France recognizes Haiti under a coercive indemnity ordinance

The 1805 constitution stated that slavery was forever abolished. It entrenched the victory of the revolution in the new state’s founding law. Emancipation did not mean full control over work: the...

The expedition sailed from Los Cayos, Haiti, on 31 March 1816 to renew the independence struggle in Spanish America. Haitian authorities and communities provided refuge, logistical support, and...

The revised Constitution of 1806 was approved at Grand-Goâve on 2 June 1816. Article 1 stated that slavery could not exist in the Republic and was forever abolished. The constitutional guarantee...

On 9 February 1822, Haitian president Jean-Pierre Boyer issued a proclamation announcing the union of the eastern departments of Cibao and Ozama with the Republic of Haiti. It stated that “on this...

A municipal record from 29 June 1822, discussed by historian Quisqueya Lora from the Dominican National Archive, describes the “freedom of the cultivators who were formerly enslaved.” Formerly...

On 8 July, President Boyer accepted the French terms while requesting revisions; the Senate registered the commitment on 11 July. A French squadron carrying hundreds of cannon had threatened a...

The Code Rural, issued at the National Palace on 6 May 1826, sought to bind cultivators to plantation production through contracts and rural policing. Later scholarship documents penalties for...

The treaty signed in Port-au-Prince on 12 February 1838 recognized Haiti as a free, sovereign, and independent state while restructuring the indemnity imposed in 1825. Its first article fixed the...

Promulgated on 30 December 1843, the constitution followed a revolution against Jean-Pierre Boyer and attempted to reorganize republican government. It belongs to a period of repeated constitutional...

On 27 February 1844, Dominican independence was proclaimed, ending the 1822 political union with Haiti. The break followed years of political and social conflict, including disputes over...