Christophe convoked the Constituent Assembly at Port-au-Prince on the basis of universal suffrage.

Despite this last particular, true or false, on 3 November Christophe convoked the Constituent Assembly, whose basis was to be universal suffrage, and to which everyone was eligible, wherever his domicile might be. This was to show a profound respect for the sacred dogma of the sovereignty of the people. He designated to this assembly, as the place of meeting and deliberation, the city of Port-au-Prince. This would have proved that he had no intention whatever of influencing its operations, if, when he learned that this city had named Pétion as its deputy, he had not sent one of his aides-de-camp, by the name of Doria, to communicate confidentially to Pétion his wishes for an almost unlimited power. Pétion, to be sure, could not be surprised at this step. But, carried away like all the others toward democratic ideas, he declared to Doria: “that far from lending himself to such machinations, if there appeared a citizen bold enough to approach such a question, he would mount the tribune to combat him; that the people wanted liberty, and that he would second it with all his efforts (1).”