Abstract

Throughout history, revolutions have started because of new ideas that change thinking and disrupt the status quo. The Haitian Revolution of 1789-1804 is no exception. The Enlightenment ideas of equality for men and representative government were crucial to the insurrection. However, how did Enlightenment philosophy make its way to the Caribbean and influence the people to free themselves from their colonizer, France? One slave in particular was strongly influenced by Enlightenment ideas: Toussaint L’Ouverture, the leader of the revolution. Ultimately, the Enlightenment inspired a successful slave revolt in Haiti. While traditional scholarship has depicted the slaves in the revolt as brutes blindly following their cynical leader, in fact L’Ouverture actively used the ideas of European philosophy, which empowered them to become agents.