The Haitian Revolution
(CCSS.10.RH.3)
SOURCE 1
Nowhere did the example of the French Revolution echo more loudly than in the French colony of Saint Domingue, later renamed Haiti. Widely regarded as the richest colony in the world, Saint Domingue boasted 8,000 plantations, which in the late 18th century produced 40% of the world’s sugar and perhaps half of its coffee. A slave labor force of about 500,000 people made up a vast majority of the colony’s population. Whites numbered about 40,000, sharply divided between very well-to-do plantation owners, merchants, lawyers, and those know as petit blancs, or poor whites. A third social group consisted of 30,000 free people of color, many of them of mixed-race background. Given its rampant exploitation, this colony was primed for explosion. In such a volatile setting, the ideas and example of the French Revolution set into motion a spiral of violence that engulfed the colony for more than a decade. To the slaves, the promise of the French Revolution was a personal freedom that challenged the entire slave labor system. In a massive revolt beginning in 1791, slaves burned 1,000 plantations and killed hundreds of whites as well as mixed race people. Amid the confusion, brutality and massacres of the 1790s, power gravitated towards the slaves, led by Toussaint L’Ouverture, a former slave. In the only completely successful slave revolt in world history, the lowest order of the society—slaves—became equal, free and independent citizens.
Strayer, R. Ways of the World: A Global History with Sources. (Bedford:St. Martin’s Press, 2013) Pgs. 792-793.
SOURCE 2
From 1792 onward laws were passed all around the Caribbean and in North America restricting immigration from strife-torn Saint Domingue. Even when the likelihood of direct interference was not considered strong, slave owners feared the revolution’s inflammatory example. Within a month of the August 1791 revolt, slaves in Jamaica were singing songs about the uprising, and before long whites in the West Indies and North America were complaining uneasily of a new “insolence” on the part of their slaves. Several plots and insurrections were partly inspired by events in Saint Domingue and the Emancipation Decree of 1794. Most notable of these were the conspiracies organized by free colored in Bahia (1798), Havana (1812) and Charleston (1822). However, many factors were at work in the slave rebellions of the period, and to suppose that mere inspiration from abroad was critical in provoking resistance would be to underestimate the difficulties confronting dissidents in this age of strong colonial garrisons.
Geggus, D. “The Haitian Revolution,” The Modern Caribbean.
SOURCE 3
[Thomas]Jefferson was terrified of what was happening in Saint Domingue. He referred to Toussaint’s army as cannibals. His fear was that black Americans would be inspired by what they saw taking place just off the shore of America. And he spent his entire career trying to shut down any contact, and therefore any movement of information, between the American mainland and the Caribbean island. He called upon Congress to abolish trade between the United States and what after 1804 was the independent country of Haiti. He argued that France believed it still owned the island. In short, he denied that Haitian revolutionaries had the same right to independence and autonomy that he claimed for American patriots. And consequently, in 1805 and finally in 1806, trade was formally shut down between the United States and Haiti, which decimated the already very weak Haitian economy. And of course, Jefferson then argued that this was an example of what happens when Africans are allowed to govern themselves: economic devastation caused in large part by his own economic policies.
Douglas Egerton, Professor of History, Le Moyne College, on the impact of the Haitian Revolution on Americans in a PBS interview in the 1990’s
SOURCE 4
In May 1802, Napoleon’s forces tried to re-establish slavery. To make matters worse, the French Commander kidnapped Toussaint and deported him back to France. The effect was to enrage the black majority and provoke an even greater rebellion. By now black soldiers had gained experience in organizing an army. The French were at a disadvantage” they were more susceptible to disease (particularly yellow fever) than their opponents, and reinforcements were difficult to obtain from France. The French troops were also demoralized by fighting against enemies who sang the Marsellaise and invoked revolutionary ideals. One officer, Lacroix, asked, “Have our barbarous enemies justice on their side? Are we no longer the soldiers of Republican France? And have we become crude instruments of policy?
Almond, M. Revolution 500 Years of struggle for Change, p. 85
DIRECTIONS:
1. Using evidence from the sources, place the events or parts of the described process in order.
2. In a brief paragraph, explain if the event is presented in a sequence of chronological order, through cause and effect, or through a method of comparison.
EVENT 1 EVENT 2 EVENT 3 EVENT 4 EVENT 5 EVENT 6 EVENT 7
What method did the author use in the texts to examine the information? Explain if that was through chronological order, through looking at cause or effect, or through comparing the ideas? Use evidence from the texts when necessary.
Industrialization and Innovation
(CCSS.10.RH.3)
Spread of Railways in Selected Countries(Length of line in kilometers [1km = 5/8 mile])
NATION / 1840 / 1860 / 1880
Germany / 469 / 11,089 / 33,838
Austria-Hungary / 144 / 4,543 / 18,507
Russia / 27 / 1,626 / 22,865
Great Britain / 2,390 / 14,603 / 25,060
France / 496 / 9,167 / 23,089
Italy / 20 / 2,404 / 9,290
Based on Headrick, D. Tentacles of Progress, (NY, 1988) Pg. 55
First and foremost, the Industrial Revolution transformed the energy of human society. It was the most important factor in generating the inequalities in wealth and power that shaped world politics after 1800, once started in England, industrialization spread. Industrialization forever altered the nature of work. From the natural rhythm of the days and seasons that governed farm work, people shifted to schedules controlled by the clock. Factory workers generally performed very specific tasks, but most of the new jobs demanded only modest skill, which anyone could learn in a few days or weeks. Historians have long tried to figure out why the Industrial Revolution happened first in England, and why it happened when it did. A short answer is that abundance of resources like coal and iron, combined with transportation methods and population growth created the necessary conditions for industrialization and promoted the freedom and incentive for new innovation. The resulting innovations resolved old problems, but created new ones which needed a solution. In textiles for example, before 1733 it took three or four spinners to produce enough thread to keep one weaver but the invention of the flying shuttle made weavers twice as fast, and raised the incentive to figure out a way to make more thread—accomplished by the spinning jenny in 1770. Major innovations usually came in clusters. The first cluster between 1780-1830 involved primarily textile and iron industries. The key technical achievements were the flying shuttle, spinning jenny, and power loom in cotton production. The second cluster focused on iron, coal and steam engines between 1820-1870. During this time, factories also churned out new, more deadly weapons. Modern methods of mass production, based on standardized, interchangeable parts, first emerged in the arms industry. The third cluster 1850-1920 featured coal and steel, railways and telegraphs, chemicals and electricity. Previously, the important innovations had come from tinkering by people who worked in foundries, mines or mills. After 1860, organized science played a larger role. Universities developed research programs that cooperated with businesses and new innovations were developed to meet increasingly global needs. With each successive cluster, the Industrial Revolution became a world-wide process. New innovations spawned increased demand, better transportation and new technology with which to transport the fruits of innovation. Railroads, canals lined with steamships, and eventually automobiles transported new products throughout the world and as a result, these machines were revolutionized in the process.
Adapted from: McNeill, J.R. & W.H., The Human Web: A Bird’s-Eye View of World History (Norton Publishing, 2003) Pgs. 230-235
http://www.flowofhistory.com/node/645
DIRECTIONS:
After reading the information concerning the Industrial Revolution, assess the validity of the author’s claims by examining the flow chart above. Answer the following questions independently, then compare them with a partner.
1) What is consistent between the written selection and the flow chart? What is inconsistent? Be specific.
2) There were several examples of cause and effect in the reading, identify them and explain how they related to the flow chart.
3) Write a paragraph about the impact of the Industrial Revolution on new technology. Be sure to use evidence from the reading, as well as the flowchart.
The Roots of 19th century Imperialism
(CCSS.10.RH.6)
In the 18th century, the philosophes of the Enlightenment had come to view cultural differences of non-Western peoples with detachment and interest, believing that they could learn from people who seemed in some ways different from themselves. But Social Darwinists in the 19th century did not believe that they could learn anything from non-Western peoples. Social Darwinists argued the natural superiority of some races to justify the conquest of the so-called “backward” peoples of Africa and Asia. They applied theories of biological evolution to the history of states, utilizing the principle of “natural selected” developed by Charles Darwin in which the stronger prevail over the weak. These theories were popularized by another British scientist, Herbert Spencer who took Darwin one step further by first uttering the chilling phrase, “survival of the fittest.” Nations, according to this view, must struggle, like species, in order to survive. The competition for colonies also coincided with the emergence of scientific studies that were held to prove the superiority of Western peoples. Material progress represented by steamboats, railroads and guns was assumed to follow logically from what was considered moral superiority. For example, a French prime minister insisted at the time that, “the superior races have rights over the inferior races.”
Merriman, J. A History of Modern Europe. Volume 2, (Norton Publishing, 1996) Pgs. 985.
The cause of this military growth is very plain. The strongest nation has always been conquering the weaker; sometimes even subduing it, but always prevailing over it. Every intellectual gain, so to speak, that a nation possessed was in the earliest times made use of---was invested and taken out---in war; all else perished. Each nation tried constantly to be the stronger, and so made or copied the best weapons; by conscious and unconscious imitation each nation formed a type of character suitable to war and conquest. Conquest improved mankind by the intermixture of strengths; the armed truce, which was then called peace, improved them by the competition of training and the consequent creation of new power. Since the long-headed men first drove the short-headed men out of the best land in Europe, all European history has been the history of the superposition of the more military races over the less military---of the efforts, sometimes successful, sometimes unsuccessful, of each race to get more military; and so the art of war has constantly improved....
Bagehot, W. The Use of Conflict, 1872.
The four visuals represent native African forces and British Imperial troops during the Boer War of the late 1890s.
DIRECTIONS: Read the two excerpts above and examine the visuals. Label whether the source is PRI MARY or SECONDARY. Once you have labeled the sources, answer the questions below.
1. Do the sources substantiate each other? Explain how the sources corroborate with evidence from the texts.
2. Examine the primary source(s). What are some indications of bias? Use some evidence from the primary source(s) to illustrate this bias. When examining bias, remember to think about experiences that led to the author, photographer, artist, etc. to present the source the way he/she did.
3. Write a brief paragraph combining the main points of the information from the secondary source with the information given to you in the primary source(s).
19th Century Women Compared
(CCSS.10.RH.6)
[In 19th century Italy] Girls typically were arranged to be married at sixteen… Young middle-class couples spent their marriage night not on a honeymoon but in the house of the bride’s family. One the morning following the wedding night, the relatives congregated to congratulate the newlyweds and bring gifts such as chocolate or snuffboxes. Women usually gave birth to eight or ten children. The father ran the household, but his wife had a great deal of unofficial influence. Women worked a hard and domestic life. The spent long hours in the kitchen where they cooked three- and four-course meals for eighteen or twenty, not counting children. They prepared the sauces, the bread, the preserves, and frequently they even made the soap. Although middle class families had maids to help them, all women ironed, sewed and folded. At night the women gathered around the light of an oil lamp till midnight to “relax”—talking sewing, or knitting clothes. Women would continue this activity during pregnancy and nursing of children. Generally women went out only on Sundays, when they dressed as elegantly as possible. On rare occasions, and only when chaperoned, they went for a walk or shopped. By the 1890s the position of women underwent important changes. Many practical obstacles still hindered the professional life of women and most remained geared to the family; but women rebelled against chaperones, objected to arranged marriages, married much later, practiced birth control and had fewer children. Despite this real progress, women still suffered from an inferior economic, legal and social status. They were denied the vote. Courts annulled marriages in which the bridegroom discovered that his bride was not a virgin. Only women could be punished for adultery. Women needed their husband’s permission to open a bank account or administer their property. If women worked, they earned much less than men, and in some cases less than male children.
Di Scala, S. Italy: From Revolution to Republic 1700-Present