The impact of the French Revolution on Saint-Domingue 1789-1793

The Declaration of the Rights of Men and the Citizen, issued on August 26, 1789, played a significant role in the transformation of the Atlantic World during the end of the 18th century and had a major impact on the slave society in the French colony Saint-Domingue, since 1804 known as Haiti. The free colored people, or gens de coloeur, used the postulation of the declaration to stop the discrimination by the whites in Saint-Domingue. This fight of the free colored lasted for two years until the largest group on the island, nearly half a million slaves, stood up and demanded their rights, which led to a complete chaos on the island. The slave rebellion finally ended with the abolition of slavery and the application of the declaration of rights in Saint-Domingue in 1793. The events in France during the first four years of the revolution and the struggle of the blacks in Saint-Domingue are closely connected. The French Revolution and the The Declaration of the Rights of Men and the Citizen ignited the powder keg in Saint-Domingue, which developed into the Haitian Revolution.