Haiti: The Aftermath Of The Haitian Revolution

In the newly independent Haiti, all Haitians were defined as "black," and the notion of being black in Haiti was not an issue of phenotype but, “of a commitment to the values of equality and freedom and an opposition to colonialism”. Thus, generating a psychological shock to the emerging intellectual traditions of, “an increasingly racist Europe and North America that saw a hierarchical world eternally dominated by types representative of their own somatic images”. In Haiti, all citizens were legally equal, regardless of color, race, or condition, and civic participation was extended to all Haitians, and citizens were encouraged to utilize their freedom by expressing their rights. In the aftermath of the revolution, it became important to Haiti, that emancipation would be permanently maintained for all citizens of

Other Articles in the constitution were also utilized to aid other enslaved people from other colonies in the Caribbean that sought freedom. In the Haitian constitution of 1816, Article 44 states, “All Africans and Indians, and the descendants of their blood, born in the colonies or in foreign countries, who come to reside in the Republic will be recognized as Haitians, but will enjoy the right of citizenship only after one year of residence”. This clause was cited by Alexandre Petion, president of the Republic of Haiti when he defended the right of several Jamaican men to remain in Haiti in 1817 after they had commandeered a vessel and sought protection and freedom from slavery in Haiti. Haiti’s involvement in this matter set a precedent, where it marked the colony as a free soil nation, wherein all those who were looking to escape from slavery, would be welcomed with freedom. It is important to note that, these extraordinary acts occurred as, “the American Revolution preserved enslavement and segregation of its populations and the French maintained forms of domination and exclusion with their colonies and over their colonized populations”.