Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

While the American and French revolutions were incorporated into the story of the rise of democracy and freedom in the modern West, the Haitian Revolution of 1791–1803 initiated a long-running debate throughout the Atlantic world over how to react to the existence of an independent “Black Republic” at the heart of the world system of slavery. Haiti's independence set the terms of debate for nearly a century of anti-slavery struggle and shaped international relations in the Caribbean for decades to come. Gripped by fear of contagious slave uprising, European powers tried to contain Haiti's influence on the surrounding slave-holding colonies by refusing to recognize Haitian independence (until 1838 in the case of France and Britain and 1863 for the United States), barring trade with the formerly richest colony in the world, and disavowing and silencing the implications of its revolution. Afro-Caribbean and African American political activists, in contrast, used the story of Haiti's independence and concrete ties with Haitians to promote the worldwide abolition of slavery, to insist upon black racial equality, and to foster color-conscious movements for social change throughout the Americas. Although Haiti was diplomatically and economically isolated, ideological exchanges and contraband trade nevertheless flourished along intra-Caribbean sea routes. Subversive flows of banned people, ... log in or subscribe to read full text