Hierarchy in a plantation colony
French Saint-Domingue produced sugar and coffee through the labour of enslaved Africans. Plantation profits depended on coercion, and white colonists, free people of colour, and enslaved people occupied unequal legal positions. News of the French Revolution brought competing claims about rights. A large uprising began in the north in 1791. Local conflict became entangled with wars involving France, Spain, and Britain as military alliances and colonial authority changed.
Uprising and revolutionary war
Toussaint Louverture expanded control through political and military organization. French abolition in 1794 altered alliances. Napoleon later sent forces to restore control; Louverture was captured and died in France, but fighting continued. The threat of renewed enslavement strengthened the drive for independence. Forces under Dessalines defeated the French, and Haiti declared independence in 1804. People previously treated as property established a state after years of war against colonial power.
Pressures after independence
The new government faced disputes over production, military organization, land, and labour autonomy. Slaveholding countries delayed recognition, fearing repercussions. France demanded a large indemnity in 1825 in return for recognition, imposing lasting financial burdens. News of the revolution nevertheless circulated across the Atlantic. Abolitionists, colonists, and enslaved people drew different conclusions from the existence of an independent state created through successful resistance to slavery.