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From 1791-1859, the island of Haiti made three
separate attempts at establishing monarchical government.
Slaves rose against their French masters on the colony
of St. Dominique in 1791. After a
pro-longed period of struggle, the French abandoned the colony. On January 1, 1804, the ancient Carib name of
Haiti was restored to the colony and French rule renounced forever. Haiti became the first nation in Latin
America and the second in the New World to win its independence. The decision to make Haiti an empire came in
July after Napoleon Bonaparte was offered the Imperial crown of France. A proposal that General Jean Jacques Dessalines
should be nominated as Emperor of the Haitians circulated among the leading
generals. Thus, on October 8, a Breton
missionary anointed Jean Jacques Dessalines as “The Avenger and Deliverer of
his fellow citizens”, Emperor of Haiti.
Dessalines’ reign lasted two years and ended in his murder.
The establishment of two
separate republics, in the north and south, followed the collapse of the
empire. By 1811 the northern republic
had turned into the Kingdom of Haiti, ruled over by King Henri I. (“Henri,
by the Grace of God and the Constitutional law of the state, King of Haiti,
Ruler of the islands of La Tortue and Gonave, and other adjacent, Destroyer of
Tyranny, Regenerator and Benefactor of the Haitian nation, Creator of its
moral, political and military institutions, First crowned monarch of the New
World, Defender of the Faith, Founder of the Royal and Military Order of St.
Henry.”)
Many of the institutions
of the new kingdom were copied from the monarchies of Europe. The court ceremonial was designed to exalt
the person of majesty in the style of Louis XIV. Of the numerous royal castles and palaces,
the palace of Sans Souci, at Millot, near the foot of the Pic de la Ferrier,
was the favorite residence of Henri I.
It was at the palace of Sans Souci, named in honor of Frederick the
Great’s palace, that Haitian opulence reached its apex. San Souci, the Versailles of Haiti, with its
delicately carved cornices, dancing fountains, marble floors, arcades, terraces,
sumptuous furnishings and perfectly drilled troops, was the king’s crowning
glory.
The ruins of Sans Souci
The ruins of San Souci
Henri I struggled for a
decade to modernize the country, while simultaneously fending off the encroachments
of his neighbor to the south. In 1820
the king suffered a stroke and was soon battling his own ambitious
generals. As a rebel army and thousands
of scavengers descended on the Palace of San Souci, the king killed
himself. The kingdom collapsed and was
incorporated into the Republic of Haiti.
Haiti’s last experience
with monarchy came in the person of General Faustin Soulouque. After seizing power in a bloody coup,
Soulouque invaded the neighboring Dominican Republic in 1849, where his army
was totally routed. To distract
attention from this military fiasco, Soulouque decided to create the second
Haitian Empire. On August 26, 1849
Soulouque proclaimed himself Faustin I, Emperor of Haiti. The second empire lasted ten years before
Faustin I was overthrown and forced into exile.
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