The causes of the revolution are a complex web of interwoven events and relationships. On the surface it would be easy enough to place the cause squarely on the shoulders of the institution

By 1789, there were four distinct groups on Saint Domingue, each with its own interests: The whites, the free people of color, the black slaves and the maroons. To complicate matters further, some of these four groups also had sub-groups which created friction amongst themselves. The whites were broken down into two separate groups; grands blancs and petits blancs. All together the white population on Saint Domingue in 1789 totaled between 25,000 (Knight 2001, p. 229) and 40,000 (Wingfield & Parenton 1965, p.339) people.

Grand blancs were the upper white class of the colony. They were the plantation owners who were united in their support of slavery which isn’t surprising considering that their current and future wealth rested on the backs of their slaves. This group of whites was mainly interested in the profits that were generated by free trade and desired independence from France in order to pursue those goals (Corbett).

The black slaves made the third group in Saint Domingue. By the outbreak of the Haitian Revolution the number of slaves numbered about 500,000 (Knight 2001, p. 229) which meant that slaves outnumbered whites by a ratio of somewhere around 10:1. In order to maintain superiority the plantation owners employed harsh tactics. Saint Domingue was renowned for its brutality; its reputation was such that in the rest of the Americas it was a common threat to slaves to sell them to Saint Domingue if they did not cooperate (Corbett). This slave population was also divided into two major categories domestic slaves and field slaves. The differences between these two sub-groups were basically in the jobs performed. Domestic slaves served in the home, cooking, and sewing and as personal servants. Field slaves worked from dawn till dusk and sometimes beyond. They were malnourished and treated no better than animals. While field slaves suffered the brunt of the brutality that the institution shoveled out, it does not mean that the domestics did not suffer. One result was that at the breakout of the revolution the majority of domestic slaves were slower in joining in the movement due to the loyalty that had been established because of the better treatment (Corbett).

of slavery itself as the main reason for revolution. It is well known that slavery was a brutal, oppressive institution that was frequently plagued with resistance and rebellion. But the fact that no other slave uprising ever resulted in the formation of a separate nation with slavery being overthrown by those enslaved leads to the obvious conclusion that it had to have been more than slavery itself that caused the revolution. To begin to understand how the revolution happened, it is necessary to look at the class structure that existed in the years before the revolution broke out in 1791 and how this structure created an atmosphere conducive to revolution.

At the same time the grand blancs were promoting their agenda to the Estates General, the free people of color had also sent a delegation to France in an attempt to be recognized as full citizens under the declaration that the Estate General had made. All efforts to gain this recognition in France failed and the result in Saint

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