French and Haitian Revolution

Sample #2

World History, H

October 27, 2011

French and Haitian Revolution

Revolution is an overthrow and the thorough replacement of an established government or political system, by the people governed. Revolutions occur for various reasons. Typically, revolutions occur in order to achieve a goal, perhaps for a change. This situation is much like the French Revolution and the Haitian Revolution. The French Revolution was caused by the inequalities in society, within the social classes, and the Haitian Revolution occurred because of the strong will of slaves who wanted to be freed and have rights. Events that occurred during these revolutions affected France and Haiti politically, economically, and socially through the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, the Constitution of 1805, the tax collection system created by Napoleon, and other events that contributed to the changes.

The French Revolution’s purpose was to change the way the government ran and the way of lives for the people. The first step was creating the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens, adopted on August 26, 1789. The Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen granted the right to freedom of speech freedom of the press, property, liberty and security. The declaration was kind of like a guide to the French government to how they would treat their citizens. The French based their declaration of 1789 on the American Declaration of Independence. Soon after, the Constitution of 1791 was adopted as well. This constitution promoted the rights of members of the 3rd estate, who were men who were taxpayers and was also over the age of 25. These men were also given the right to vote by the Constitution of 1791. Politically, France was slowly taking away the monarchy government, by limiting the king’s power, giving him “Executive Powers” only.

One of the other main goals of the Revolution was to make economical changes. Many lower class people struggled to pay for basic needs because of the outrages taxes they had to pay. Under the new bank of France, economy was well regulated and taxes became more efficient for the lower class, the poor people who actually had to pay all kinds of taxes. The Bank of France and their tax collection system ensure that the government would not face the same financial crisis that happened before the revolution.

The changes in both political and economical affected the social life in France as well. The National Convention’s aim was to destroy all of France’s past, entirely, to change France’s everyday life. The National Assembly ended feudalism and priviligaes of the 1st and 2nd estates. The first and second estates were stripped of their lans and eliminated the idea that the 2 estates were above the law. also, the Church stopped collecting taxes and forced labor from peasants. The Church, government and army were allowed to be open to all citizens of France. Also, the National Assembly requested the French Academy of Sciences to “deduce an invariable standard for all the measures and all the weights.” This new metric system brought order to the previously confusing metric system.

Meanwhile, in Haiti, they were fighting for their freedom, because of the racial inequalities that made life for man, women and children in the island. During the revolution, a lot of things changed for the Haitians. Toussaint, a military commander and a former slave, made treaties and trade agreements with both countries, proffered a Constitution, enforced work rules, and steadily increased Saint Domingue independence. however, Napoleon wanted to restore the economic engine that had powered a third of the French economy before 1791 so he sent troops to retake saint Domingue. Haiti was still under French rule, so their government weakened once the French government did. Under the rule of Jean-Jaques Dessalines, Haiti was declared a free republic in 1804. Haiti was then, the first independent nation in Latin America.

Before Haiti declared their independence, their economy was based on coffee and sugar, which was maintained by the slaves, by working on plantations. However, this all changed once the revolution took place. This meant, no plantations no income, and an extremely poor economy. things only got worse from here for the Haitians. They also had to pay reparations to French slaveholders in 1825, which cost 150 million francs, which was later reduced to 60 million francs in 1838. Their economy was in ruins.

Everyday lives for the Haitians also changed dramatically. They were now on their own, they were an independent country. Before the revolution mulattoes were treated unequally, and blacks were slaves. However, this all changed after the revolution, and the slaves were finally free. They had everything to be a successful country, but instead they were in ruins because of poverty. France still had some control over Haiti because of their debts.

These two revolutions were completely different but they both had t from one another but they both aimed for change, in the three aspects; political, economic and social. they both wanted to stand up to the rich and powerful to get their rights, or in Haiti’s perspective, they wanted their freedom.