The Second Empire of Haiti, officially known as the Empire of Haiti (french: link=no, Empire d'Haïti, ht, Anpi Ayiti), was a state which existed from 1849 to 1859. It was established by the then-

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

, former Lieutenant General and Supreme Commander of the Presidential Guards under President Riché,

Faustin Soulouque Faustin-Élie Soulouque (15 August 1782 – 3 August 1867) was a Haitian politician and military commander who served as President of Haiti from 1847 to 1849 and Emperor of Haiti from 1849 to 1859. Soulouque was a general in the Haitian Army w ...

, who, inspired by

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

, declared himself Emperor Faustin I on 26 August 1849 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption in Port-au-Prince. Faustin's unsuccessful invasions (in part due to the diplomatic interference of the United States and Spain) in an attempt to reconquer the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

(in 1849, 1850, 1855 and 1856), which had declared independence from Haiti in 1844, undermined his control over the country. In 1858, a revolution began, led by General

Fabre Geffrard Guillaume Fabre Nicolas Geffrard (19 September 1806 – 31 December 1878) was a mulatto general in the Haitian army and President of Haiti from 1859 until his deposition in 1867. On 18 April 1852, Faustin Soulouque made him Duke of Tabara. ...

, Duke of Tabara. In December of that year, Geffrard defeated the Imperial Army and seized control of most of the country. As a result, the Emperor abdicated his throne on 15 January 1859. Refused aid by the French Legation, Faustin was taken into exile aboard a British warship on 22 January 1859. General Geffrard succeeded him as President. Soon afterwards, the Emperor and his family arrived in Kingston, Jamaica, where they remained for several years. Allowed to return to Haiti, Faustin died at Petit-Goâve on 6 August 1867 and was buried at Fort Soulouque.

End of the republic

On 1 March 1847, General

was elected President of the Republic by the Senate and succeeded President Riché, who died in office. During his tenure, the latter had acted as a straw man for the boyerist ruling class, who immediately sought a replacement. His attention quickly turned to Faustin Soulouque, in whom most saw someone a little withdrawn and ignorant. The 65-year-old seemed like a malleable candidate and was therefore driven to accept the role that was being offered to him. He was sworn in on 2 March 1847. At first, Faustin seemed to play the role of his puppet appropriately. He kept the former president's ministers in office and continued the program of his predecessor. However, it was not long before he got rid of his followers and became the absolute master of the Haitian state. According to Mark Kurlansky's book A Continent Of Islands: Searching For The Caribbean Destiny “he organized a private militia, the Zinglins, and had all those who opposed him arrested and massacred, especially the mulattoes, particularly the mulattoes, consolidating thus its power over the government ”. This process, which included a

massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

of mulattoes in Port-au-Prince on 16 April 1848, culminated in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies where he was proclaimed Emperor of Haiti on 26 August 1849. Soulouque also invited the black inhabitants of

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

to emigrate to Haiti. An Afro-Creole native of New Orleans who had grown up in Haiti, Emile Desdunes, worked as Soulouque's agent and, in 1859, arranged the free transportation to Haiti of at least 350 desperate people. Many of these refugees would return to Louisiana later. Soulouque's reign was marked by violent repression against the opposition and numerous assassinations. The fact that Soulouque was openly a follower of the

African religion The traditional beliefs and practices of African people are highly diverse beliefs that include various ethnic religions.Encyclopedia of African Religion (Sage, 2009) Molefi Kete Asante Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural ...

of voodoo contributed to his reputation for being violent. During his reign, Soulouque was affected by prejudice, hatred and discrimination against the Creoles (the same sentiments obviously reflected).

Empire

Coronation

On 25 August 1849, Soulouque was proclaimed emperor by Parliament under the name of Faustin I. His

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of ot ...

took place on 18 April 1852, in a ruinous splendor for the finances of this country, and the payment of the debt had to be interrupted. Soulouque paid £2,000 for his crown and £30,000 for the rest of the accessories (according to Sir Spenser St John, British chargé d'affaires in Haiti in the 1860s, on his account: "Hayti ou La République noire", pp. 95 –96). Gustave d'Alaux describes this fact in his book Soulouque et son empire: “His imperial majesty summoned the principal merchant of Port-au-Prince one morning and ordered him to immediately order in Paris a costume, identical to that of

's coronation. . Faustin I also commissioned a crown, one for the empress, a scepter, a globe, a hand of justice, a throne and all other accessories, such as those used during Napoleon's coronation. " In December 1849, Faustin married his lifelong partner, Adélina Lévêque. On 18 April 1852, in the capital, Port-au-Prince, the emperor and empress were crowned in a huge and sumptuous ceremony, like the coronation of the emperor of the French. The emperor made a speech and concluded with: “Long live freedom, long live love! »(Gustave d'Alaux). The coronation is illustrated in the "Imperial Album of Haiti", engraved by Severyn, published in New York, 1852 (available at the British Library).

Politics

To affirm his legitimacy, Faustin brought the sons of the first emperor, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, back to Haiti. He restored the title of "prince" and "princess" to them, and offered a pension to the former empress Marie-Claire Bonheur. Later, he organized a violent repression against the

mulattoes (, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese ...

and imposed absolutism upon the island. The imperial constitution, which he himself drew up, proclaimed a hereditary empire. As the only son of the Emperor died in 1849, the succession passed instead to Prince Mainville-Joseph, a son of the Emperor's brother, Grand Duke Juan José. To have offspring on the throne, Faustin arranged the marriage of his eldest daughter, Princess Olive Soulouque, to her cousin Prince Mainville-Joseph. The couple went on to have three children.

War against the Dominican Republic

The emperor's foreign policy focused on preventing foreign intrusion into the politics and sovereignty of Haiti. The independence of the

(then called Santo Domingo), according to him, posed a direct threat to Haiti. In 1849, Soulouque launched his first invasion of the Dominican Republic, but his army fled after the defeat at the Battle of Ocoa. In 1850 there was a second invasion, in which Haiti received the support of France, the United Kingdom and the United States. In the third and last invasion, in 1855, Soulouque entered the Dominican Republic at the head of an army of 30,000 men who had to withdraw. During his three expeditions, he had to face General

Pedro Santana Pedro Santana y Familias, 1st Marquess of Las Carreras (June 29, 1801June 14, 1864) was a Dominican military commander and royalist politician who served as the president of the junta that had established the First Dominican Republic, a pr ...

, who was then in command of the Dominican Republic.

Nobility

The emperor tried to create a strong centralized government that, while retaining a deeply Haitian character, was heavily inspired by European traditions, especially the Napoleonic Empire. One of his first acts after being declared emperor was to establish a new nobility. The Constitution of 20 September 1849, granted the emperor the right to create hereditary titles and to grant other honors to his subjects. Volumes 5 and 6 of The National by John Saunders and Westland Marston (published in 1859) explain that the Empire consisted of 59 dukes, 90 counts, 30 knights, and 250 barons. This new nobility also included the old nobility of the First Empire and the Northern Kingdom. The first patent letters were issued by Soulouque on 21 December 1850. Other sources add "three hundred knights" and "four hundred nobles" to this list.

The fall of the Empire

Revolution

In 1858, a revolution led by General

, Duke of Tabara and former loyal follower of the emperor, began. In December of that same year, Geffrard defeated the imperial army and took control of most of the country. On the night of 20 December 1858, Geffrard left Port-au-Prince in a small boat, accompanied by his son and two faithful disciples, Ernest Roumain and Jean-Bart. On 22 December, he arrived in Gonaïves, where the insurrection broke out. A Republic was proclaimed and the Constitution of 1846 was adopted. On 23 December, the departmental committee of Gonaïves, which had been organized for that purpose, decreed the abolition of the Empire and the arrest of several members of the imperial family. Cap-Haïtien and the whole department of Artibonite joined the restoration of the Republic. The days of December 1858 and January 1859 weakened the country considerably. The imperial troops, although exhausted and defeated several times by the revolutionaries, continued to fight against the insurrection. The revolutionaries then took the name of "Geffrardists" and demanded the arrest and trial of the emperor.

Abdication and exile

On 15 January 1859, the imperial palace was attacked and the emperor was forced to

abdicate Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...

the same day. He was exiled with his family aboard a British warship on 22 January 1859. General Geffrard was then elected President of the Republic. Shortly thereafter, the emperor and his family arrived in Kingston, Jamaica. Authorized to return to Haiti by the government of Sylvain Salnave, Faustin died at Petit-Goâve on 6 August 1867 and was buried at Fort Soulouque.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Second Empire of Haiti

Second Empire of Haiti The Second Empire of Haiti, officially known as the Empire of Haiti (french: link=no, Empire d'Haïti, ht, Anpi Ayiti), was a state which existed from 1849 to 1859. It was established by the then-President, former Lieutenant General and Supreme ...

1840s in Haiti 1850s in Haiti 1849 establishments in Haiti

Titles of nobility in the Americas States and territories established in 1849 States and territories disestablished in 1859