Skip to content
🇭🇹   BETA  ·  Istwanou is free during beta — free access continues until January 1, 2027 or when we reach 100,000 entries, whichever comes first.  ·  4,236 entries published  ·  95,764 entries away from the 100k milestone.       🇭🇹   BETA  ·  Istwanou is free during beta — free access continues until January 1, 2027 or when we reach 100,000 entries, whichever comes first.  ·  4,236 entries published  ·  95,764 entries away from the 100k milestone.       
You are offline — some content may not be available
1801-07-07

1801-07-07: (Louverture Promulgates a Constitution, Declares Himself Governor for Life, Abolishes Slavery, and Asserts Haitian Autonomy While Nominally Remai…

Haitian

1801-07-07: (Louverture Promulgates a Constitution, Declares Himself Governor for Life, Abolishes Slavery, and Asserts Haitian Autonomy While Nominally Remaining Under French Sovereignty, a Document That Was Both a Declaration of Self-Governance and an Invitation to War With Napoleon): On July 7, 1801, Louverture promulgated a constitution for Saint-Domingue that abolished slavery permanently, established Catholicism as the official religion, and made himself governor for life with the power to choose his successor. The document asserted Haitian autonomy within the framework of the French Republic, a legal fiction that fooled no one. Louverture was declaring, in the language of constitutional law, that Saint-Domingue was his to govern and that neither Napoleon nor any future French government would reimpose the system that had enslaved half a million people. Napoleon’s response was not a counter-argument but an armada. Within six months, Leclerc would depart France with forty thousand troops and orders to destroy everything Louverture had built.