The revolution was actually a series of conflicts during the period 1791–1804 that involved shifting alliances of enslaved Haitians, affranchis, mulattoes, and colonists, as well as British and French army troops. Several factors precipitated the event, including the affranchis’ frustrations with a racist society, the French Revolution, nationalistic rhetoric expressed during Vodou ceremonies, the continuing brutality of enslavers, and wars between European powers. Vincent Ogé, a mulatto who had lobbied the Parisian assembly for colonial reforms, led an uprising in late 1790 but was captured, tortured, and executed. In May 1791 the French revolutionary government granted citizenship to the wealthier affranchis, but Haiti’s European population refused to comply with the law. Within two months isolated fighting broke out between Europeans and affranchis, and in August thousands of enslaved people rose in rebellion. The Europeans attempted to appease the mulattoes in order to quell the slave revolt, and the French assembly granted citizenship to all affranchis in April 1792. The country was torn by rival factions, some of which were supported by Spanish colonists in Santo Domingo (on the eastern side of the island, which later became the Dominican Republic) or by British troops from Jamaica. In 1793 Léger Félicité Sonthonax, who was sent from France to maintain order, offered freedom to enslaved people who joined his army; he soon abolished slavery altogether, and the following year the French government confirmed his decision. Spain ceded the rest of the island to France in the Treaty of Basel (1795), but war in Europe precluded the actual transfer of possession.

In the late 1790s Toussaint Louverture, a military leader and formerly enslaved person, gained control of several areas and earned the initial support of French agents. He gave nominal allegiance to France while pursuing his own political and military designs, which included negotiating with the British, and in May 1801 he had himself named “governor-general for life.” Napoléon Bonaparte (later Napoleon I), wishing to maintain control of the island, attempted to restore the old regime (and European rule) by sending his brother-in-law, Gen. Charles Leclerc, with an experienced force from Saint-Domingue that included several exiled mulatto officers. Toussaint struggled for several months against Leclerc’s forces before agreeing to an armistice in May 1802; however, the French broke the agreement and imprisoned him in France. He died on April 7, 1803.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henry Christophe led a Black army against the French in 1802, following evidence that Napoleon intended to restore slavery in Saint-Domingue as he had done in other French possessions. They defeated the French commander and a large part of his army, and in November 1803 the viscount de Rochambeau surrendered the remnant of the expedition. The French withdrew from Haiti but maintained a presence in the eastern part of the island until 1809.

Trials of a young nation

On January 1, 1804, the entire island was declared independent under the Arawak-derived name of Haiti. The young country had a shaky start; the war had devastated many plantations and towns, and Haiti was plagued with civil unrest, economic uncertainties, and a lack of skilled planners, craftsmen, and administrators. Many European powers and their Caribbean surrogates ostracized Haiti, fearing the spread of slave revolts, whereas reaction in the United States was mixed; slave states did all they could to suppress news of the rebellion, but merchants in the free states hoped to trade with Haiti rather than with European powers. More important, nearly the entire population was utterly destitute—a legacy of slavery that has continued to have a profound impact on Haitian history.

In October 1804 Dessalines assumed the title of Emperor Jacques I, but in October 1806 he was killed while trying to suppress a mulatto revolt, and Henry Christophe took control of the kingdom from his capital in the north. Civil war then broke out between Christophe and Alexandre Sabès Pétion, who was based at Port-au-Prince in the south. As the civil war raged, the Spanish, with British help, restored their rule in Santo Domingo in 1809. Christophe, who declared himself King Henry I in 1811, managed to improve the country’s economy but at the cost of forcing formerly enslaved people to return to work on the plantations. He built a spectacular palace (Sans Souci) as well as an imposing fortress (La Citadelle Laferrière) in the hills to the south of the city of Cap-Haïtien, where, with mutinous soldiers almost at his door, he committed suicide in 1820.

Jean-Pierre Boyer, who had succeeded to the presidency of the mulatto-led south on Pétion’s death in 1818, became president of the entire country after Christophe’s death. In 1822 he invaded and conquered Santo Domingo, which had declared itself independent from Spain the previous year and was then engaged in fighting the Spaniards. Boyer did abolish slavery there, but the Haitians monopolized government power and confiscated church property, foodstuffs, and other supplies. It was not until 1844 that the Haitians were expelled by a popular uprising. The occupation created a tradition of distrust between the two countries, and subsequent generations of Dominicans regarded the period as marked by cruelty and barbarism.

France recognized Haitian independence in 1825, in return for a large indemnity (nearly 100 million francs) that was to be paid at an annual rate until 1887. Britain recognized the state in 1833, followed by the United States in 1862 after the secession of the Southern slave states.

Boyer was overthrown in 1843. Between then and 1915 a succession of 20 rulers followed, 16 of whom were overthrown by revolution or were assassinated. Faustin-Élie Soulouque (Faustin I), a Black formerly enslaved person, became president in 1847 and designated himself “emperor for life” in 1849. He turned on his mulatto sponsors and became particularly repressive; however, his regime was in some ways a return to power for the Blacks. He tried unsuccessfully to annex the Dominican Republic, and in 1859 one of his generals, Fabre Geffrard, overthrew him. Geffrard encouraged educated mulattoes to join his government and established Haitian respectability abroad.

Throughout the 19th century a huge gulf developed between the small urban elite, who were mostly light-skinned and French-speaking, and the vast majority of Black, Creole-speaking people in rural areas. Social services and communications were almost nonexistent in the countryside, while Port-au-Prince was the center of culture, business, and political intrigue.

In the 1890s the United States attempted to gain additional military and commercial privileges in Haiti. In 1905 it took control of Haiti’s customs operations, and, prior to World War I, American business interests gained a secure financial foothold and valuable concessions in the country.

U.S. occupation

From 1915 to 1934 Haiti was occupied by U.S. Marines. The United States claimed that its action was justified under the Monroe Doctrine (the right of the United States to prevent European intervention in the Western Hemisphere) as well as on humanitarian grounds. However, many Haitians believed that the Marines had really been sent to protect U.S. investments and to establish a base to protect the approaches to the Panama Canal. Haiti signed a treaty with the United States—originally for 10 years but later extended—establishing U.S. financial and political domination. In 1918, in an election supervised by the Marines, a new constitution was introduced that permitted foreigners to own land in Haiti.

One effect of the Marine occupation was the nominal reestablishment of the mulatto elite’s control of the government. Black Haitians, in contrast, felt that they were excluded from public office and subjected to racist indignities at the hands of the Marines, including the corvée (statute labor, or forced labor for public works); in response, rural cacos (guerrillas) carried out a series of attacks. The Marines’ public works program included building new health clinics and sewerage systems, but most Haitians felt that the Marines’ efforts were inadequate.

In October 1930 Haitians chose a national assembly for the first time since 1918. It elected as president Sténio Joseph Vincent. In August 1934 U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt withdrew the Marines; however, the United States maintained direct fiscal control until 1941 and indirect control over Haiti until 1947. In 1935 a plebiscite extended Vincent’s term to 1941 and amended the constitution so that future presidents would be elected by popular vote.