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The French Revolution

 

Revolutionaries drew inspiration from enlightenment political thought
Much more radical revolution than its American counterpart
The French revolution was both a political and a social uprising
France was originally a monarchy ruled by King Louis XVI
Financial troubles led France down a road to revolution
3/4 of French revenue went to war debts and armed forces, and the peasantry could not be taxed even more
King tried taxing Aristocrats, but they protested this effort and summoned the Estates General, a representative meeting
Third Estate (The upper class) supported reform, but other estates turned it down, so the Third Estate formed their own National Assembly
The National Assembly sparked violent rebellion throughout the cities and streets of France
Jean-Paul Marat also helped “light the people’s fire”
He wrote over exaggerated articles in his newspaper to anger people, until he was assassinated on July 13, 1973 by Charlotte Corday
Emboldened by popular support, the National Assembly wrote the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen ” which was similar to the American constitution

The Haitian Revolution

The only successful slave revolt in history took place in Haiti
In 1789, the French revolution broke out in France. So naturally the French colonists of Saint Dominique wanted to govern themselves
They however, ignored proposals to give political equality to the “gens de color”, free people of color
In 1791, a fight broke out between the gens de couleur and the French settlers in Saint Dominique
A well liked voodoo priest, named Boukman organized a slave revolt in the same year
Boukman died and the slaves overwhelmed the French colonists under the leadership of Francois-Dominique Toussaint
However Toussaint called himself L’overture,
In 1801 L’ouverture wrote a constitution granting rights to all the residents of Saint Dominique
He didn’t however go as far as declaring independence from France because he didn’t want to deal with Napoleon
But Napoleon sent troops anyways and captured Toussaint
The Black leaders who came after Toussaint defeated the remaining French Troops and declared independence in 1804.