1803-05-14: (The Arcahaye Congress Begins, the Four-Day Meeting at Which Black and Mulatto Leaders Coordinate the Final Phase of the Revolution, Select Dessa…

1803-05-14: (The Arcahaye Congress Begins, the Four-Day Meeting at Which Black and Mulatto Leaders Coordinate the Final Phase of the Revolution, Select Dessalines as Commander in Chief, and Commission the Sewing of the First Haitian Flag): On May 14, 1803, Black and mulatto leaders of the Haitian Revolution gathered at the Mérotte plantation in Arcahaye, a small village outside Saint-Marc, for a four-day congress that would determine the final course of the war. The meeting brought coordination to a revolutionary movement that had been fractured along racial lines since its inception. The delegates put aside their differences long enough to agree on two essential actions: they selected Jean-Jacques Dessalines as commander in chief of the insurgent forces, and they unveiled a new national flag. The agreement facilitated the military coordination necessary to expel the French, but it did not resolve the fundamental tension between Black and mulatto factions. That unresolved tension would shatter the new nation within three years of independence.