The Haitian Revolution and Toussaint L'Ouverture

            Today in class I watched an interesting movie on the Haitian Revolution, now I’m going to create a blog post as a follow up to the movie. I decided to write about the how the Haitian Revolution was influenced by Enlightenment ideology, and how Toussaint L’Ouverture used this ideology to win the revolution. I choose this because it is a topic that interests me. Now, before I start to talk about how these ideals affected the revolution, we need to first be familiar with what these ideals were. Some of the basic Enlightenment ideals were political, social and economic equality for male citizens, and representative government. As learned in class, all throughout history revolutions occur because of new ideals that change the thinking of that time period, sometimes for progression, and sometimes for regression of a country.

In the case of the Haitian Revolution of 1789-1804, these new ideals had a huge impact on the progression of its country. This Enlightenment philosophy made its way to the Caribbean, and influenced the people to free themselves from France! One slave in particular was strongly influenced by these Enlightenment ideas: his name was Toussaint L’Ouverture and he was the leader of the Haitian Revolution. Toussaint was a special case, being a slave on a plantation for the bulk of his childhood he had a better life than other slaves, learning to read and write at a young age. He was able to educate himself because his master was nicer than other slave masters during that time, which is why when the revolution began, his loyalty remained to France. 

However, things changed in the Fall of 1791. L’Ouverture soon realized that Haiti's conditions were unlivable for the slaves because of how slave owner’s abused them, and how they ignored the inhumane work of slaves. L’Ouverture wanted liberty and equality for all, showing his strong belief in enlightenment ideals. His strong beliefs allowed him to be a good leader during the revolution. Ultimately, these Enlightenment ideals are what inspired L’Ouverture to become a strong and successful leader for the slave revolt in Haiti. 

Often, scholars have depicted slaves during the revolution as following L’Ouverture blindly, however this is not true. (Toussaint L'Ouverture: a biography and autobiography‬, John Relly Beard & James Redpath) L’Ouverture actively used the ideas of the Enlightenment philosophy, empowering him to gain many followers who agreed with his philosophy, which led slaves to become successful in winning the revolution. Although L’Ouverture didn’t live to see the results, his main goal of separating Haiti from France was a success! 

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The Enlightenment; Essential Questions

After reading about the Enlightenment, I began to wonder about the essential questions on this subject.Was the Scientific Revolution a sharp break from the past or a continuation of earlier thought? Do rapid changes constitute a revolution if they only affect a small number of people? How did the enlighteniment connect science and society, and how might the englihtment affect political life in the future?
To first understand these questions, I needed to have a proper understanding of what the Enlightenment was. The Enlightenment was an era of Western Philosophy and intellectual, scientific and cultural life. Occurring in the 1700's, the Enlightenment questioned traditions and values set in place before, and rebelled. (McKay)
- That the scientific revolution was a sharp break from the past and a continuation of earlier thought. The ancient Greeks, and then the medieval Muslims, used scientific reasoning and experimentation, but then the Christians in the middle Ages stopped using scientific reasoning, preferring religious dogma over it. That changed with the scientific revolution, even though it was a hearkening back to ancient times.
- Rapid changes do not constitute a revolution if they only affect a small amount of people. A revolution is an overthrow of an established government &/or political system that happens in a sudden, complete change. A revolution will have important effects, repercussions and consequences affecting the mass population. It would not be a revolution if if only affected a few people, because there would not be a big enough change.
- The Enlightenment connected science and society because in the 1700's, people began to use reasoning and scientific experimentation to solve problems in society. Instead of just relying on old religion-based ideas, they tried reason and experimentation to address issues like ruling, equality and diplomacy.
- The enlightenment may affect political life in the future by (hopefully) having all around less lying, more truth, and real change. But with progress, comes danger. Is less lying and more truth really for the best? Should some things be kept a secret from the public, is it better to lie to protect the people or better to tell the truth and run the risk of a chaotic society? These are important questions which one needs to consider about the future.