Book contents
- The Cambridge History of the Age of Atlantic Revolutions
- The Cambridge History of the Age of Atlantic Revolutions
- The Cambridge History of the Age of Atlantic Revolutions
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Contributors to Volume ii
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I France
- Part II Western, Central, and Eastern Europe
- Part III Haiti
- 22 Overview of the Haitian Revolution
- 23 Saint-Domingue on the Eve of the Revolution
- 24 The Haitian Revolutions
- 25 Toussaint Louverture, the Cultivator System, and Haiti’s Independence (1798–1804)
- 26 Establishing a New Nation: Haiti after Independence, 1804–1843
- 27 Aspirations and Actions of Free People of Color across the Caribbean
- 28 The Unruly Caribbean: Reverberations of Saint-Domingue’s Rebellions on the Caribbean Coast of New Granada and Venezuela, 1790–1800
- 29 The Impact of the Haitian Revolution on the United States
- Index
26 - Establishing a New Nation: Haiti after Independence, 1804–1843
from Part III - Haiti
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 October 2023
- The Cambridge History of the Age of Atlantic Revolutions
- The Cambridge History of the Age of Atlantic Revolutions
- The Cambridge History of the Age of Atlantic Revolutions
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Contributors to Volume ii
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I France
- Part II Western, Central, and Eastern Europe
- Part III Haiti
- 22 Overview of the Haitian Revolution
- 23 Saint-Domingue on the Eve of the Revolution
- 24 The Haitian Revolutions
- 25 Toussaint Louverture, the Cultivator System, and Haiti’s Independence (1798–1804)
- 26 Establishing a New Nation: Haiti after Independence, 1804–1843
- 27 Aspirations and Actions of Free People of Color across the Caribbean
- 28 The Unruly Caribbean: Reverberations of Saint-Domingue’s Rebellions on the Caribbean Coast of New Granada and Venezuela, 1790–1800
- 29 The Impact of the Haitian Revolution on the United States
- Index
Summary
On 1 January 1804, General Jean Jacques Dessalines officially declared the independence of Haiti. The decades that followed were critical for the new country’s development and were a period of dynamic change as well as colonial continuities. The struggles and debates of the early decades illustrate the contentious post-colonial process of building a black nation-state in a world dominated by racialized slavery. Jean Jacques Dessalines, the first head of state, and subsequent leaders embarked on a political, economic, and social experiment in the Americas: to establish the first black state and fulfill the radical Age of Revolution promises of freedom and equality. This chapter examines how Haitians sought to interpret their revolution’s ideals, in particular the meaning of liberty, and the competing definitions that shaped the country’s political, social, cultural, and economic development. The chapter begins in 1804 and follows the development of the Haitian nation-state until the Revolution of 1843. Across these four decades, we see how various groups in the new country sought to define its economic and political direction as well as create a new culture. Integral to this work were questions of landownership, the organization of labor, and systems of government.
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- The Cambridge History of the Age of Atlantic Revolutions , pp. 663 - 688Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023