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Haiti Debt and Historical Impact
The history of Haiti has shaped the country over time by determining the events that led to the past economic obligations and slowed future developments. The central event in Haiti’s history is its foreign debt to France. The history of Haiti’s debt with France that dates back to early nineteenth century after a successful slave revolution that created the state. The discussion on the history of Haiti will reveal the 1825 debt settlement with France, the relationship with the United States and the Duvalier family dictatorships that ruined the country from 1957 to 1986.
The history of Haiti’s debt to France and the subsequent settlement in 1825 starts with the slavery history that the country shared with other Caribbean countries. During the nineteenth century, the Caribbean economies were dominated by European settlement and control over farms, especially sugar and coffee farms (Davis, 1971). The Europeans used slaves to work in the farms, which gave environment for revolt against forced labor and enslavement. For Haiti, the colonial power was France, who controlled the slaves and the white farms in the country. However, Haitian slaves started a revolution that left thousands of whites dead and declaration of an independent state in 1804 (Philippe, 2011). According to Philippe (2011), by 1804, between 3000 and 5000 white Haitians had been killed in a massacre that practically eliminated the colonialist whites.
The revolution created the republic of Haiti with Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the revolution leader declared as the king. However, the independence of Haiti led to an economic problem in 1825 when France demanded for compensation of the farmers who lost slaves and farms. To ensure compliance, France threatened to conquer and enslave Haitians again if the Haiti government refused to pay. As a result, Jean-Jacques Dessalines agreed to an initial debt of $150 million francs, the equivalent of $21 billion today (Nicholls, 1988). This agreement puts the poor new state into a state of economic debt and the threat of enslavement. The debt placed an obligation for Haiti to France since the agreement up to the final settlement in 1893.
However, Haiti could not pay this debt because the economy was poor after the revolution. The economy had been heavily affected by the revolution and farms were destroyed and commercial activities fully disrupted. Due to Haiti’s inability to pay, the debt was reduced to 90 million francs in 1838, which was supposed to be paid in 30 years (Nicholls, 1988). The debt to France significantly hindered the economic development of Haiti as a state. One of the hindrances to Haiti’s future development was increased in external debt (Heinl & Gordon, 2006). The external debt grew because Haiti resulted to borrowing from other countries to repay the French debt and control the state.
Another hindrance to the development of Haiti was the redirection of the little production and income generated by the young state towards debt repayment. Instead of developing the country and building infrastructure, Haiti directed its income to pay the debt that was unjustly imposed by the ruthless French colonialist (Davis, 1971). According to Lundahl (2015), an estimate of over 80% of the country’s net revenues went towards debt repayment to France. According to Patrick (1984), the highest damages could have been 100 million francs, but the French government claimed 150million. Despite the reduction to 90 million, the debt was still too high for a country that France itself had run down through inhuman slavery (Lundahl, 2015). Moreover, the development of Haiti as a country was hindered by economic enslavement, the two a new type of colonialism and slavery that the country was in the hands of the ruthless French.
These developments were not away from the sight of the United States, a country that had a keen eye on Haiti, because of its proximity to America. The major cause of the relationship between the United States and Haiti was the desire by America to prevent any hostile takeover of Haiti that could threaten its security (Nicholls, 1988). America observed the developments because of the worry that an unfriendly European control over Haiti would present a military threat to the U.S. particularly, the United States feared that a takeover of Haiti by Germany would present significant military advantage to Germans in the case of an attack to America (Heinl & Gordon, 2006). Therefore, President Woodrow Wilson started missions to bring Haiti into the political and military control over Haiti in 1914.
One of the lines of relations between the United States and Haiti was financial control and security. For instance, in 1914, president Woodrow sent marines to secure a large sum of money, half a million dollars from Haiti to New York (Davis, 1971). This effectively gave the United States the control of the central bank of the young, poor country run down by European domination and poor governance. Another line of relations between the two countries was military control by the United States. After the assassination of Haitian president in 1915, the political instability in the country gave grounds for German invasion, causing worry to the United States (Lundahl, 2015). As a result, the United States sent military officers to control the situation and prevent German activity in the helpless nation.
The development of relations between the Americans and Haiti led to the signing of a treaty by the two countries in 1915. This practically placed the control of the Haiti military in the hands of the United States. The military control and economic control of the Haitians in the United States led to the third line of relations as marked by the election of a pro-American president in 1915 (Nicholls, 1988). However, rebellion by Haitians and led to the withdrawal of America in 1930. While the U.S slightly developed the Haitian economy, the state of Haiti was left for worse by the time United States left the country in 1934.
However, the Haitian economy was worsened by the dictatorial rule of the Duvalier family from 1957 to 1986. From 1957, Francois Duvalier ruled the country and was succeeded by his son, Claude Duvalier from 1971 to 1986 (Lundahl, 2015). The family rule was dictatorial and use of ruthless means to cause fear and create dominance in the state. The Duvalier rulers created a special police force to protect them and held political prisoners (Heinl & Gordon, 2006). On the economic front, the dictatorial Duvalier rule engaged in external borrowing to strengthen their bad governance and to the state. This negatively impacted on the economy, political freedom and future developments of the state.
From the history of Haiti, it is possible to trace the current economic, social and political state of Haiti to her history since independence. The rundown of the economy of the country started with slavery by the French and the revolution that led to independence. However, the economic enslavement by the French government and dominance by the United States saw the country’s economic, social and political state grows from bad to worse. Worsened by dictatorial governance, the negative activities by the United States and France and the 2010 earthquake disasters formed the major historical problems that have affected Haiti up to date. Haiti now has to struggle with these historical impacts as it seeks to build the nation.
References
Davis H.P. (1971). Black Democracy: The Story Of Haiti. Staffordshire: Smith Davis Press Ltd
Heinl, R.D., & Gordon, N.H. (2006). Written in Blood: The story of the Haitian People 1492-1995. 3rd Ed. New York: University Press of America
Lundahl, M. (2015). Peasants and Poverty (Routledge Revivals): A Study of Haiti. New York: Routledge
Nicholls, D. (1988). From Dessalines to Duvalier: Race, Color and National Independence In Haiti. London: Macmillan Publishers
Patrick, B. (1984). The Haitian Revolution and Its Effects. London: Heinemann
Philippe, R. G. (2011). The Slaves Who Defeated Napoleon Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian War of Independence, 1801-1804. University of Alabama Press
Robins, B. (2006). “Haiti, Slavery, and the Age of the Democratic Revolution”, William and Mary Quarterly 63.4, 633–674