Branches Book

BRANCHES

leadership of Saint-Domingue. It was a major victory for the people of Haiti who had endured so much under French rule, but it was short lived. With his new power, L’Ouverture took over the entire island of Hispaniola and declared himself the official leader for the remainder of his life. However, the government in France was not pleased with the way he was using his power. Although Haiti was no longer directly under French rule, with former slaves comprising much of their government and population, France still saw Haiti as less than and even brought an army to Saint- Domingue to re-establish slavery. However, they were unsuccessful and were only able to capture L’Ouverture. The revolution continued under the control of Jean-Jacques Dessalines and the rebel army was able to defeat the French when disease and war back in Europe forced France to surrender. Saint- Domingue officially became a country on January 1st, 1804 and was renamed Haiti, the island’s original, pre-colonization name. Like any war, there was a winner and a loser. However, although France lost the war, Haiti suffered most of the consequences. Not only was Haiti much poorer and less populated than France to begin with, but the entirety of the revolution was fought on its already damaged land. The revolution destroyed most of the infrastructure and plantations throughout Haiti, which multiplied the already difficult task of starting a new country. Although Haiti was the second American nation to win its independence from Europe and the only slave revolt that resulted in the creation of a nation, its beginnings as a country after independence sent it down a rough path. After the Haitian Revolution ended, many former slaves (understandably) felt a strong hatred for the white Haitians. Anger from the way they were treated as slaves had built up for so many years that, when they finally gained power, the newly freed slaves sought revenge. In 1804, not even a year after the country was founded, Haiti’s government led a massacre of nearly all its white citizens. Although the former slaves got their revenge, there was an unforeseen consequence: the French settlers were the only group of educated people. By killing most of the white people, the Haitians had killed nearly the entire educated population. There were few skilled laborers or experienced government officials. It was difficult to run an economy without skilled laborers and even more difficult to have a stable government when many of the prominent leaders, including Dessalines, were illiterate. In 1825, over 30 years after abolishing slavery, France decided Haiti owed them money for the slaves that had been freed during the revolution. Haiti’s already unstable economy suffered greatly from this. The French used the threat of re-enslaving the Haitians and even sent warships to Haiti to force the Haitian government to repay this debt. The French demanded a number that was ten times Haiti’s annual revenue and Haiti was not able to

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