The Haitian revolution Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Haitian revolution - Research Paper Example The population at that time consisted of whites, mixed race, and blacks. Since Haiti was under the control of the French government, it took all the profits from the farms. The Haitian revolution rose in 1791, at this time, the slaves wanted to become free citizens. The entire population in Haiti desired change at the time (Ott 15). Oppression by their colonizers was becoming unbearable. In addition, they needed to have their rights. At about the same time, the French government was undergoing the French revolution that gave Haitians the inspiration to fight for their rights. The French revolution involved a rebellion of the locals who wanted an end to the oppressive monarchy system (Bryan 41). They demanded their rights as citizens. The population of Haiti in the colonial era consisted of distinct classes of people. There were French white divided into two classes. Some were planters and therefore very rich. These owned plantations in Haiti and were masters to some slaves (Geggus 23). Other whites were middle class and were majorly artisans and shopkeepers. These were the petit Blancs. A different group resulted from the intermarriage between the whites and the blacks and these were the free colored individuals. This group owned slaves and discriminated them more. They were full of prejudice against the pure blacks, associated themselves with the whites, and were the mulattos. Some of them were wealthier as they could own farms. Either they earned their freedom or their fathers granted it out of mercy. They supported slavery strongly and contributed to the highest mistreatment of slaves. The other population comprised of the slaves. There were two classes of slaves namely; domestic and field slaves. The field s laves experienced the worst treatment and were the first ones to rebel. The domestic slaves were not harshly treated and therefore not too ready to fight for their rights. Other slaves could not hold onto slavery any longer and therefore escaped.