Haitian Declaration Of Independence Analysis

There are several similarities and differences between the American and Haitian Declarations of Independence. The Haitian Declaration of Independence seems to focus primarily on freeing themselves from the French’s influence and slavery. Several times throughout the document, the French are referred to as a tyranny. It is very clear that the new Haitian government wants nothing to do with the French. In fact, they want to “wash away” all memories of what life was like with the French in power. Furthermore, this document uses a lot of figurative language to further prove the points being made.

Professor Henry Gates visits the island divided in his very first episode of Black in Latin America. The island of Hispaniola hosts both the nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic and have so for five centuries. The island was the first land in the Americas to import African slaves and from that point the two nations have shared the Massacre River, but nothing else. Haiti and Dominican Republic have two completely different cultural identities and this relates to the connections they have with their African ancestors. Professor Gates explores and compares both of these cultures and why they have so many differences, even though they are in very close proximity.

In 1776 the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence stating the separation of the American colonies from Britain. The Declaration states traditional American values that were meant to define America forever. However, in the 1800’s some of these traditional principles, to an extent, were being reformed with new values and ideologies, such as Abolitionism, Feminism, Public Education, Prison Rehabilitation, Utopianism, and Nativism. Overall, the reforms of the Antebellum Period were consistent with original American principles of democracy, equality, and reform.

According to Samuel Lagerlof “Culture is what remains when that which has been learned is entirely forgotten” (as cited in Usunied,1996, p.94). Every single country in the world possesses his own culture no culture is more important than another. They’re just different. However, Haiti’s culture differs from the United States in three major points; Values, religion, and norms.

The late 18th and 19th century brought about the French and Haitian Revolutions. Both revolutions were connected to each other because of the link between France and Haiti, known then as St Domingue. However, there were also differences as far as political, economic and social causes were concerned.

Within the period of 1750 to 1914, changes were taking place around the world. New empires and nations began growing and expanding their territory, and as a result of these actions, wars, bankruptcy, and rebellions became more common. An example is the American Revolution, in which the American colonists, who were influenced by new philosophies and the sense of nationalism, fought and gained their independence from Britain. This revolution eventually inspired others throughout the world as it was successful in gaining the colonies independence from a powerful European empire. Those revolutions include the Haitian and French Revolution. The Haitian Revolution can be compared to the French revolution in that they were both influenced by the Enlightenment

Saint Domingue was one of the richest colonies of the Americas during the late eighteenth century. Its extravagance resulted from their large production of highly demanded coffee, cotton, and sugar, which heavily depended on strict slave regime. Slaves, many whom were African born, made up the vast majority of the population and suffered poor working and living conditions. The anger of slaves caused the Haitian Revolution, which would lead to Haiti freeing itself from its oppressor and becoming an independent republic in the Caribbean. The Haitian Revolution created a profound effect not only the former French colony, but also acted as a leader for reformation around the world.

In the past years, problems between Haitians and Dominicans have reached an all new high. Haiti and Dominican Republic are two countries that coexist on the same island, with a fake line dividing the two. By “fake line”, I mean in actuality Haitians and Dominicans are not really separate individuals in the fact that both groups of people have the same history and come from the same place. The main problem is some Dominicans do not accept this fact. Although these are two “different” countries it is impossible for Haitians and Dominicans not to cross paths eventually. The history of one country can not be told without telling the history of the other. Unfortunately, these countries do not co-exist positively with one another due to past. In the past years, problems between Haitians and Dominicans have reached an

Thomas Jefferson wrote one of the most important and ironic phrases in the United States’s history: “...that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable right; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (652). The Declaration of Independence boasts that it supports that all men have a right to liberty. However, even though they declare it, it does not always hold truthful. The declaration only promotes the freedom and separation as a united country or for the men of the occupied countries. There is no reference to women, people of color, or children in regards to liberty. Meaning, that unless you are a man, technically you are still under England’s rule. I know that the document is not directly saying that and most people would assume that “men” was an all inclusive term. And yet, if that were true, we would have the same wage gap between men and women or the battle for the same civil rights that the men in 1776 were fighting for in 2016. But I digress.

Thomas Jefferson’s The Declaration of Independence is a significantly important and well presented argument as to why the colonies should not be under the ruler of King George III of England. Jefferson provides a clearly laid out yet strongly worded reason using basic syllogisms which lead any reader into believing the argument provided. The rhetoric used outlines the deistic nature of the writers, the overarching theme of equality through parallelism, and especially the that it is not a “revolt” or “rebellion” against England but rather a natural order that requires the colonies to become an independent nation.

The period from 1780s to 1840s in Europe is named as the age of revolution because of emergences of numbers revolutions such as industrial revolution starting from Britain in between 1700s to 1800s and French revolution from 1789 to 1871.Considered as a colony of French, Saint-Domingue, whose today territory is Republic of Haiti and Dominica Republic, was the wealthiest colony in the world in 1780s. It is also known as the first and the only colony that had successful slave revolt in the age of revolution. This paper is going to discuss the causes, main events and significences of Haitian revolution.

In the book Taking Haiti: Military Occupation and the Culture of U.S. Imperialism, author Mary A. Renda discussed the United States occupation of Haiti between the years of 1915 and 1934. When the United States decided to move into Haiti for military occupation, it wanted to establish not just control of the country, but it also wanted to secure its interests there. American politicians and many marines viewed Haiti through a racist lens and viewed their people and government as inferior. They believed the nation required a helping hand from the United States. American politicians justified the tactics of forced labor, economic manipulation by American politicians, and murder by the marines, as part of the paternalistic policy it had implanted there. Renda’s main thesis was how the idea of paternalism and the military occupation in Haiti not only affected the Haitian people and the country itself, but also how it affected the culture and mindset of Americans.

. .; we must at last live independent or die” said a Haitian (Doc H). In Document H it talks about how the Haitian citizens were angered with how the French came into to Haiti and bombarded it. They thought that they could come into Haiti and be inhumane towards the Haitians and annex the land that they, the Haitians, were born in. (Referring back to the quote from Document H,) who would want to live in a country where their freedom was taken away from them. Who would want to live in a country that treated them with no respect, nor human value? Who would want to live in a country that they were not happy living in, or being a part of it? With great assurance, no one would want to live in a place that has the characteristics as the one describe. Well from all of the French’s wrongdoing, and barbarous behavior the Haitians had enough. The Haitians acted upon the thought of revenge. Who wouldn’t? The Haitians not only wanted revenge, but they craved for independence. In the quote it states that they [the Haitians] would rather die than not be independent. This was serious to them, as it would be for anyone. This was serious to them, because a land they came to love, a land they came to adore and call their own was theirs no longer. It was taken by inconsiderate barbarous tyrants of France. So, Haitians took matter into their own hands. The Haitians wanted the French out of Haiti once and for all. No exceptions. They went to drastic measure to have Haiti French-free. They

Dr. Francois Duvalier was known for his time as President of Haiti for being a ruthless, unhealthy man who would lie to his people and rule them harshly. He started in the government as a hard working man to better public health. Once he tasted the power of absolute rule though, this would change. At first, Duvalier only wanted to make Haiti a better place for the people their, but when he became president he took a turn for the worse. Haiti is familiar with ineffective rulers, but Duvalier was the worse by far. He hurt his people financially and physically, he wasted the government’s money on things he wanted and not what the country needed, and he treated his officials with distrust and cruelty. There were efforts to stop him

Pain and suffering exposes vastly different characteristics in different people when those people are put into different situations. The Haitians were put through a century of extreme injustice through slavery by the French people. At the beginning of the 19th century the slaves of the French colony rose up against their masters and defeated them. And after 14 years of fighting the French, the Haitian people composed their Declaration of Independence and their Constitution. These two documents made them independent of France and set up their own government system. When the people of Haiti organized these two documents they still had a great deal of anger towards their previous rulers. The government system the Haitians were producing was a republic that was made with good intentions but was also built on anger towards the French. Their vision of government was for equality but unfortunately race played a factor in their making of the Haitian constitution that made it in some aspects unequal.