The Haitian Constitution, pg. 191

This chapter is the haitian Constitution written in 1805. It shows how the Haitians wanted change in certain aspects of life, such as freedom of religion. However, there are many flaws that make it not surprising that the country broke up soon after this was written. Many laws are extremely strict. "Every citizen must know a mechanical trade" is strict and hard to enforce. "In cases of bakruptcy or business failure, Haitian citizenship is suspended" This surely eliminated the desire for many people to be entrepreneurs, and thus hurt the economy. And the law that those who commit corporal or disgraceful crimes lose citizenship is also very strict. Also, some laws are too vague and would be difficult to enforce. "No one is worthy of being a Haitian if he is not a good father, a good husband, and above all, a good soldier." What is the definition of a good father? This is so vague that many arguments would occur about cases of people accused of this. "He who kills his fellow man deserves to die" This does not say if the man actually is supposed to receive the death penalty or not. This to would cause much debate, because it's a life or death situation.

The Haitian Declaration of Independence, pg. 188

This chapter is the Haitian Declaration of Independence. It was written overnight by an angry Haitian who had a serious grudge against the French. This declaration is full of hate and spite for the French which many may consider inappropriate. Compared to other declarations this one looks very uncivilized. However, this document is in fact honest; it has no hidden motives. However, this document was written by one man, so some majority opinions may have been excluded. The declaration says that the Haitian people should not want to be like the murdering French, in reference to the bloody French Revolution. The declaration says that Haiti and France are different by climate and distance apart and that they are not meant to be together. However, the criticism that the French are murdering people and that the Haitians are not like them seems hypocritical because he also says that the Haitians should make the French fear Haiti by killing the French still in Haiti and to exterminate them from influencing Haiti. This is exactly what the French did in their revolution, so Haiti was still influenced some by France.

Constitution of the French Colony of Saint-Domingue, pg. 167

This is the constitution Sain Domingue created by a group of whites in 1800. Naopleon Bonaparte ordered it's creation. The constitution says that slavery is outlawed and that all men are equal, regardless of color. It says that all men are equal, along with some other colony regulations. However, it says that since cultivation and commerce are so important that people need to work on the plantations. This is a covert way of saying ex-slaves go back to being slaves. The French had technically outlawed slavery so they could not openly say this, but this is what they implied. Also, the constitution named General Toussaint Louverture as the governor for life because of his good deeds. This also is a covert way of saying we are making the ex-slaves go back to being slaves, and because we know General Toussaint Louverture supports making the ex-slaves go back to being slaves we are going to make him governor for life. This whole constitution is filled with hidden motives, and it shows how much the French actually cared about the human rights of their people; they cared more about money than human rights.

Letters, pg. 159

This chapter is a series of letters discussing slavery in America and possible problems and actions to take with it. The authors of all the letters are afraid of the possibility of a slave uprising in America. They fear that events in Saint Domingo may inspire slaves in America to revolt. A slave revolt that already occurred in Virginia in 1800 is mentioned, but this slave revolt was quickly put down. The letters discuss which states could help put down a slave revolt, and one calculates the size of the army that could possibly put down a revolt. This fear was very real to Americans because of the successful slave revolt in Saint Domingo. The letters describe ways to deal with this threat, such as exporting slaves back to Africa and encouraging slaves to leave America. These letters show us what Americans of the time thought of freeing slaves and that is that they did not want to. Even when facing the threat of slave revolution, the Americans did not even consider freeing their slaves. They were willing to consider most any other method besides freedom for the slaves. Slaves were major money makers for America so Americans wanted to keep slavery.

The Abolition of Slavery, pg. 129

This chapter is a narration of the speeches given during the French National Conventions abolition of slavery. The French were very in favor of freeing all slaves, which they did. They also granted them full citizenship. The French even fraternally kissed the colored diplomates. It appears that the French are acting selflessly and are sorry for having slavery before and very much care about the people of color in their colonies. They seem to be open to change and them all seem like good people. However, their actions tell a different story. At this time, the good French were going around their country executing all the old nobles and rich, including their women and children. They were executing so many people that they did not have enough swords to chop off all their heads, so they had to invent a new creation, the guietine (or however you spell it), to execute people. They also seem contradictory because just a few years later, under Napoleon, they re-instituted not slavery, but African servitude just like slavery in the colonies. It appears to me that in all the momentum of human rights the French decided to abolish slavery because they thought it was the right thing to do, however, when this became inconvenient they basically reversed their decision, showing how much they really cared about human rights.

Reports from the Insurrection, pg. 95

This chapter is journal entries describing the slave revolts on Saint Domingue. It is specific about numbers of Africans and whites killed. According to the journal, the Africans were organized; they planned to burn a city by having some slaves attack from the outside while the slaves on the inside worked to burn the city down. However, the whites barricaded the city entrances to prevent the outside part of the attack. Even during the fighting the whites could not take their minds of money; there people were dying but they were spending time estimating their losses. In journal entry 13 the whites estimate that 150 sugar-houses and 3000 negroes had been killed, which amounted to roughly 6000.000 livres. During the revolt the whites do not consider giving into the Africans demands for more rights; they are only thinking about how they can regain control of the Africans. When the Africans negotiated and said they would go back to work for more days off, the whites refused and did not consider giving into their requests for more rights. The revolt got very gruesome; the Africans left the white dead on the ground with stakes driven through them, and the whites got to the point where they took no prisoners.

History of the Revolution of Saint-Domingue, pg. 89

This chapter is an account, written by Antoine Dalmas, of the slave revolt in Saint-Domingue. In 1791 the slave revolt broke out. Dalmas described the plan for the revolt as a 'conspiracy'. According to the account, one of the conspiracy planners said that they were planning the revolt as revenge and that it was necessary that they kill all the whites on their plantations because the plot was too big to allow for refuge for the whites. The night before the revolt, the blacks reportedly carried out a ceremony where they drank blood and offered a pig as a sacrifice to the all-powerful spirit of the black race. "It is natural that a caste this ignorant and stupid would begin the most horrible attacks with the superstitious rites of an absurd and bloodthirsty religion." (I find this statement curious because of the fact that in the Old Testament of the Bible animal sacrifices were common). They revolt was bloody and violent as the slaves travelled around to plantations burning fields and killing their white oppressors. This occurred in 1791, just as the French Revolution was taking place. The French were going around France violently revolting, killing and burning down their oppressors, and surely they Slaves were inspired by them.