Republic of Haiti (1820–1849)

In the eastern part of Hispaniola, José Núñez de Cáceres declared the independence of the colony as the Republic of Spanish Haiti on 1 December 1821, and applied for admission to the Republic of Gran Colombia. Nine weeks later, Haitian forces led by Jean-Pierre Boyer entered the newly-declared state and occupied Santo Domingo on 9 February 1822.[3] The military occupation of Santo Domingo would last 22 years, until the fall of Boyer.

Boyer (right) and Baron Mackau (left) negotiating the Franco-Haitian Treaty of 1825.

After the annexation of Spanish Haiti, Boyer took full powers with the title of "Supreme Chief of the Nation", with the right to choose his successor.

In the two decades that followed the Haitian Revolution and the expulsion of the French colonial government in 1804, Haiti's independence had not been recognized by the world powers. In 1825, King Charles X of France decreed that his nation was to be compensated 150 million gold francs payable in five years in exchange for recognition of Haitian independence.[4] Under threat of invasion, Boyer agreed and by 1826 Haiti was recognized by almost all world powers with the exception of the United States of America (which, influenced by insecure slave-owning white Southerners, wanted nothing to do with revolted slaves). To keep up with the payments to France, Boyer had to implement a special tax and negotiate a loan of 30 million to a French bank with an interest rate of 6%, while asking for a reduction of the debt. Charles X also demanded a 50% reduction in customs (export) duties for products exported to France. The debt was reduced to 60 million payable in thirty years, in February 1838.[2] During Boyer's reign, Haiti's economy shifted from primarily sugarcane to coffee exports.

Portrait of Jean-Pierre Boyer.

Boyer and his ministers, Jérôme-Maximilien Borgella and Jonathas Granville, were deeply involved in the mass migration of black Americans to Haiti. Loring D. Dewey of the American Colonization Society (ACS) had been an advocate of former slave migration from the United States to Haiti, as opposed to the more common ACS strategy of repatriating black Americans to Liberia. From September 1824, nearly 6,000 Americans, mainly free blacks, emigrated to Haiti in the space of a year. Due to the island's poverty and the Boyer administration's inability to help support new immigrants in transition, most black Americans returned to the United States after a short period of time.[5]

Boyer's authoritarian measures eventually lead to a loss of popular support and in 1842 an insurgency arose in Praslin, not far from Les Cayes, headed by General Charles Rivière-Hérard. Boyer attempted to quell the revolt, but with a loss of support and no chance of victory, Boyer abdicated in 1843 and went into exile in Jamaica.[1]

Charles Rivière-Hérard would declare himself president-for life but his reign would only last until May 1844. In the month's following Boyer's departure, Santo Domingo took advantage of the chaotic political situation by expelling the Haitian military from the eastern portion of Hispaniola in 1844 during the Dominican War of Independence. During the final five years of the Republic of Haiti, the country would be limited again to the western portion of the island and no longer control the Spanish (now Dominican) side of the island. Following Rivière-Hérard, there would be four more presidents of the Republic of Haiti until Faustin Soulouque was elected president-for-life in 1847.[1]

On the 26th of August 1849, Soulouque was proclaimed Emperor of Haiti and the first Republic of Haiti was dissolved. At his coronation ceremony on 18 April 1852, Soulouque become Emperor Faustin I. The Emperor created a new class nobility to surround himself with and began a period of Haitian history known as the Second Haitian Empire.