1799-12-25
Toussaint issues a Christmas Day proclamation on the state of Saint-Domingue
Haitian
On 25 December 1799 Toussaint Louverture issued a proclamation addressed to the colony. By then he governed most of Saint-Domingue in fact, whatever his formal title, and was a year away from the constitution that would make it explicit.
Source
Primary source: Toussaint Louverture Archive, Marxists Internet Archive