Revolution+Jefferson+to+Civil+War

Before the Revolution
Haiti is located extremely close to the equator and is perfect for growing sugar. Because of this, sugar became a extremely profitable business and in order to keep up with the growing demand of sugar, and the want for people to get rich quick, more and more sugar plantations opened creating a greater need for slaves.

Before the revolution Haiti was an extremely wealthy colony and was the supplier of about 40 percent of the world’s sugar, exporting to countries around the world but mainly the United States and France. As sugar became a more and more profitable business slaves were relied on more and more, and eventually slaves outnumbered whites eight to one. So in 1758 laws were passed in order to lower the chances of a slave revolt, but these laws actuly angered most slaves because they limited slaves ability to meet and socialize. After these laws passed slave revolts and gangs were became more and more common which increased fears of plantation owners and increased hopes of slaves for other slave revolts.

Throughout this time of tension between slaves and slave owners the United States, while were worried about a slave revolt in Haiti, were worried about other things, like what to do with the Native Americans. Also, the French were more worried on England who had just declared war on France.

**Haitian Revolution (1791–1803) **

The Haitian Revolution was the largest and most successful slave revolt in modern history. Haiti, then known as Saint-Domingue was the richest colony of the French Empire due to its prosperous exports (sugar, coffee, indigo, and cotton). Groups of run away slaves, known as maroons, carried out hit and run attacks throughout the island colony. These random and un-organized attacks eventually led to the manifestation of a full-fledged revolution.

In August of 1791, led by former slave François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture, the slave army launched attacks on the northern settlements of Acul, Limbé, Flaville, and Le Normand. By 1792 the rebels had won a third of the island despite reinforcement from France. The slaves murdered every white person that they encountered and would torch property, fields, factories, and anything else that belonged to, or served, the white slaveholders. In 1793, the English became involved as they tried to conquer the island but later left in 1798 due to defeat. The revolution left an estimated 100,000 blacks and 24,000 whites dead with more than 1,000 plantations sacked and set a blaze.

After conquering all of Saint- Domingue, Louverture invaded the present day Dominican Republic, abolishing slavery, but labeling himself Governor-General for life over the entire island.

Impact of the revolution
The successful slave revolt in Haiti had effects around the world but it mostly effected the United States. First, the residents of Haiti who were scared of the slave rebellion fled to what is now Louisiana but was then French territory.

The sucess of the slave revolt mostly effected the United States. The success of the slave revolt inspired many others in the United States even though they were not as successful as the one in Haiti. But because of the fear of more slave revolts the United States placed an embargo on Haiti in order to keep slave revolts at an minimum. Also, successful revolution convinced the French to give up on the "the new world" and sold remaining land to the United States in what is now know as the Louisiana purchase. Lastly, the Haitian revolution had many politiacal effects, the main political effect it had was between John Adams (Federalist) and Thomas Jefferson (Republican). This is because Adams and the republicans were supportive of the revolution where Jefferson and his supporters were not, because of this split between groups political were first officialy recognized in the United States. After the revolt France demanded compensation for its losses in Haiti so France required Haiti to pay 150 million franks, and because of this Haiti was never grow economically. Therefore Haiti's economy plummeted and is rumored to be cursed because of the amount of bad luck and corruption it has.

**Thomas Jefferson and His Policies Towards Haiti **
Thomas Jefferson became the third president of the United States in March of 1801. The issues of slaves and Haiti would end up being issues that Jefferson would have to deal with for his entire presidency.

Thomas Jefferson was a strong believer in the ideals promoted through the French Revolution. He also firmly believed in the right to use violence in order to obtain freedom. However as a popular slave owner from Virginia, Jefferson understood and feared the specter of slave revolt. Therefore he expressed a policy towards post-revolution Haiti that was significantly different from the policy of his predecessor, John Adams. Jefferson expressed that the “United States opposed [Haiti’s] independence under Black rule and wanted to see French authority restored.” Although Jefferson philosophically supported emancipation, he did not support Toussaint Louverture or the revolution. Jefferson refused to support the slave rebellion because he greatly feared that the revolutionary spirit would spread to the slaves in the United States. (He actually believed that a slave revolt in America was inevitable.) Therefore, he did not want Haiti to receive any recognition or credit from the American people. Jefferson made it official U.S. policy to not recognize Haiti’s independence from France, and this would last until Abraham Lincoln officially declared U.S. recognition of the island’s independence in 1862.

Since Jefferson’s lack of support for Haiti was due to his fear of slave uprisings spreading to America and not because of an honest dislike or hatred towards the Haitians, Jefferson welcomed trade with Haiti as long as the two nations’ societies did not become too close. Secretly Thomas Jefferson believed in Haiti as a nation, and during France’s attempt to regain the island he even allowed Haiti to receive “secret” shipments of war contraband through common U.S. merchant channels.  A common misconception is that Jefferson did not support Haiti because they were black revolutionaries. When in fact Thomas Jefferson was not anti-black, or anti-Haitian, but he did not support Louverture and the revolution because he simply feared that it could conju​re up the spirit to rebel amongst the millions of slaves in America. Despite not recognizing Haiti’s independence, Jefferson still conducted some trade with the island and he allowed ships bound for Haiti to use US merchant channels. Jefferson’s Haitian policies were not purely based on his personally believes. A significant percentage of his Haitian policies were created based on political strategy, and as a result he implamented policies that were not in accordance to his own morals or values .