1806, October–November: (Haiti Divided and the Constitutional Trap): By all appearances, Henry Christophe seemed the logical successor to Dessalines, and on …

1806, October–November: (Haiti Divided and the Constitutional Trap): By all appearances, Henry Christophe seemed the logical successor to Dessalines, and on the day before the Emperor’s murder Pétion had already proclaimed Christophe “chef provisoire of the Government of Haiti” until the Constitution could officially confer his title. But Christophe soon learned there was more to this designation than met the eye: on November 20, 1806, elections were held for a Constitutional Assembly, and the majority of delegates — brought in from hastily gerrymandered parishes of the South and West — proved to be mulâtres in the pockets of Pétion and his supporter Gérin. Meanwhile, old scores were settled as Mentor Laurent and Boisrond, quickly arrested after the murder, were as quickly bayoneted in their cell — little had it availed Mentor, as Dessalines was being hacked to bits, to shout “Vive la Liberté! The tyrant is overthrown!” The Constitutional Assembly met in the cathedral at Port-au-Prince on December 18, and with time out for Christmas, the new constitution — already drafted by Pétion and his secretary Jean-Pierre Boyer — was rammed through by the 27th, declaring Haiti a republic with a president, a Senate, and a rigid separation of powers. The main effect of this separation, however, was to strip from the president, Christophe, almost all powers usually attributed to a chief executive and vest them in the Senate, whose presiding officer was Pétion.