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In my opinion, if the French Revolution of 1789 to 1799 had not occurred, the slaves from the French colony of Saint-Domingue would have still revolted; however, the rebellion would have come alive later than 1791. The most crucial aspect of the French Revolution was to recreate the meaning of a typical French citizen. The French had no idea who they really were because before the removal of the monarchy, everyone in France had been a subject of the king and queen, therefore taught what to believe. Under the First Republic of France, there was no specific order in life, and that new freedom gave the people of France a chance to invent the new French citizen. The revolutionary government, with help from the French citizens, decided on the ideals that they felt all French men and women should possess. They concluded that liberty, equality, and fraternity were the key essential aspects of the psyche of a French citizen. At this time, however, slavery had already been well established in the three French colonies of Saint-Domingue, Guadeloupe, and Martinique. The practice of slavery entails barely any rights, especially not the rights to liberty, equality, and fraternity. If there was no revolution after the removal of the French monarchy, this recreation of the meaning of a citizen would have still occurred; however, the new ideals would not have been known by such a vast group of people. During the revolution the people of France were incessantly worried about the stability of their country, therefore when they all came to a common consensus about their beliefs, they were ecstatic and surprised and wanted to spread the good news throughout all of France--including the colonies. Whether there was a revolution or not, if the "Declaration of Rights of Man and of the Citizen" had been created and had reached the islands, there was bound to be hostility between the slaves and all other groups apart of the nation of France at the time. The French displayed their dual morality when they declared slavery illegal in France but outside of France, it was perfectly okay. The colony of Saint-Domingue, subsequently known as Haiti, was worth a very large sum of money due to its rich soil and ability to grow a surplus of crops. Also, Toussaint L'Overture and Jean-Jaques Dessalines, who are both referred to by many as military and political geniuses, were two of the leading men from Saint-Domingue. Although the colonies were enveloped in perpetual enslavement that would forever be a part of their minds, these two men were able to think beyond that. The intelligence that some of the African slaves possessed was what, ultimately, led to the successful Revolt in Haiti.
