Much has been written from the historical point of view about that unique and pacesetting revolution called ‘The Haitian Revolution’. It is unique and pacesetting because it is the only successful slave revolution known to human history. The Haitian revolution was a many faceted and long drawn out conflict between privilege and liberty. There were several unequal groups in Haiti. The first group, made up of those who had privileges of both birth and position, clung desperately to their position and privilege in Haitian colonial society. This group did not want to lose any of their privileges which they took as their inalienable birthright. These were the landed French gentry. They did not want any of the other groups to join them, or share in their privileges. They were free men who also owned other men as slaves.

Overview, Class and Racial Divisions in Haiti The second broad group was made up of those who by accident of birth became a bridge between master and slave. They were the mulattoes. These were the product and consequence of the concupiscence of white male colonists for their black female slaves. Mulattoes were free men and could and did inherit properties of their white fathers. These properties of course included black African slaves bought by their white fathers. However, there was a limit to their freedom and privilege. They could not participate in the political process of governing Haiti. Initially, this was all the deprivation which the mulattoes suffered. When the Mulattoes started agitating for equality with their ‘lily white’ half brothers, additional roadblocks were put on their way. They were banned from such prestigious vocations as Law and Medicine.

The Third group which occupied the bottom rung in colonial Haitian society comprised black African slaves owned by the other two groups. These had neither freedom nor privileges. They were regarded as disposable commodity by their owners. The struggle by the mulattos to attain equality with the whites set the stage for conflict between the first two groups on the one hand. The desire of the black slaves to throw off the yoke of slavery, and attain freedom and some modicum of human dignity, was the platform for war with the two privileged, slave owning groups. Then add to the equation the untenable position of the runaway slaves, called Maroons, who were being hunted like wild animals by their former owners; and you have a perfect recipe for a murky conflict in which alliances kept changing from one day to the next.

Initial Skirmishes Hostilities between the three broad racial groups in Haiti predates the year 1791, when full scale rebellion broke out in what is generally hreferred to as the "Slave Rebellion". Right from the onset of massive importation of black Africans as slaves in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, enslaved men and women had always wanted to regain their freedom from the dehumanizing state of slavery. Before the general uprising of 1791, there were some notable rebellions which could be said to be direct preludes to the main Haitian revolution. The main revolution in Saint Dominique beginning in the year 1791 and culminating in declaration of independence for Haiti on January 1, 1804, cannot be fully appreciated, unless we look at social developments in Saint Dominique in the period preceding 1791.

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