Jean-Pierre Boyer (possibly February 15, 1776 – July 9, 1850), a native of Saint-Domingue, became a soldier, one of the leaders in the Haitian Revolution, and President of Haiti from 1818 to 1843. He reunited the North and South of Haiti in 1820. He also invaded and took control of independent Santo Domingo, bringing all of Hispaniola under one government by 1822. He managed to rule for the longest period of time of any of the revolutionary generation of leaders.
Born a free mulatto in Hispaniola(Which today was never confirmed whether in Dominican Republic or Haiti) and educated in France, Boyer fought with Toussaint Louverture in the early years of the Haitian Revolution. He allied with André Rigaud, also a mulatto, in the latter's abortive insurrection against Toussaint to keep control in the South of Saint-Domingue.
After going into exile in France, Boyer and Alexandre Pétion, another mulatto, returned in 1802 with the French troops led by General Charles Leclerc. After it became clear the French were going to try to reimpose slavery and restrictions on free gens de couleur, Boyer joined the patriots under Alexandre Pétion and Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who led the colony to independence. After Pétion rose to power in the State of Haiti in the South, he chose Boyer as his successor.
When in late 1821 Santo Domingo became independent, Boyer was quick to invade and gain control, uniting the entire island under his rule by February 9, 1822. Boyer ruled the island of Hispaniola until 1843, when he lost the support of the ruling elite and was ousted.[1]
History
Boyer was the son of a Frenchman, a tailor by profession, and an African mother, a former slave of Guinean origin. His father sent him to France and paid for his education at a military school. Boyer joined the French Republican Army and earned the rank of battalion commander.
After the uprising of slaves in the North of Saint-Domingue, Boyer joined with the French Commissioners and went there to fight against the grand blancs and royalists. In 1794, Saint-Domingue was invaded by English forces trying to capitalize on the unrest in the formerly wealthy colony. Boyer went to Jacmel where he joined forces with the mulatto leader, General Rigaud.[citation needed] When other mulatto leaders surrendered to Toussaint Louverture in southern Saint-Domingue, Boyer, Rigaud, and Petion went to France.
On his way to France, Boyer stopped in the United States for his first and last time. He only visited the United States that one time but “he always remembered it vividly.”
Shortly after this the Franco-American crisis ended, Boyer traveled to Paris where he stayed until 1801. Next, he returned to Haiti to protest Toussaint Louverture's newly gained independence. During this time it was uncovered that the French were planning on taking away the civil rights of mulattoes rights and reinstituting slavery for former slaves in Saint Domingue (as they managed to do in Guadeloupe.) Boyer collaborated with other native leaders to defeat the French.
Unification of Haiti & Spanish Haiti (Dominican Republic)
In November 15, 1821, several frontier towns near the border with Santo Domingo with large Haitian presence raised the Haitian flag as a show of independence. Dominicans opposing unification with Haiti declared independence from Spain on November 30, 1821.[3] The new nation was known as El Haití Español (Spanish Haiti).[2] On December 1, 1821, the leaders of the new nation resolved to unite Spanish Haiti with Gran Colombia.
Some politicians and military officers favored uniting with the Republic of Haiti. Former slaves sought to secure emancipation under Haitian President Jean-Pierre Boyer. Another faction based in Dajabon, near the border, opposed union with Gran Colombia and supported Boyer.
Boyer sought to protect his country from the France or Spain retaking Haití Español, and attacking or re-conquering Haiti. He wanted to maintain Haitian independence, and the freedom of the 8,000 slaves remaining in Haití Español.
After promising protection to several Dominican frontier governors and securing their allegiance, Boyer invaded the Dominican Republic with a force of 50,000 soldiers on February, 1822. These forces encountered resistance from the white population. On February 9, 1822, Boyer formally entered the capital city, Santo Domingo, where Núñez conceded the keys to the city. Dominicans received the Haitian invasion uneasily.
The island of Hispaniola was now united under one government from Cape Tiburon to Cape Samana. Boyer awarded land to Haitian military officers at the expense of former members of the Spanish forces of Santo Domingo, and diminished his influence with the Spanish-Haitian leadership. He continued the policy of Alexandre Petion, his former political mentor, helping mullatos in other Spanish Latin American colonies resist the Spanish Crown. Boyer neglected his Haitian political opponents who called for reforms such as parliamentary democracy, and veteran War of Independence generals who felt that the revolution wasn't complete, and that they were being ignored.
Payment of indemnity to France
Boyer was anxious to remove the threat of France and opened negotiations. An agreement was reached on July 11, 1825, when with fourteen French warships off Port-au-Prince, Boyer signed an indemnity, stating that in return for 150 million francs paid within five years, France would recognize Haiti as an independent country. While this sum was later reduced to 60 million francs (1838), it was a crushing economic blow to Haiti.
Boyer had to negotiate a loan from France of 30 million francs to pay the first part of the indemnity. The Haitian population meanwhile was retreating into an agricultural subsistence pattern, defying the initial plan of Boyer to enforce the semi-feudal fermage system.
The people of Haiti were aggrieved at their situation. Boyer resurrected a land distribution program. He broke up some of the large plantations and distributed land to the small farmers. The rural population were tied to their smallholdings and given production quotas to try to generate enough products for export to generate revenue.
Boyer's rule lasted until 1843 when the poor economic situation was worsened by an earthquake. The disadvantaged rural population rose up under Charles Riviere-Hérard in late January. On February 13, Boyer fled Haiti to nearby Jamaica before settling in exile in France, where he died in Paris. Descendants of Boyer live in Haiti to this day.
Historical Background
Dessalines declared Haitian independence on January 1, 1804, under the rule of the soon to be known as Emperor Jacques I. He was assassinated in 1806.
Alexandre Pétion and Henri Christophe competed to rule the nation. After years of warfare, they each established separate states: Petion established the State of Haiti in the southern part of Haiti, and Christophe created what became the Kingdom of Haiti in the north. Boyer worked closely with Petion to create a Republican Constitution similar to that of the United States. President Petion taught Boyer what to do, and what not to do. Petion succeeded in winning the hearts, of his people and grew to be the most liked of any leader. In 1816, Petion succeeded in amending the constitution to allow him to name his own successor. Petion anointed Boyer before dying in 1818, and the Senate immediately approved his choice .
Boyer believed it was necessary for Haiti to be acknowledged as an independent nation, and that this could only be established by cutting a deal with France. On July 11, 1825 Boyer signed an indemnity saying Haiti would pay France a certain amount of money in order to be recognized as independent.
Haiti’s motto is “in unity there is strength”[citation needed]. As soon as Boyer came to power, he was confronted with the continuing competition with Henri Christophe and the Kingdom of Haiti in the north. Christophe's autocratic rule created continued unrest in the Kingdom of Haiti. His soldiers rebelled against him in 1820. In failing health and fearing assassination, Christophe committed suicide. Boyer was able to take over all of Haiti without a single battle.
Welcoming freed Americans
Boyer encouraged freed Americans Blacks to emigrate to the Republic of Haiti. His government advertised the opportunities in newspapers: “promising free land and political opportunity to black settlers." Boyer sent agents to black communities to convince them that Haiti was a sovereign state, which was open only for Blacks.
These actions were noticed by the American Colonization Society, which was looking to send or get rid of American Blacks, and beginning to colonize Liberia for the former slaves. The organization tried to persuade former slaves to leave the US voluntarily. Loring Dewey toured the east coast in 1817, starting in New York. They hoped to resettle 100,000 freed blacks within 10 years, and hoped to obliterate the African American population in America.
Dewey abandoned the idea of colonizing Liberia in his travels to New York. Haitian citizens there argued that Haiti was ideal Black homeland due to its weather conditions and the independent Negro government. Dewey wrote to Boyer to determine if he was still interested in receiving American immigrants, and Boyer proposed that Haiti would seek Blacks from America exclusively.
The A.C.S. sent Boyer questions related to its goal of a colony for American freedmen. Boyer was confident that his government would be able to receive these people. The A.C.S. tried to negotiate to have the Haitian government pay transportation costs for the immigrants. Boyer responded that the government would pay for those who could not afford it, but the American Colonization Society would have to take care of the rest of the finances. Haiti was already in debt to the French, which had exacted payment for lost properties - and in essence making Haiti pay for its independence. Spending funds to transport American families to Haiti would be impossible.
Dewey proposed establishing a colony for American freedmen that would be separate from the rest of the island with its own laws, legislature, etc. This showed that America was interested in expanding into the Caribbean, and in colonizing recently independent Latin American nations. Boyer was opposed the idea of an American colony on the island, since the Haitians already feared re-colonization by the French. He told Dewey that the laws of the Haitian government applied to everyone, and across Haiti.
Some freed American Black slaves eventually settled in Haiti. However, due to the poverty of the island, and inability of Boyer's administration to help them, most returned to the U.S.
Exile and Death
Boyer left Haiti on February 13 and went to Jamaica. Then he was exiled to France. He died in 1850.
- ^ Rogozinski, Jan (1999). A Brief History of the Caribbean (Revised ed.). New York: Facts on File, Inc.. pp. 218–220. ISBN 0-8160-3811-2.
References
- Baur, John Edward, “Mulatto Machiavelli, Jean Pierre Boyer, and the Haiti of His Day”, The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 32, No. 3, (July, 1947).
- Boyer, Jean Pierre and Loring Dewey, Society for Promoting the Emigration of Free Persons of Colour to Hayti (Mayday, 1824).
- Brown, Gordon S., Toussaint’s Clause: The Founding Fathers of the Haitian Revolution (Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2005).
- Leger, Jacques Nicolas, Haiti, Her History and Her Detractors (New York: The Neale Publishing Company, 1907).
- Miller, Floyd J., The Search for Black Nationality: Black Emigration and Colonization 1787-1863 (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1975).
- Shick, Tom. W, Contemporary Sociology 11/1/76, Vol. 5 Issue 6, p798-799, 2p.
- Staudenraus, P.J., The African Colonization Movement 1816-1865 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961).
