Caribbean History: Post-Emancipation to the Haitian Revolution Study Guide

Flashcards covering the history of the British West Indies and the Haitian Revolution, including immigration, social structures, and the abolition campaign.

Indentured labour

A system where workers signed a legal contract to work on a plantation for a fixed period, usually $5$ years, in exchange for wages, food, housing, and return passage to their homeland.

Free villages

Independent settlements established by formerly enslaved people who left estates after emancipation to work for themselves.

Indian Immigrant Labour

The largest source of indentured labour in the British West Indies, with over $140,000$ people sent to Trinidad and over $200,000$ to British Guiana.

Navigation Acts ($1651$ and $1660$)

English laws that required colonies to trade only with England to ensure the mother country controlled trade and wealth.

L’Exclusif (The Exclusive)

The French policy that required French colonies to trade only with France.

Old Representative System

A governmental structure in the colonies including a Governor, an Executive Council (similar to the House of Lords), and a Legislative Assembly (similar to the House of Commons).

First Estate

The clergy in French society who owned $10\%$ of the land, collected tithes, and were exempt from taxation.

Second Estate

The nobility in French society who owned $40\%$ of the land, held high government positions, and were exempt from taxation.

Third Estate

The unprivileged group in France consisting of the bourgeoisie (middle class) and peasants who paid the majority of taxes.

Tithes

A tax, usually $10\%$, collected by the First Estate from the population in France.

Gabelle

An indirect tax on salt paid by the Third Estate in France.

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity

The revolutionary watchwords of the French Revolution inspired by thinkers like Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau.

National Assembly

The body formed by the Third Estate on June $17$, $1789$, after declaring themselves the representative government of France.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen

An document issued on August $27$, $1789$, stating that all men are born free and equal in rights.

Grand Blancs

Wealthy white planters in St. Domingue who owned plantations and wanted independence from France's trade restrictions.

Petit Blancs

The white middle class in St. Domingue, including artisans and shopkeepers, who resented the wealth of mulattoes.

Miscegenation

The process of interbreeding between different races, which led to the creation of the mulatto class in St. Domingue.

Vincent Ogé

A young coloured man who led a mulatto revolt in $1790$ seeking equal political rights; he was later executed by being crushed on a wheel.

Boukman

A Jamaican slave who presided over the Vodoun ceremony that launched the mass uprising of slaves in St. Domingue in August $1791$.

Black Jacobins

The name given to slave leaders of the Haitian Revolution, named after a radical political club in France.

Toussaint L'Ouverture

The key military leader of the Haitian Revolution who became Governor for Life and drew up a constitution for St. Domingue.

Somerset Case ($1772$)

A legal ruling by Lord Mansfield stating that slavery was not supported by English law, allowing enslaved people in England to claim freedom.

Thomas Clarkson

An abolitionist who gathered firsthand evidence from slave ships, including mortality rates and instruments of torture, to expose the horrors of the trade.

William Wilberforce

The MP who led the parliamentary campaign for abolition, eventually succeeding with the Slave Trade Abolition Act in $1807$.

Apprenticeship System

A transitional period from $1834$ to $1838$ where ex-slaves were required to work for their former owners to prepare for wage labour.

Stipendiary Magistrates

Officials appointed by the British government to impartially supervise the Apprenticeship System and settle disputes between planters and apprentices.

Peasantry

Small-scale farmers who own, rent, or squat on land to grow food for subsistence and sale after emancipation.