Read the passage below, written by Dr. James McCune Smith, an American
abolitionist. Based on this excerpt, what lesson does the Haitian Revolution
teach?
But his thoughts were bent on conquest of another kind; he
was determined to overthrow an error which designing and
interested men had craftily instilled into the civilized world,
- a belief in the natural inferiority of the Negro race. It was
the glory and the warrantable boast of Toussaint that he
had been the instrument of demonstrating that, even with
the worst odds against them, this race is entirely capable
of achieving liberty and of self-government. He did more:
by abolishing caste he proved the artificial nature of such
distinctions, and further demonstrated that even slavery
cannot unfit men for the full exercise of all the functions
which belong to free citizens.
1
A. An enslaved person is naturally inferior to a free person. B. Some people are more capable of governing themselves than others. C. The belief that a person is inferior because of race is false. D. Enslaved people will be free only when they form a new nation .