. The main slave laws enacted were the Siete Partidas – which were put in place by the Spanish government, the Slave Laws of the English Colonies and the Code Noir – which were put in place by the French. The common element in all of these legislations is that the enslaved blacks were given the stamp of “chattelâ€, which meant they were seen in law as property and not people. In addition to the slave laws, the slave owners also used other various measures of control. One such measure was the use of physical control, which meant that punishment for any infractions committed by the enslaved blacks were severe and brutal. Examples of such punishment included hanging and amputation. Another form of control was psychological control which was used to instill fear in the slaves. Research into psychological control shows that many enslaved blacks chose to commit suicide rather than live under the slavery conditions. ...
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...The Haitian Revolution was influenced initially by events in France, especially the French Revolution of 1789. According to Yvette Taylor Kanarick in Caribbean History Core Course, “The events unfolding in France were to profoundly affect the course of the St.Domingue revolution.”1 On August 26, 1789, the newly convened Estates General passed the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. France was divided into a rigid oppressive social class system just as St.Domingue. The first and second classes were made up of the clergy and the nobility, the third class was made up of all others from lawyers down to peasants. This unequal class structure created the atmosphere for the oppressed persons to fight for liberty, equality and fraternity. Upon the outbreak of the French Revolution, the people of St.Domingue, who were also French subjects, demanded their share of the slogan of liberty, equality and fraternity. This demand resulted in several conflicts between the different classes, which will later impact the revolt of the enslaved persons in the colony. The different classes were fighting for different reasons. The white plantocracy wanted equality with the whites in France and to rid themselves of the royalist bureaucracy to which they were subjected. The free coloureds on the other hand wanted equality with the whites politically and socially as well as an end to discriminations against them, while the enslaved people just simply grasped the opportunity to seek their freedom...
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...The Haitian Revolution was the result of a long struggle on the part of the slaves in the French colony of St. Domingue, but was also propelled by the free Mulattoes who had long faced the trials of being denoted as semi-citizens. This revolt was not unique, as there were several rebellions of its kind against the institution of plantation slavery in the Caribbean, but the Haitian Revolution the most successful. This had a great deal to do with the influence of the French Revolution, as it helped to inspire events in Haiti. The Haitian Revolution would go on to serve as a model for those affected by slavery throughout the world. There were three distinct classes in St. Domingue. First, there were the Whites, who were in control. Then there were the free Mulattoes, who straddled a very tenuous position in Haitian society. While they enjoyed a degree of freedom, they were repressed by the conservative White power structure that recognized them only as being people of color. Next came the slaves who, in Haiti suffered under some of the harshest treatment found in the Caribbean. Slaves in Haiti were legally considered to be property of the public and with little choice, yielded obedience. The master provided for the barest necessities of life for his slave "while he secures himself from injury or insult by an appeal to the laws." (Source 1, p. 406) The conditions in Haiti at this time were ripe for a Revolution and the only thing lacking was the proper action, which would soon...
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...The Trelawney Town maroons did not garner up a much maroons a they would like in fact other maroons allied with the British in their fight against the Trelawney Town maroons. After being cut off from resources, the maroons in seventeen ninety-six would surrender to the British “under which they would give themselves and all fugitive slaves…and, in return, not be punished and allowed to stay in Jamaica.” The significance of marronage in Jamaica was that the British would come to the acceptance that they could not defeat the maroons, instead they would come to an...
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...The Plantation Sugar – The New Age The sole cash crop that crushed the exportation of cotton and tobacco and reigned in the Caribbean for the next two hundred (200) years was sugar. Dutch colonists in Brazil were the 1st to grow sugar extensively. They then taught the English, in Barbados, ways of cultivation and manufacture in 1644 and soon “sugar was king”. By 1650, Barbados was the primary sugar-producer and was known as “the brightest jewel in the crown of King Charles II”. Other French colonies soon followed Barbados. The Sugar Revolution Definition Sugar Revolution – drastic change from producing a variety of crops to sugar cane ONLY. Implications of the Sugar Revolution/ Changes brought about by the Sugar Revolution: a) New Methods of producing sugar – The English and French began inventing new and better ways of processing sugar cane. b) The Labour Force – Planting and processing sugar cane required extensive labour force. The planters wanted work to be done using the cheapest labour force, which in the end, would mean greater profits for them when the sugar was sold. Thus, an increasing number of African slaves were used. c) Increase in the price of Land: Great sugar plantations developed by buying the small plots of land that were used to cultivate tobacco. As sugar became more profitable, the demand for land increased, which caused the price of land to increase. d) Change in governance – As the English French and Dutch colonies...
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... Rationale ……………………………………….……………… 1 Introduction ………………………………….………………... 2 Summary of Findings ……………….…………………………. 4 Conclusion …………………………………………………….. 11 Bibliography …………………………………………………... 13 Rationale The researcher chose to do this topic to get a better understanding on whether or not the planters’ actions were the main reason why slavery was abolished in the British West Indies in 1834. The researcher hopes that this study will be beneficial in the future and will boost the researcher’s knowledge on the topic. Introduction The plantocracy, who was generally made up of white slaves owning members of the society in the West Indies during slavery were also known as the planter class. This set of people insisted that Africans deserved to be slaves because they were lazy, dishonest dumb and immoral. The planters and traders of enslaved people in the 18th century defended the institution of slavery against the philosophers, evangelists and economists. The planters argued that slavery was immoral in the 18th century, therefore, it had always been wrong yet it had been approved by governments in the past, and through the many different changes in political parties....
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...September 1879, a group of 20 slaves led by a Congolese native, Jemmy, led a rebellion against South Carolina's slave owners. The Stono Rebellion, as their movement was called, was the culmination of long-running grievances among the colony's black slaves. Political rivalry between Spain and Britain fostered revolts among British-colony captives. The rebellion highlighted the vulnerability of South Carolina to slave revolts In the years preceding the Stono rebellion, South Carolina’s plantation economy forced the British to import thousands of slaves directly from Congo into their colonies. The number of slaves exceeded that of their masters and was pivotal to the colony’s economy. The Spanish king recognized that this vast population of slaves could be an important ally. To this end, he offered freedom to escaped British slaves. The amnesty was aimed to destabilize British colonies by...
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...of the 1790's, waves of immigration took place in Saint-Domingue. A slave rebellion was caused soon after in 1791.The important thing in the transfer of Louisiana were the actions of a revolutionary movement in a colony in the independent nation of Haiti. The connection between the Louisiana Purchase and the Haitian revolution is men and women fighting to preserve their liberty. The Haitian Revolution In 1771, Guillaume Raynal visioned a slave revolt in the colonies. One of the reasons he saw the revolt coming was because of the action of the French revolutionary government to grant citizenship to wealthy free people of color. Because white plantation owners refused to agree with this decision, former slaves and the whites broke into a fight within two months. Raynal's prediction became real. The slaves...
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...African Americans Final Review Questions True/False 1. The first Africans to come to the Atlantic cost colonies arrived in Jamestown in 1619. True 2. The vast majority of all slaves brought to the Americas between the 1600s and 1860s came to the North American colonies. 3. Approximately 500,000 slaves were imported into the North American colonies/states between the 1600s and the Civil War. True 4. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison were all major slave owners. True 5. The Declaration of Independence contains a strong antislavery statement. False 6. In 1860 approximately one-fourth of southern white families owned almost four million slaves. 7. Although slaves were the legal property of their owners in the American South, the Anglo-Saxon legal tradition assured their fair treatment by protecting the rights of slaves. 8. Slavery was abolished in New England in the 1780s because the majority of the population believed slavery to be morally wrong. False 9. Stereotypes are developed by the dominant group as one means of rationalizing the domination of the subordinate group. True 10. Most lynchers were eventually punished by the U.S. criminal justice system. 11. Today blacks in America are to be found disproportionately in the secondary labor market. True 12. Black voters seldom had a significant impact on election results except in local elections. 13. The number of black elected officials has increased sharply since the passage of the Voting Rights...
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...1838 Answer Women played a pivotal role in the emancipation process. They resisted against the oppression from their slave masters and to prove to slave owners that they were more than mere objects and property. Slave women resisted in many ways in all areas of the New World. The types and degrees of resistance varied slightly in different parts of the New World, but it is shown through many slave narratives and scholarly essays that slave women, in all areas, resisted and rebelled every day. This is how they survived slavery. Resistance repeatedly brought the slave woman out of objectification and gave the slave woman strength and existence as able subjects. Figure 1: An enslaved woman Maroon women showed women were leaders in rebellions and as priestesses who rallied troops in the hopes of obtaining their freedom. The most formidable in Jamaica was the Ashanti Nanny maroon. Being a free woman she never personally experienced slavery, but was painfully aware of the suffering of her fellow enslaved countrymen and women. She led a highly organised community in the Back Rio Grande Valley in resistance. She never partook in the fighting but using the magico-religious tactics she advised on the best time to wage war, gave charms to protect warriors and participated with military commanders in rituals designed to weaken the enemy. Figure 2: An enslaved woman Its revolts like these shocked the British government and made them see that the costs and dangers of keeping slavery in the...
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...Patterson (1983) defined slavery as the dismissal of all rights of freedom and the pursuit of objectification. There were many attempts to keep the enslaved blacks under control, however, these enslaves opposed slavery. The reification of black people came about through customs and traditions, seasoning, degradation and punishment. The blacks responded with day to day resistance, revolts and marronage. This essay discusses the ways in which the whites control the blacks and how the blacks reclaimed that control. Firstly, customs and traditions were set in place to make the blacks feel less than a man or woman so the owner’s and the whites would refer to them as boys and girls. Enslaves were also denied the privilege of being called “Mister or Mistresses” and even “Brother or Sister”. The whites ensure that they felt no importance and this also assisted the whites in portraying inequality amongst themselves and the blacks. According to Meltzer (1993) Seasoning was a process that sometimes took place after the transatlantic slave trade, where whites tried to break the blacks, making them feel as if they were nothing and weren’t good enough. During the process the whites renamed the blacks and made them adjust to their new way of life. In this way the whites conditioned the blacks exactly the way they wanted them in order to have control over them. Degradation of the blacks by the whites made them feel like animals. The whites ensure that the blacks were humiliated and had no...
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...Bussa Rebellion in Barbados, Easter 1816, the Demerara Revolt in Guyana, August 1823, and the Sam Sharpe Rebellion in Jamaica which took place in December 1831. The order in which the three rebellions occurred was similar; it was influential as well as extensive. Among all three rebellions there was one common factor. It was a time in which ameliorative proposals (gradual improvement in the slave’s way of life) were being made in Britain. This gave way to widespread rumours that there were measures taking place in metropolitan Britain to grant slaves their freedom but planters were withholding them (Emancipation Rumours). In all three cases this rumour aided in the agitation for freedom and precipitated rebellion. While some historians use these rebellions to make the case that slaves emancipated themselves, others are less liberal. None, however, deny that these later rebellions were pivotal to the passing of the Emancipation Act August 1, 1833. Bussa/Barbados Rebellion 1816 Unexpected The Bussa rebellion of 1816 was not that expected as it is believed that slaves began to plan the rebellion soon after the House of Assembly discussed and rejected the imperial Registry Bill in November 1815 (Beckles 90). This Bill called for the registration of colonial slaves. As a result of this the rebels had discussed from February to rebel in April. The rebellion surprised the white community who believed slaves were well treated and enjoyed a level of freedom not had...
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...and having their right taken away. Security was necessary to control and confine slaves to the sugar plantation.Slaves were housed separately, so they would not come in contact white the society on the plantation. Additionally the whites did not want the constant reminder of the unpleasantness of slavery. They position the great house on a mound to satisfy the planters need for comfort, to oversee and to keep a watchful eye on slaves on the plantation. In addition, for extra safety some planters built their house in the centre of a compound which craftsmen, occasionally doctor and domestic slave. During the British plutocracy laws were created to further confine and control the slaves. In 1661 Barbados had a slave code in which the Jamaican assembly copied three years later. Some of the passed during that time prevented slaves from free movement and also gathering in large numbers, owning weapon, mules and horse were outlawed and the beating of drums and the use of smoke signals as means of communication were strictly prohibited. To reduce instances of revolts planters separated member of the same tribe and did not allow them to communicate in their native language. Plantation owner were not always success in making the plantation as secure as possible the enslaved would offend rebel the plantation system and the slave trade that enabled its growth led to regular slave resistance in many Caribbean islands throughout the colonial era. Resistance was made by escaping from the plantations...
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