The Haitian Revolutionand

HENRI CHRISTOPHE

Content• The historical background on who was Henri Christophe.• His role in the course of the revolution.• His achievement in the revolution.

WHO WAS HENRI CHRISTOPHE?

From above, Haiti appears as an emerald isle floating on a sea of aquamarine. The history of the land envisioned by this dazzling description, however, has been one filled with political strife. In the eighteenth century, the island of Saint Domingue (Santo Domingo) was the most economically important French colony, producing more sugar than all the other French colonies combined. The slaves that were forced to work in the sugarcane fields lived a more miserable existence than can be imagined. One person who heeded the call to break the bonds of slavery was a man named Henri Christophe.

Christophe was born on October 6, 1767, on the island of Grenada. It is unclear whether or not he was born into slavery, and not much is known of his youth up until the time he was ten years old. Legend has it that when Christophe was ten, his father sent him to sea as a cabin boy. This short adventure transported him to the island of Santo Domingo, where he became employed at a hotel in Le Cap which after ten years he became manager.

In a Summary: Worked variously as a hotel cook, headwaiter, and manager, Le Cap, Santo Domingo. Joined fight for U.S. independence, 1779; fought in military campaign led by Toussaint L’Overture, 1797; appointed commandant of Le Cap, 1799; declared independence of State of Haiti, 1804; elected president of northern territories of Haiti, 1807; declared Haiti a kingdom and crowned King Henri I, 1811; opened military campaign against Alexandre Pétion, ruler of the south, 1812; instituted Royal Chamber of Public Instruction, 1818.

What were his role in the revolution?

After the spirit of the French Revolution spread to Haiti, Christophe in 1793 openly embraced the party of the Haitian independence leader Toussaint Louverture and became one of his chief lieutenants, fighting the French, the British, and the Spaniards. The French attempted to reconquer the colony in 1801, but Christophe held out until 1802, surrendering only on the promise of a pardon and retention of his military rank in the French army. He later joined Jean-Jacques Dessalines in ousting the French and commanded the army under that ruler. After Dessalines’s assassination he was appointed provisional chief of the nation by a military council. Although he thought despotism the only form of government for his people, he summoned a constituent assembly on Dec. 18, 1806.

Alexandre Sabès Pétion, Christophe’s only rival for power, secured control in the south and west and thereby secured majority representation in the assembly. He was appointed chairman to draft a constitution, which in its final form made Christophe little more than a figurehead. In retaliation, Christophe led his troops against Pétion but was defeated on Jan. 6, 1807, and he retreated north.

His Achievement In The Revolution

He wanted Haiti to be counted among the great nations of the world—for his black nation to be on equal terms with white nations. His solution was to make himself king where set up his own domain, which he ruled as King Henri from 1811 and for which he created a hereditary nobility comprising 4 princes, 8 dukes, 22 counts, 37 barons, and 14 knights. thereby taking on all the power and prestige associated with such a title. He suggested the idea to councilmen and advisors, who, after much deliberation, agreed a Haitian royalty and nobility should be established.

Christophe believed in hard work for the people. By introducing a program of paid labor, he soon had his country exporting annually 15 million pounds of sugar, 20 million pounds of coffee, 5 million pounds of cacao, and 4 million pounds of cotton. He also established a stable currency: the valuable gourd. Declaring all growing gourds in the state government property, he had them gathered and then sold to the peasants for produce, which was in turn sold to the British for gold.

He established an elaborate dress code and court ceremony and built himself eight palaces and six châteaus. He established six schools throughout the state for traditional education and a trade school to aid citizens in their quest for employment. During his reign he distributed plantations to military chiefs, restored soldier peasants to their former occupations, and maintained a general prosperity. He built the famous Citadelle Laferrière, a fortress south of his capital at Cap-Haïtien. In August 1820 he suffered a paralytic stroke. When his condition was learned, revolts broke out. In despair over his failure to pacify the country, he shot himself at Sans-Souci palace (the citadel and palace were designated UNESCO World Heritage sites in 1982), and his kingdom

became part of the Haitian republic in 1821. Henri Christophe’s lasting contribution to Haiti was the establishment of independence from foreign control, to which the country would never again succumb. His government and economic programs—designed to advance the Haitian cause—were immediately discarded for a less rigorous regimen. Though Christophe succeeded in uniting the territories of Haiti, the country would remain into the late twentieth century a land of political upheaval.

In August 1820 he suffered a paralytic stroke. When his condition was learned, revolts broke out. In despair over his failure to pacify the country, he shot himself at Sans-Souci palace, and his kingdom became part of the Haitian republic in 1821.

Images of Henri Christophe

Images of the Haitian Revolution

THE ENDGroup Members:Regina BellJordan KellyDonique Anderson