Throughout the 18th century, absolute monarchy reign in France. First and Second Estate were privileged, meanwhile, the Third Estate did not intervene in governing of the country. The king had all the political power but lack of taking care of his country. The government’s corruption and unjust lead to the French Revolution. Economically, France ended bankrupt as the government spent more money than it received from taxes. The tax system was unjust. Peasants were depended on for the taxation. Meanwhile, the Clergy and nobles were exempted from paying any of the taxes.
The injustice and division of the class in France contributed to the outcome of the French Revolution. France was divided into 3 estates. The First estate consisted of the clergy. The second included the nobility and the Third was bourgeoisie and peasants. Through the colonial expansion and overseas trade a new class of citizens emerged called the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie were growing in wealth and wanted access to political power.This property owning class was growing in wealth of the colonization of the Americas.According to Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes, What is the Third Estate?, the Third Estate is constituted a complete nation within itself and had no need of the other two orders.In other words, the french people wanted genuine representation to the Estates General. They wanted equal representation to the other two orders. He argues that the First and Second Estates are unnecessary and that the Third Estate is the only legitimate Estate that represents the entire population.The french people wanted to get rid of the absolute monarchy and its feudal system.Due to King XVI support of the American rebels, it brought the state debt. As a consequence, the nobility were taxed. The third estate formed the National Assembly to have political representation.
The French National Assembly abolished the feudal privileges of the nobility and clergy. They declared a new era of liberty, equality and fraternity. the Declaration of the Rights of Man Citizen was written in support of individual rights and the people’s right to represent their government. This insured the french people liberty and equality under the law.In 1793, King XVI was executed by the guillotine and France had conflict with its neighboring nations.The rise of radicals known as the Jacobins emerged from France.Through the launched of the Reign of Terror the Jacobins wanted to eliminate all signs of the old regime.After Napoleon Bonaporte, aroused to power he focused on security and order.
The French Revolution, led to the the Haitian revolution. It began due to the social and political oppression of the islands slave population.The island of Saint-Domingue was a French colony. It was a profitable caribbean colony that produced coffee and sugar for export. There was class inequality in the colony of Saint-Domingue. The majority of the islands population were enslaved africans, who had no control over their labor or life situation.According to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, the Jewish community and the previously enslaved were given freedom and equality.In the french colony, slavery persisted, and only the white and Mulatto landowners were considered citizens. The slave population became outraged as they were making the white-colonizers wealthy meanwhile they were working in harsh inhuman conditions. The african slave and white- colonizers relationship dynamic showcased the slavery dialect. The oppressed (slaves) had the upper hand but they have not realized their power.According to Hegel and the Slave-Master Dialectic, and the Communist Manifesto,the Haitian Revolution was a result of the European ideals of equality and universal freedom that began with the oppression of the bourgeoisies.The National Convention in 1793, abolished slavery.Toussaint L’Ouverture compose a constitution in 1801 as an effort to outlaw slavery.The abolishment was established in order to restore order to the revolting colony.
The liberation of the african slaves in Haiti gave the former slaves the freedom to rule themselves.They took control of the French colony.L’Ouverture became the leader of the Haitian Revolution The British fought the Haitians in an attempt to establish slavery again but the British were defeated.Later, L’Ouverture was deceived into thinking that Napoleon support the Haitian revolutionary movement . He was actually arrested when he got to France and then died in prison.Napoleon tried to establish slavery on the island but were defeated by the Haitian army.After the french colonial island of Saint Domingue gained its independence, the colonies in the Americas refused to support them. The United States and many other colonies refused to recognize Haiti because they fear that they would influence slave revolts in their colonies.
Both the French and Haitian Revolution spread revolutionary ideas to other parts of the Americas. The latin American Revolutions were influenced by Enlightenment ideals and ruled with logic. The South American Revolution was led by Bolívar in Venezuela and San Martín led its revolution in Argentina that caused a lot of blood sheed. the lower classes seeked liberation from oppression of the elite which were the European white-colonizers. Class conflict aroused that lead to civil wars within these regions and the South American region broke into sections.the Eventhough Bolívar attempted to unified his regions it fell apart.Eventually,the regional military leaders gain their independence from the Spain.The spread of the values of the French Revolution and Haitian Revolution influenced political revolution against their colonial authorities.