Latin Revolutions

The essential question of this activity is "Why is it essential to acknowledge human value regardless of race?  How are the events in the Latin American Revolutions evidence of this social imperative?"  In class we looked at a pie chart that showed the population of all the different races.  For example, the different races and populations in Latin America were 50% Indians, 7% Mestizos, 23% Creoles, 1% Peninsulares, 11% African slaves, and 8% Mullattoes and Free Blacks.

We split into three groups to create a timeline of our revolution.  My group had the Brazil revolution, and the other two were the Gran Colombia Revolution, and the Mexican Revolution.  Some of the differences of the three revolutions were: Brazil was the only peaceful revolution, and all of the revolutions took place in different countries.  There were also some similarities: All of the revolutions happened in the same time period, and they all declared their independence in 1822.  Race was an issue in all of these because in each revolution, race prohibited people from achieving certain things, for example, freedom.  Race has a lot to do with freedom and it is determined mostly on your race.  If you were a certain race you could only get so high on the social pyramid.

Today, race is still a big issue.  For example a lot of people are still prejudice against different races and some people might not get a job because of their race.  Today, the conflict in Ferguson, Missouri has a lot to do with race.  The Ferguson Police force is 90% white and the population of Ferguson has a high percentage of minorities, which is leading to a lot of conflict between the two.  

Toussaint Louverture DBQ

How Should We Remember Toussaint Louverture?

People tend to remember people that have done great things and have changed the world for better, and especially great leaders or head figures.  Toussaint Louverture is one of those people that everyone should remember and look up to because he did great things when he was alive.  The island we know today as Haiti, was originally called Saint Domingue in 1697 when the French took it over.  This island became one of the richest colonies in the world.  It produced more than 50% of the world’s coffee, and about 40% of the worlds sugar, all on this little island.  Toussaint Louverture was born on this island in the early 1740’s and he was a young slave and served as a herder, then a coachman, and finally an overseer of fellow slaves in the field.  He was then freed by his owner and around 1789 words of revolution spread through and there was an uprising in Saint Domingue when the whites refused to grant slaves freedom.  It was then that Toussaint Louverture emerged as a leader.  We should remember Toussaint Louverture for being a liberator of slaves, a military commander, and the ruler of Saint Domingue.

The most important thing we should remember Louverture by is liberating slaves.  Throughout his entire life, he was dedicated to freeing slaves and fighting for their freedom.  For example, in the Timeline of Abolition in Saint Domingue it says that in 1791 “A slave revolt begins in the north of Saint Domingue, Toussaint joins the revolution and serves as doctor to the troops; he also commands a small detachment of slave soldiers.” (Doc A)  Here Louverture is fighting against the French for the freedom of slaves.  But this changes when France goes to war against the British and the Spanish.  France promises all slaves freedom if they help the French fight against the British and Spanish so in 1794 it says “Toussaint and his troops stop their revolt and now support the French.”(Doc A)  Toussaint realizes the best way now to fight for freedom is to fight for the French, and in 1798 Toussaint defeats the British and becomes the ruler of Saint Domingue, and then three years later he conquers the Spanish part of the island.  However his loyalty to the French doesn’t last very long.  Toussaint is already cautious of the French Directory which was the government that ruled France from 1795 to 1799.  He fears that they might try to reinstate slavery and he sends a letter and in this letter he states “if they had a thousand lives, they would sacrifice them all rather than be subjected again to slavery...”(Doc B) and also says “this would be to attempt the impossible: We have known how to confront danger to our liberty, and we will know how to confront death to preserve it.”(Doc B)  In this letter Toussaint strongly declares his position to the French government by saying that it will be impossible to attempt to reinstate slavery.  This does not affect the new leader, Napoleon, however because in 1802 “Napoleon sends 21,000 soldiers to Saint Domingue to reinstate slavery.”(Doc A)  Napoleon’s decision to do this causes Louverture to rally troops again and fight off the soldiers coming in to Saint Domingue for the freedom of slaves again, and they live up to Toussaint’s promise and they hold the French off.  However, Toussaint is captured by the French before they are defeated and he later dies in jail of pneumonia and never sees Saint Domingue change their name to Haiti and declare their independence on January 1st, 1804.

Another way we should remember him for is being a military commander.  Most people would care about their family before anything else, but not Toussaint.  He was faced by his Nephew and an army of rebels started massacring whites all over the Northern Plain.  “Toussaint himself was so enraged that when he passed through the rebel zone he ordered the mutineer regiments on parade and summoned certain men to step out of the ranks and blow their brains out.”(Doc E)  Here Toussaint also shows his authority as a military commander and will not have anyone rebel.  This is a good quality for a leader.  He also didn’t have any problem with arresting his nephew because it states “Toussaint ordered Moyse’s arrest... Brought before a firing squad, Moyse himself gave the order to fire”(Doc E)  This is also another good quality because he will not let family get in his way of commanding.  In the next document it gives some of Toussaint’s character traits, “his humanity, generosity, and courage”(Doc F) All of these traits helped him gain his soldiers confidence and respect.  Toussaint was also a great public speaker and knew how to inspire his troops, he said “Here come the enslavers of our race.  All France is coming to St. Domingo, to try again to put the fetters upon our limbs; but not France, with all her troops... can extinguish the soul of Africa.”(Doc F)  This rallied all of this troops and then after this he used his great military tactics and burned down the city where the French were landing so there would be no shelter or resources left for them, and then the army went into the mountains where they could fight using guerilla warfare which the french were not used to.  The French army was only used to fighting in cities and towns, so Toussaint’s men would be able to crush them as they fought in the mountains.  It is also noted that “Two years and 25,999 French deaths later, Napoleon withdrew his troops from Haiti.”(Doc F)

Lastly, but not least we should remember Toussaint Louverture for being the ruler of Saint Domingue.  Toussaint was the ruler of Saint Domingue and as the ruler he made a constitution that declared many things.  For example it declared that slavery cannot exist in this territory so he is still staying true to his beliefs and what he dedicated his life to even though he has a lot of power.  He also changes it so that “Each plantation...shall represent the quiet haven of an active and constant family, of which the owner of the land...shall be the father.”(Doc C)  He is trying to keep the production of coffee and sugar the same while changing the working conditions and making them nicer and of course, not using any slaves.  He also states in the constitution that “Each cultivator and each worker is a member of the family and is entitled to a share in the revenues.”(Doc C) This is a lot better than before because now everyone has to get paid and have a right to a share of the revenue of the plantation.  This constitution only sets the base however, so Toussaint makes a Proclamation stating some laws.  In this proclamation he states “Any individual...tending to incite sedition [actions against the authority of the nation] shall be brought be before a court martial and be punished in conformity with the law.”(Doc D)  He is a good ruler because he sets good laws in action and enforces the safety of the nation.

These are just three of the big reasons people should remember Toussaint Louverture.  The most important of the three would have to be the liberator of slaves because this stays with him throughout his entire life.  In the other two you can see how he still believes strongly in the freedom of slaves and how he dedicated his whole life to fighting for their freedom.  Overall, Toussaint Louverture is one of the people in this world that should be remembered by everyone for all that he has done for not only Haiti but for other places where his revolutions inspired others.  

Revolution!

The essential question of this unit was "Were the Revolutions of 1830 and 1848 really failures as many historians have concluded?"  We did a project in groups where we each were responsible for one of the major revolutions and we had to research it using primary sources and determine whether it was a complete failure or not.

The revolution that my group had the Frankfurt Assembly of 1848.  In this revolution, the Prussian liberals forced King Frederick William IV to agree to a constitution, but a year later he dissolved it.  The reason he dissolved it is stated in "Between Myself and my People..."(1848) it says "the king made it clear that he had no intention of allowing his God-given rule to be diminished by a piece of paper, namely a piece of paper."  He refused to have a constitution because it limited his power as a monarch.  At the Frankfurt assembly, they offered King Frederick William IV the throne to a united Germany, however he declined it because the offer came from the German people and not the German kings, the nobility.  In his proclamation of 1849 he states, "I am not able to return a favorable reply to the offer of a crown on the part of the German National Assembly, because the Assembly has not the right, without the consent of the German governments, to bestow the crown which they tendered me." Eventually the assembly had to dissolve due to the threat of the Prussian Army which was one of the greatest at the time.  We made a survey monkey to show the class what the outcome of this revolution was.  http://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-NH3QX7KV

Here are some screenshots to show how well our classmates did:

The Frankfurt Assembly was a complete failure because not only did some people get killed in a fight, but also, many German citizens moved to America because of the young countries new promise.  The Decembrist Revolt was also a partial failure because the new king that came to power did not give the people what they wanted, so they revolted and finally got a new king that granted them a lot of the things they wanted.  However, a lot of social classes still did not get stuff they wanted so it was still a partial failure.  In the Hungarian revolution, people started protesting and Metternich tried to silence these protests, but more people joined so Metternich resigned, and fled.  The revolution spread throughout the empire and eventually the government had to give in to reforms, but this did not last because soon after, most of the rebels were then killed, imprisoned, or exiled and the empire was taken back.  So this was a complete failure as well.  In my opinion, the answer to the essential question is both yes and no, most of them were some type of failure, but seeing how some of the revolutions gained stuff from them, I wouldn't call all of them a failure.