However, if a master, in the process of punishing a slave,
accidentally beat him to death, this master could not be fined or
imprisoned.
Because the Europeans did not view the islands as their home,
there was always a shortage of white women. One of the results
of this was the development of an ever-growing class of
mulattoes. More and more of them were granted their freedom. While
these freedmen did not receive equal treatment with the whites,
they were careful to preserve the advantages they held over the
slaves. Many of them served in the militia to help keep the
slaves under control. However, the threat of slave revolts
continued. The greater the possibility of success, the greater
the probability that slaves would take the risk of starting a
revolt. All of the islands in the West Indies had a history of
slave rebellion.
Undoubtedly, the most outstanding slave revolt in the western
hemisphere took place in Haiti. During the French revolution,
concepts of the rights of man spread from France to her colonies.
In Haiti, the free mulattoes petitioned the French revolutionary
government for their rights.
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