The bitter taste of freedom: how saint-domingue’s sugar-slavery economy was built and destroyed

Diplôme Master The bitter taste of freedom: how saint-domingue’s sugar-slavery economy was built and destroyed eng 2025-06-03 author Bastow Maximilian Jonathan 0009-0005-1950-1491 987885 director Nogues-Marco Pilar 0000-0003-1164-519X 840621 Service enseignement, recherche, administratif et technique (SdS) (SCSPS) 241 This master's thesis looks at French Saint-Domingue, once the richest colony in the world and today’s Haiti, to understand how it was made during three centuries of colonialism and what effects the Haitian Revolution had given its place in the world. From Spanish colonisation to French rule, colonists sought to exploit Saint-Domingue economically. Under a mercantilist framework, they attempted to cultivate a variety of goods, ultimately centring around a sugar-slavery paradigm nearly a millennium old. Though various labour regimes were trialled, only a brutal slave plantation system was economically rational for sugar production, which also produced a rigid racial hierarchy to maintain social stability. Furthemore, the way Saint-Domingue, colonialism and slavery were considered in France prior to the Haitian Revolution limited the ability of the French Revolution to emancipate the colony's slaves, troubling the notion that France brought progressive ideals to Haitians. Though there were opponents of slavery and colonialism in France, they were unable or unwilling to achieve abolition for the enslaved populations of the colonies. French revolutionaries in 1789–1791 failed to abolish slavery in the colonies, instead finding ways of reconciling its persistence with their ideals. Not waiting for emancipation to be granted, slaves and maroons rose up in the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) and produced a change which made abolition inevitable even as it was “unthinkable” in the <i>métropole</i>. The thesis studies the impact this uprising had on sugar production, which dropped drastically due to the uprising, shown by using slave disembarkations as a proxy. This was felt in Paris, by sugar consumers who experienced a price shock of at least 100% in just a few days, at least partially because of the events in Saint-Domingue: they experienced “the bitter taste of freedom”, to repurpose a Césaire poem. Yet, even as the slaves won liberty and destabilised sugar production, their actions did not seem to resonate in Parisian popular consciousness. Consumers nonetheless rioted, seizing and forcibly selling sugar as prices they considered fair, a striking example of a “moral economy”. Haiti’s post-independence course is also considered, emphasizing the real and financial sources of its underdevelopment. Slavery continued to generate wealth in Cuba and Louisiana, while sugar developed in French colonies and on the mainland. Slavery and racism are explored in relation to each other and to capitalism, noting their persistence to the present day. This long history highlights Saint-Domingue's enduring legacies and lessons for the present. Bitter Taste and Freedom Saint-Domingue's Sugar-Slavery Economy Haiti Haitian Revolution 1791-1804 Slave plantation system Colonialism French Revolution Sugar production Haiti’s post-independence Dewey 330 Dewey 330.9 Master in Political Economy of Capitalism 193 Institut d'histoire économique Paul Bairoch TE 123 Département d'histoire, économie et société T5 false 812e416a-2bef-4111-ab08-359569a4030a Master thesis Public Bastow_Maximilian_-_MAPEC_Thesis_-_.pdf 17422219 application/pdf c4c82e7a0e7ab9f4a4bcc62282c408ff5070d6f1d45dcbfe5199b1895176fc1d openAccess Faculté des sciences de la société / Institut d'histoire économique Paul Bairoch Faculté des sciences de la société / Département d'histoire, économie et société

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The bitter taste of freedom: how saint-domingue’s sugar-slavery economy was built and destroyed				2025	99	178

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Bastow, Maximilian Jonathan

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