The Saint Domingue Revolution


The colony of Saint-Domingue was the hub of 18th century colonial France. The most
prosperous of the French colonies, it was simultaneously a place of tremendous privilege and a
fermentation cask of all manner of social, political and economic contradictions which
surrounded the abolition of slavery. The creation in 1804 of the second free state to emerge in
the Americas, represented the only state in the world founded by slaves and their descendants.
Under this title you will find documents relevant to colonial society, at the time of the Dominican
Revolution.


 Constitution de 1801 Konstitisyon 1801

 Article 3.- II ne peut exister d'esclaves sur Atik 3.- Pa gen dwa gen esklav sou teritwa
 ce territoire, la servitude y est a jamais sa a. Esklavaj aboli pou tout tan, Tout
 abolie. Tous les hommes y naissent, moun zile a fet, viv, mouri lib kom sitwayen
 vivent et meurent libres et Frangais. franse

T he revolution of the colony of Saint-Domingue, was the beginning of the end of colonial
slavery. On July the seventh 1801, after ten years of grave difficulty and numerous battles,
Toussaint Louverture unveiled a national Constitution which abolished slavery on the island of
Saint-Domingue. However, Napoleon Bonaparte, (arguably) the most powerful man in Europe,
saw things differently. Troops led by Leclerc descended on the population of Saint-Domingue
with the intent of re-establishing slavery on the island. The final instructions of Toussaint
Louverture prior to his exile and imprisonment were to be followed to the letter.

"In exiling me from my country, they have in Saint Domingue, hewn the trunk of the tree
of liberty of the blacks; but this tree will sprout again swiftly, for its roots are profoundly
deep and strong."