The French Revolution was heavily influenced by enlightenment ideals:
Popular Sovereignty (“power to the people”), freedom, equality, etc.
These ideals resulted in the spark of the French Revolution.
When these ideals spread from France to Haiti through French settlers, lower ranked slaves and gens de colour (free black men) resonated with these ideals.
Slaves and gens de colour were inspired to rise over French tyranny in Haiti.
Furthermore, Haitian revolution sought to bring equality to everyone including slaves and gens de colour, an important contrast to French and American revolutions.
The Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution was the only successful slave revolt
After the French revolution, the east half of the island was Santo Domingo(modern dom. republic), while the west was French.
Saint Domingue, a colony in Saint domingo, was one of the richest of all european colonies
Sugar coffee and cotton from Saint Domingue accounted for 1/3rd of all french trade
Made up of many gens colour, aka free black men who farmed small plots of land or worked in towns
Mortality of gens colour were high because of brutal conditions
By the late eighteenth century, Saint-Domingue had lots of maroon communities, people (escaped slaves or gens de colour) who maintained their own societies and often attacked plantations for resources.
Planters who lost laborers often bought them from Africa for replacements until prices of slaves rose
American and French revolutions prepped Saint Domingue for social revolution.
French supported North American colonists against British rule, so France sent five hundred gens de colour to fight Britain for America.
Gens de colour coming back from America came back with intent to reform society
French Revolution broke out in 1789 and white settlers in Saint-Domingue refused to give political and legal equality to gens de colour. A civil war began between gens de colour and white settlers.
Boukman
A charismatic Voduo Priest
Organized a slave revolt and greatly expanded conflict in Saint Domingue.
August 1791- twelve thosand slaved began killing white settlers, burning homes and destroying plantations. In the span of a few weeks rebels recruited almost one hundred thousand slaves into the ranks.
Died shortly after launching revolt
Chaos ensued as whites, gens de colour, and slave factions battled on and on.
Some alves were veterans from war in Africa and used miliary experience to organize large armies.
Slave factions found recruits in maroon communities.
French troops cam ein 1792 to restore order
British and Spanish came in 1793 to try and benefit from France’s difficulties.
Slave forces overcame white settlers, gens de colour, and foreign armies.
François-Dominique Toussaint who called himself Louverture after 1971 was largely responsible for the success of the slave revolt.
Rose to power because of strong military and organization skills.
Built a strong army by 1793
Led an army of twenty thousand that controlled most of Saint Domingue by 1797
Created constitution in 1801 that granted equality and citizenship to all residents of Saint Domingue, but did not declare independence from France in fear of being attacked by Napoleon
In 1802 Napoleon sent forty thousand troops to restore French control in Saint Domingue. Toussaint attemped to negotiate a peaceful settlement, but he was taken to jail in France, and died in 1803 in jail.
By the time Toussaint died, yellow fever harshly undermined the French Army, allowing slaves to drive out French forces.
In Late 1803, slave factions declared independence, and on the first day of 1804 they established Haiti, the second independent republic in the western hemisphere.
This photo depicts a slave revolt in Haiti. Revolts in Saint Domingue were often most violent in the cases of slave factions, due to the power of an organized force vs. scattered slave revolts.
Independence in Iberian Colonies
Iberian Colonies
Governed by peninsulares- peninsulares in Iberian colonies numbering 30k
All had powerful and wealthy Euro-American criollos/creoles numbering 3.5 mil
Less privileged classes- numbering 10 mil
Majority of Brazil was black slaves
Creoles were very wealthy and powerful throughout the eighteenth century. They traded with Spain and Portugal. However, Creoles disliked power exerted by Iberian rulers.
Creoles drew inspiration from enlightenment ideals, participating in tax revolts and uprisings.
Creoles looked to find a middle ground between a completely free society from iberians and complete social reform, aka Creoles stayed on top but were still independent from rulers.
Creoles modeled their revolutions on America, launching movements from 1810-1825 that allowed most Iberian colonies in the Americas to be independent. They also laid out Euro-American elites as the dominant power in society upon their success.
This map outlines the reach of the Spanish and Portuguese. The shaded parts in South America represent the Iberian Colonies. By 1825, the majority of these colonies became independent.
Mexican Independence
This is a drawing of Miguel Hidalgo. Hidalgo is often praised and remembered for the sweeping changes he brought about to Mexico. His changes were also attributed to Enlightenment Ideals.
During the revolutions in Iberian colonies, Miguel de Hidalgo led a peasant rebellion in Mexico, calling for new government, redistribution of wealth, equality for peasants, and return of land to indigenous peoples.
Despite being captured and killed by conservative creoles, his rebellion burned on for three years.
In 1821, colonial rule ended as Augustin de Iturbide seized the capital and named himself emperor of Mexico, declaring independence from Spain.
Iturbide's rule ended quickly, and in 1822 creoles took over and established a republic.
Two years later, southern parts of Mexico declared independence, forming a Central American Federation until 1838, when they split into Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.
Simon Bolivar
Simon Bolivar
A creole who led movements for independence
Inspired by George Washington
Fought Spanish in 1811, and failed many times before finally succeeding in 1819 in Colombia.
After Colombia, Bolivar continued to travel across South America, working with other Creole leaders like Jose de San Martin to overcome Spanish forces by 1824 in the majority of South America.
Bolivar’s vision was to weld South America into a confederate of states, similar to the US. Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador combined during the 1820’s to create Gran Colombia, but didn’t succeed in bringing in Peru and Bolivia.
By 1830, Gran Colombia had too many political and regional services, leading to its split. Bolivia gave up on governing South America, claiming it was impossible.
A painting of Simon Bolivar. Bolivar is known for his unprecedented impact on South America's independence. When The Gran Colombia broke apart, Bolivar claimed the continent "ungovernable" and said "those who have served the revolution have plowed the sea."
Brazilian Independence
Independence came to Brazil at the same time as other Spanish colonies, but in a different way.
In 1807, Napoleon invaded Portugal, leaving the royal court to flee to Rio de Janeiro. The king later returned to Portugal and left his son, Pedro, in charge. Creoles called for independence the next year, and became Emperor Pedro I after defeating Portuguese forces in Brazil.
This video shortly goes over the transition Brazil made after Napoleon invaded, and mentions feuding between Pedro and his father.
Synthesis
The pervasive ideals of the Enlightenment transforming governments and countries across South America can be compared to the pervasiveness of Buddhism in Post-Classical China. Just as ideals such as popular sovereignty and equality overthrew entire governments, Buddhist values such as spirituality transformed the function of Chinese government from a Confucian government.