Once Enlightenment philosophies created new visions of the individual's natural rights and place in society, resistance to oppressive government was inevitable. The fundamental beliefs of freedom and equality served above all as a catalyst for the revolutions in America, France and Haiti. Because of these shared ideals, each revolution is interconnected with the revolution that preceded it. However, the waves of this revolutionary movement that swept across the Atlantic world became more and more radical with each new country it entered. By examining citizen involvement and the causes of the American, French and Haitian revolutions, we can better understand the growing radicality of these insurrections. Even though the ideas of the Enlightenment were born, the island of Santo Domingo was made up of a mixture of people including white people from France, Creoles, free people of color, and slaves. Once sugar became a major cash crop on the island, it is estimated that around half a million African slaves were brought to work the land. These slaves outnumbered their white masters more than ten to one and made up the majority of the island's inhabitants. Despite this, the island had the safest slave regime in the Caribbean due to the cooperation between masters and free men of color. Due to the difficult police tasks given to the freed men with little reward, communication between them and the white masters broke down. Now that white slave owners were left to their own devices, it was only a matter of time before their brutal treatment of slaves led to an uprising. Once African slaves heard about the revolution in France, they too began to demand freedom. After years of civil unrest and fierce fighting, Haiti declared its freedom from France in January 1804. What made the Haitian Revolution more radical than the previous two was the fact that it was led by slaves . Throughout previous revolutions, the primary goal was essentially to liberate white men from oppressive government rule. Little thought was given to the rights of slaves, even though they too were men. The fact that this group of people were able to overthrow colonial authority and found their own country during this period was particularly radical and unheard of.