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During the late 1700s, France and Haiti were in constant revolution. The revolutions began because of Enlightenment ideas created by Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke and Rousseau. They vouched for the rights of the people and it sprouted new radical ideas in France and Haiti leading to revolution. However, the outcomes of the two revolutions would lead to different paths. France was to be ruled by a military general named Napoleon Bonaparte and the French colony became an independent country named Haiti. France became rich under Napoleon while Haiti became the poorest country.
The Enlightenment was a key factor in creating revolution in both nations. John Locke was a supporter of natural rights for people. He believed that every person had rights to life, liberty, and property. Rousseau was a supporter of freedom of speech and that everyone could voice their own opinions. These enlightenment ideas spread through France and Haiti resulting in revolution. Robespierre was a leader in the French Revolution and without the enlightenment, he would not have risen to prominence. Robespierre believed that the king should be overthrown to make a better republic of France. He believed that having the symbol of monarchy would not condone a republic due to enlightenment ideas. (Only then would there be equality) He garnered the support of the National Assembly and the people and then beheaded the king and queen of France. This shows how the Enlightenment was a huge factor in the making of the French Revolution. The Enlightenment gave ideas about how to govern a country and those ideas were carried out by people like Robespierre. This is also true for Haiti because when the French Revolution was happening King Louis XVI passed the Declaration of Rights of Man. This led the mulattoes of Haiti to demand the right to participate in government and have free speech because the declaration made it a law. It was also the major cause of the want for freedom from France. Because the Enlightenment ideas promoted natural rights and rights to speech the people of Haiti wanted to be free from no representation. Eventually, Toussaint L’Ouverture came into the picture. He was a military leader in Haiti led the rebellion against France and fought for freedom. Haiti ultimately revolted because of the ideas that were presented to them through the Enlightenment.
After the revolutions, the results were quite different for the two nations. France became a powerhouse in Europe because of Napoleon’s superior military forces. They had won support from other neighboring countries and expanded France’s territory by a good margin. Napoleon put reforms into place after the revolution too by giving jobs through a meritocracy and stabilizing the French economy. However, Haiti, once the richest colony ever became the poorest because of trade. No nation wanted Haiti’s sugar because of the issue of race. Haiti was the first black country to be free and other nations did not want to promote slave rebellions so they did not acknowledge Haiti as a country and therefore did not trade with Haiti. The reason why France became a powerhouse was because it won all the battles it fought and that gave wealth to France. On the other hand, Haiti became the poorest nation due to the color of its skin. They were discriminated against and outcasted by other nations and that collapsed their economy. Another cause for the wealth and poverty of the two nations would have been their social classes. France still had the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd estates but the only major difference was that there were no bonuses for being in the 1st or 2nd estates like tax exemption. So France’s society was relatively unchanged, however, in Haiti more than half the population were slaves. This would have been a major shift in the social classes on the island where it was the first time there were no slaves. This would have disrupted the production of sugar and how the economy flowed while in France it was relatively unchanged. All these factors played a role in how Haiti became poor while France became rich.
Both nations were inspired by the Enlightenment to make change happen and to better the lives of all people. These wanted changes caused a revolution to occur but at the end of it, two different outcomes happened. France became a wealthier nation while Haiti dipped down to rock bottom. The people of both nations wanted a better place to live but it was a gamble.
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