Unit Reader

Roberl Frost Fqct Cqrd

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ROEEWFRO'T
PoET I r874-1961

Afber sperding 40 yeors os on u.knolrn, Amedcon t
poet Roben Flost become krcwn fo. hrs works, t
ihcluding 'lhe Rood Not Ioken.' He wcs o speciol
gues! ot President John E lGnnedys inougurolion
ond obo won foor tultzer *aes.

OUICK FACTS

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40 hono,ory deg.ees

'ln three wotds, I con sum up everything \ i"it

l've bofied obout life: it goes an.' .> a L

BIOGRAPHY -. l.r.lFI**a l}

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How H oiti Sqved The

United Stotes

Port l: The Eorly United Stotes il

A slove revolt in Hoiti soved the

United Stotes. How did it hoppen?
Lorgely through the effor ts of one

mqn, Toussoint L' 0verture.

Not o slove himself, Toussionf nonetheless troined
ond led the holf million Africon sloves on Hoitt to

victory ofter victory, over Englond ond Frqnce,

fon more thon o decode. In the process, he kept
Americo free from Europeon dominotion.

i

In 1791, the new counf ry of the

United Stotes of Americq wos .l

.1ust getting on its feef. George

Woshingfon would run for I+*
re-election thot yeor, ond the y-

two greot politicol por ties \ I

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(Federolist ond li..a*"1; ,. t t
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Democrotic-Republicqn) were ongling to get their
men into top positions in government yet ogoin.
The western borders of the country wer-e ever
exponding, os wos the number of sfotes odmitted

into the Union.

Bqd for the fledgling country, though, wos the
presence of Eur opeon troops oll oround'

'English troops were still in Conodo, stir ring up

trouble.

'French troops were in Hoiti ond in IVexico

'Sponish troops were in South Americo ond
Cenlrol Americo.

7-- The potentiol for Europeon
involvement in Americon offoirs

wos hlgh. President Woshington ond

\ other government officiols met with

Europeon officiols time ond ogoin,

trying to keep the peoce ond keep Americon t

out of Europeon wors. But the more ,.---- I
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,

\--------

98 Grade 3

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I

Americo ref used to f ight, the more both sides _J *.

Tin o wor come to hote Americq.

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Europeons hod been bringing Afr'icon sloves to a
Americo ond the sunrounding oneq since 1519. By * {}

1791, lhe slovery syslem wos so ingroined in the t Ia

lifestyles of both Europeons ond Africons thot

it seemed like it could go on indefinitely. At leost

thot's whot the Europeons thought.

The Africons sow it differently. And in 1791, they

rose up in defionce of their coptors. The ploce
wos Soint Domingue (Hqiti), o smoll Cqnibbeon

islond then owned by Fronce. This wos Fronce's

weolthiest colony, ond thot weolth come qlmost
exclusively from the plontotions thot were

worked by Africon sloves.

Port 2: The Hoition Revolt

The sloves set fire to the

plonfotions they worked in ond

demonded their freedom. With
cr ops burning to o crisp os o

bockdrop, the sloves offered to fight for fheir

How Haiti Saved The United States 99

right to freedom. Leqding them wos Toussoint
L'Overture, himself q former slove. He wqs so
successful of tr qining ond leoding the 500,
sloves (lO limes the number of plontqtion

owner s) thot even though if took o long time,
they eventuolly conquered oll of Hotti qnd oll of

Sonto Domingo, the other holf of f he islond. In

1801, L'Overtur'e procloimed hlmself gover'nor-

generol of the entire islond. He olso outlqwed

slovery on the islond.

This didn't sit well wtth Nopoleon, ,I

First Consul of Fronce. The French

didn't like losing Hoiti, their weolthiest

colony; ond they certoinly didn't like losing their

colony to o rebel leoder ond o bunch of sloves.

So Nopoleon set o trop for L'Overfure; sodly,

f he Hoition her'o fell for it ond wos thrown into

prison, where he died tn 1803.

In thot sqme yeor, French ormies soiled to Hoiti

ond tried to reinstote slovery, with French

mosters in chorge, os before tr-----.. I

I Jeqn-Jocques D CSSO ines, one of t I I
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100 Grade 3

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Toussoint's generqls ond o former slqve, led I -- T
the Hoition forces fo victory. If wos o greof
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doy for Hoiti qnd o greot doy for Af ricons
t\ a
eve rywhere.
a t]
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On Jonuory l, lB0Ll, Dessolines declor ed the Ia

creotion of the Republic of Hoiti. This wos the

first block republic onywhere in the world.

Port 3: The Hoition Legocy

So how did oll this offect the United Stotes? Well,
lB03 is the yeor thot the U.S. ond Fronce ogreed
on the Louisiono Purchose. While oll of the

Hqifion struggles wene toking ploce, Fronce wos
olso fighting ogoinst Englond ond other Europeon
powers ln the Nopoleonic Wors.

Nopoleon dreomed of o widespreod French

Empire. This included Hoiti ond ofher terr-itories
in North Americo, including Louisiono. He hod
even, qt one lime, considered ottocking the
United Stotes ilself.

How Haiti Saved The United States 101

But by 1803, with the Europeon wors )
I
not golng the woy he hod hoped, he
1t
needed money. So when Americon

representotives come colling, he ogreed fo give

up Louisiono (oll of it) for o big chunk of money

The loss of Hoiti coniributed to the protecf ion of
Americo in three woys:

'It convinced Nqpoleon to obondon his dreom of

on Americon Empire

'It mode him desperote for money, moking him

sell the Louisiono Tenrltory ond obondon oll

cloims to it (ond ony future plons of invoding

Americo).

' It gove hope to enemies of Fronce everywhere

For o certoin time, of the beginning of the

Nopoleonic Wors, Fnonce's Grond Ar my of the

Republic seemed unbeotoble. But Englond ond

other countries slowly turned the lide. The

seemingly smoll victory of o holf ,'----"a

I million sloves over the feored I t
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\--------

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French soldiers in Hqiti wos on exomple of I *. T
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just how vulneroble French power reolly \I a
wos to o determined, spirited freedom {}
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fighting force.
t|,.
Wifhout either Louisiono or Hoiti os o
jumping-off point, Frqnce would never
ogoin hqve the opporlunity to qttock

the United Stotes. And for this,

Americo hos to thqnk Toussoint L'0vertune ond

his deter mined fellow rebels) mony of whom gove
their lives in the nqme of freedom. N/ony former
sloves lived to see their dreom come true. Portly
becouse of their efforts, mony Americons did,

too.

lt,,.,,

How Haiti Saved The United States 103



Photogroph of o
Group of Osoge Men

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Acknowledgmenls

From Cajun Folktales, J.J. Reneaux. Copyright (c) 2005 August House
Publishers, used with permission.

From Cajun Folktales, J.J. Reneaux. Copyright (c) 2005 August House
Publishers. used with permission.

O 1999-2019, Louisiana Folklife Program, Louisiana Dept. of Culture, Recreation
& Tourism.

Used with permission of S.E. Schlosser and AmericanFolklore.net. Copyright
2022. All rights reserved.

Reprinted with permission from Encyclopadia Britannica, @ 2022 by
Encyclopadia Britannica, lnc.

National Agriculture in the Classroom. Vegetable Jungle. https://cd n. agclassroom
org/media/uploads/20'l5106/03/Student_Handouts_ 1.pdf. National Agricultural
Literacy Curriculum Matrix (2013) is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 I nternational License.

Source: Roland, C. (2006). The Day the Mona Lisa was Stolen. Retrieved
November 4, 201 5, from http://www.artjunction.org/archives/
TheDaytheMonaLisawasStolen.pdf. Used with permission of Art
Junction.

Reproduced by permission from Marylou Tousignant f +
"Kids were onboard the Titanic, too," The Washington
Post, April 13, 2012, https://www.washingtonpost. ,. v- B
com/lifestyle/kidsposVkids-were-onboard{he{itanic-
tool2l 1 2104I 1 2/g IQANwAhFT_story. html. @ 20 1 2 a *
The Washington Post.
T La
Courtesy of Pamela Joyce Randolph \
a
i'ro,raf larrs'**rttr. I**oIa..tstrI 3rl. *
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From https://www.povertypoint.us/history-artifacts-poverty-point. @ Copyright
2022 Louisiana Office of Tourism. All rights reserved.

Core Knowledge Foundation, "Removal, Assimilation, and the Grovyth of the U.S."
This article is based on an original work of the Core Knowledge@ Foundation
made available through licensing under a Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. This does not in any way
imply that the Core Knowledge Foundation endorses this work- This article is
licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
3.0 Unported License.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Biography.com Editors. "Robert Frost Fact Card," https://www.biography.com/

writer/robert-frost. O 2021 A& E Television Networks

Courtesy of David White, socialstudesforkids.com. Available at: https://www
socialstudiesforkids. com/articles/ushistory/haitianrevolution3. htm

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