Beyond economic factors, what were major causes of the Haitian Revolution?

• A. Slavery and racial oppression, Enlightenment ideas of liberty, and enslaved people's resistance
• B. The desire to restore monarchy in Saint-Domingue
• C. Introduction of new crops
• D. Foreign invasion from Spain

Answer: (C)

Non-economic factors that explain the Haitian Revolution include the brutality of the slave system, the racial oppression it enshrined, the influence of Enlightenment ideas about liberty and universal rights, and the persistent resistance practices of enslaved people. The harsh conditions of slavery in Saint-Domingue created an enduring motive to seek freedom and to challenge the social order that kept people enslaved. At the same time, ideas from the Enlightenment—liberty, equality, and natural rights—provided a powerful framework that colonized peoples could mobilize around, especially as revolutionary news from France and other parts of the Atlantic circulated. These ideals gave enslaved people and free people of color language and legitimacy to demand emancipation and political change. Added to this is the way enslaved communities organized resistance—rebellions, clandestine networks, escape to maroon communities, and coordinated acts of defiance—that kept the movement alive and connected across plantations. By contrast, introducing new crops is an economic development that affects profits, not the underlying push for freedom; foreign invasion and monarchist scheming did not serve as the primary spurs for the uprising. The combination of a coercive, dehumanizing slave system, transformative ideas about rights and equality, and organized resistance best accounts for the major causes of the revolution.