26 - Establishing a New Nation: Haiti after Independence, 1804–1843

Summary

On 1 January 1804, General Jean Jacques Dessalines officially declared the independence of Haiti. The decades that followed were critical for the new country’s development and were a period of dynamic change as well as colonial continuities. The struggles and debates of the early decades illustrate the contentious post-colonial process of building a black nation-state in a world dominated by racialized slavery. Jean Jacques Dessalines, the first head of state, and subsequent leaders embarked on a political, economic, and social experiment in the Americas: to establish the first black state and fulfill the radical Age of Revolution promises of freedom and equality. This chapter examines how Haitians sought to interpret their revolution’s ideals, in particular the meaning of liberty, and the competing definitions that shaped the country’s political, social, cultural, and economic development. The chapter begins in 1804 and follows the development of the Haitian nation-state until the Revolution of 1843. Across these four decades, we see how various groups in the new country sought to define its economic and political direction as well as create a new culture. Integral to this work were questions of landownership, the organization of labor, and systems of government.