Document Based Question - Toussaint Louverture

Toussaint Louverture was the leader of the Haitian Revolution in the 17-1800s.  Inspired by the French Revolution, he fought for abolition in what was then the French colony of Saint Domingue.  He later became the ruler of Saint Domingue and fought for independence.  Louverture was captured before Saint Domingue gained independence, and he died in a French prison.  He made some controversial decisions, but is primarily remembered as an abolitionist, a ruler, and a military commander.

When the French Revolution began in 1789, ideas like liberty and equality spread to France’s colonies.  The slaves of Saint Domingue began to revolt until the new French government abolished slavery in all of its colonies.  When France was taken over by Napoleon, he sent troops to Saint Domingue to reinstate slavery, but Toussaint and his rebel army fought Napoleon’s forces to keep their freedom.  France’s government in 1795 became more conservative than the rebellion’s government, and many feared that they would try to reinstate slavery in the French colonies.  Louverture told this new French Directory that the former slaves of Saint Domingue would willingly fight and die to keep their freedom now that they knew what freedom was like.  Louverture signed the Saint Domingue Constitution of 1801, which stated that while slavery was abolished, the economy of Saint Domingue would remain plantation-based, and that workers would now be paid and have better conditions.  

In the Saint Domingue Constitution of 1801, Toussaint Louverture was made the dictator of his colony for life.  He also decided to keep the plantation-based economic system, which led to revolts against Louverture’s new government.  In order to maintain order, Louverture felt that he had to reinstate policies very similar to those that existed before slavery was abolished.  There was no free speech, people had to have security cards on them at all times, and any workers who ran away from their plantation would be arrested.  Anyone who harboured a runaway worker would be imprisoned.  Louverture was willing to be unpopular in order to secure what he thought was right.

Part of Toussaint Louverture’s role as leader of Saint Domingue was as a military commander.  His nephew, Hyacinthe Moyse, led a revolt in the Northern Department of Saint Domingue.  He believed that the plantations should be parceled out in individual farms, and that plantation workers were free in name only.  A very violent revolt broke out, and white people were massacred in the Northern Department, which Moyse was the commanding general of.  Louverture forced some of the rebels to shoot themselves, and arrested Moyse and sentenced him to death by firing squad.  Not all of his military ventures were quite so cruel, however.  He was a good military strategist and was able to defeat Napoleon’s troops by burning the port cities where the troops landed and fleeing to the mountains where the rebels had always had the upper hand.  He also conquered the Spanish side of the island.

Althought Toussaint Louverture made some questionable moves while ruling Saint Domingue, he was primarily an abolitionist and a liberator of slaves.  He was also a military commander.  He was a great military strategist, and ruled Saint Domingue, protecting the liberty of its citizens.

1830, Time for a Revolution

In class recently, we've been learning about the revolutions that happened in Europe in 1830 and 1848, especially whether or not they were failures.  To determine the level of success of each of the revolutions, the class split off into groups and each group was assigned a different revolution.  Then each group made a SurveyMonkey about their revolution for the rest of the class to take.

Our group was assigned the Decembrists' Revolt, which took place in Russia.  Our SurveyMonkey is here with a few extra questions here.

When Tsar Alexander died, many citizens wanted Constantine for the throne.  However, he abdicated, and Nicholas was made tsar in his place.  Those who wanted Constantine for tsar revolted, and when Nicholas retaliated, it became very bloody very quickly.  He was initially reluctant to spill the blood of his own people, but felt that it was the only thing he could do, and soon became quite obsessed with crushing the revolution and teaching a lesson to not only Russia, but the rest of Europe as well.  The people of Russia were also angry about the terrible, slave-like living conditions there and their miserable poverty.  After Russia was conquered by Napoleon, they saw what better, more democratic living conditions were like, and they wanted those better conditions back when Napoleon was defeated and Russia's conditions became horrid again.

The Decembrists' Revolt was the only revolution that was a complete failure.  It resulted in a military crackdown on the people of Russia, and they ended up with even fewer rights and freedoms than they had originally.  The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 was a partial success because it caused Metternich to flee Austria.  Metternich was the primary voice of conservative ideals in Europe at that time.  The revolt was eventually oppressed, but they did accomplish this victory.  The French Revolution of 1830 was also a partial success, because they got rid of Charles X, who revoked their constitution and freedom of the press, but France became a constitutional monarchy again, and conditions for the poor were not improved.  France had another revolution in 1848.  The revolutions of 1830 and 1848 were not complete failures (except for the Decembrists' Revolt), but they definitely weren't successful.