Jean Pierre Boyer

Jean-Pierre Boyer
2nd President of the Republic of Haiti
In office March 30, 1818 – February 13, 1843
Preceded by	Alexandre Pétion
Succeeded by	Charles Riviere-Hérard
Personal details
Born	February 15, 1776 (1776-02-15) Saint-Domingue
Died	July 9, 1850 (1850-07-10)(aged 74) France
Nationality	Haitian

Jean-Pierre Boyer (possibly February 15, 1776 – July 9, 1850), a native of Saint-Domingue, was a soldier, one of the leaders of the Haitian Revolution, and President of Haiti from 1818 to 1843. He reunited the north and south of Haiti in 1820 and also invaded and took control of Santo Domingo, which brought all of Hispaniola under one government by 1822. Boyer managed to rule for the longest period of time of any of the revolutionary leaders of his generation.

Born a free gens de couleur (or mulatto) in St. Domingue (modern day Haiti) and educated in France, Boyer fought with Toussaint Louverture in the early years of the Haitian Revolution. He allied himself 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 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 Santo Domingo became independent late in 1821, 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.

Early life and education

Boyer was born in Port-au-Prince as the son of a Frenchman, a tailor by profession, and an African mother, a former slave from Guinea. In an urban, wealthy household, his father could afford to send Boyer to France and paid for his education at a military school. Boyer joined the French Republican Army and earned the rank of battalion commander.

Military career

After the uprising of African slaves in the north of Saint-Domingue, Boyer joined with the French Commissioners and went there to fight against the grand blancs (plantation owners) 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 André Rigaud. When other mulatto leaders surrendered to Toussaint Louverture in southern Saint-Domingue, Boyer escaped to France with Rigaud and Alexandre Pétion.

At the time, the United States supported French efforts to re-establish control, although it did not commit troops. Boyer traveled to Paris, where he stayed until 1801.

Next, he returned to Haiti to protest the independence that Toussaint L'Ouverture had just achieved. By early 1802, Rigaud and other leaders learned that the French intended to take away the civil rights of mulattoes and reinstitute slavery for former slaves in Saint Domingue (as they managed to do in Guadeloupe.) They sent General LeClerc to defeat the rebels, and over the next 21 months, added to his forces by 20,000 troops. Boyer collaborated with other native leaders to defeat the French. In November 1803, France withdrew its surviving 7,000 troops, less than one-third of the forces sent to the island.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines, a former slave from the North, declared Haitian independence on January 1, 1804. He established himself as Emperor Jacques I. He was assassinated by opponents in 1806.

Alexandre Pétion and Henri Christophe competed to rule Haiti, and represented the split between the urban mulatto elite of the South and the black former slaves of the North, respectively. After years of warfare, they established separate states: Pétion established the State of Haiti in the southern part of Haiti, and Christophe created what became the Kingdom of Haiti in the north.

==State of Haiti-- Boyer worked closely with Pétion in the South to create a Republican Constitution similar to that of the United States. President Pétion taught Boyer what to do, and what not to do. Pétion succeeded in winning the hearts of his people and grew to be the most liked of any leader. In 1816, Pétion succeeded in amending the constitution to allow him to name his own successor. Before dying in 1818, Pétion anointed Boyer, and the Senate immediately approved his choice.

Boyer believed Haiti had to be acknowledged as an independent nation, and that this could be established only by cutting a deal with France. On July 11, 1825 Boyer signed an indemnity saying Haiti would pay France a certain amount of money (to compensate for the lost property in slaves and trade) in exchange for formal recognition of its independence.

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. After his soldiers rebelled against him in 1820, in failing health and fearing assassination, Christophe committed suicide. Boyer reunited Haiti without a single battle.

Unification of Haiti and Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic)

On November 30, 1821, several frontier towns near the border with Santo Domingo raised the Haitian flag as a show of independence. The new nation was known as Haiti. On December 1, 1821, the leaders of the new nation resolved to unite Santo Domingo with Gran Colombia.^{[citation needed]}

Some politicians and military officers in Santo Domingo favored unification with the Republic of Haiti^{[citation needed]}. 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.^{[citation needed]}

Boyer sought to protect his country from the danger of France or Spain's retaking Santo Domingo and attacking or re-conquering Haiti. He wanted to maintain Haitian independence and secure the freedom of the slaves in Santo Domingo^{[citation needed]}.

After promising protection to several Dominican frontier governors and securing their allegiance, Boyer invaded the Dominican Republic with a force of 50,000 soldiers in February 1822. These forces encountered little resistance from the considerable smaller Dominican population. On February 9, 1822, Boyer formally entered the capital city, Santo Domingo, where Núñez de Cáceres handed over the keys to the city. Dominicans reacted uneasily to the Haitian invasion.^{[citation needed]}

The island of Hispaniola was now united under one government from Cape Tiburon to Cape Samana. By awarding land to Haitian military officers at the expense of former members of the Spanish forces of Santo Domingo, Boyer reduced his influence with the Spanish-Haitian leadership. He continued the policy of Pétion, his former political mentor, of helping free people of color in other Spanish-American colonies resist the Spanish crown. Boyer ignored Haitian political opponents who called for reforms, such as parliamentary democracy, and veteran generals of the War of Independence, who believed that the revolution was not complete and that they were being neglected.^{[citation needed]}

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 90 million francs (1838), it was a crushing economic blow to Haiti, which essentially had to buy its independence after defeating French forces.

Boyer had to negotiate a loan from France of 30 million francs to pay the first part of the indemnity. Most of the largely rural Haitian population meanwhile was retreating into an agricultural subsistence pattern. He tried to enforce the semi-feudal fermage system in order to increase agricultural productivity on the island, but the people resisted being tied to other people's lands.

The people of Haiti were distressed at their situation. With the Rural Act, Boyer resurrected a land distribution program. He broke up some of the large plantations and distributed land to the small farmers. To try to produce enough products for export to generate revenue, the government "tied" the rural population to their smallholdings and established production quotas.

Boyer's rule lasted until 1843, when the poor economic situation was worsened by an earthquake. The disadvantaged rural population rose up under Charles Rivière-Hérard in late January. On February 13, 1845, Boyer fled Haiti to nearby Jamaica. He eventually settled in exile in France, where he died in Paris. Descendants of Boyer still live in Haiti.

Recruiting free American blacks

Boyer tried to recruit freed American 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 in the United States to convince them that Haiti was a sovereign state, and open to immigration only for blacks.

The American Colonization Society (ACS) noticed the recruitment effort. Concerned that free blacks could never assimilate to the United States, its members founded their society in 1816 to "repatriate" American blacks to Africa, regardless of where they had been born. It was supported by both abolitionists and slaveholders, who approached the issue from differing viewpoints. The ACS planned colonization in what became Liberia for former slaves. In 1817 Loring D. Dewey toured the East Coast, starting in New York, to recruit emigrants. The organization hoped to resettle 100,000 free people of color within 10 years^{[citation needed]} .

Dewey's meetings with people in New York convinced him to abandon the idea of colonizing Liberia. Most American blacks did not want to leave what they considered was fully their country. Haitian citizens in New York, most of whom were refugee whites and mulattoes, recommended Haiti as the ideal Black homeland, due to its moderate weather conditions and independent Negro government. After Dewey wrote to Boyer to determine if he was still interested in receiving American immigrants, Boyer proposed that Haiti would seek Blacks from America exclusively.

The ACS 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 ACS 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 ACS would have to take care of the rest of the finances. Haiti was already in debt to the French, which had exacted high payment for lost properties of planters, in essence making Haiti pay for its independence. The government did not have funds to transport American families to Haiti^{[citation needed]}.

Dewey proposed establishing a colony for American freedmen that would be separate from the rest of the island, with its own laws, legislature, etc. 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 across Haiti.

Beginning in September 1824, within a year nearly 6,000 Americans, mostly free people of color, migrated to Haiti, with ships departing from New York, Baltimore and Philadelphia. Due to the poverty of the island and the inability of Boyer's administration to help support the new immigrants in the transition, most returned to the U.S.

Exile and death

After being overthrown, Boyer left Haiti on February 13, 1843 and went first to Jamaica. Then he was exiled to France. He died there in 1850.

References

• 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).
• Hazard, Samuel, Santo Domingo: Past and Present, with a Glance at Hayti, Harper & Brothers, 1873
• 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, pp. 798–799, 2p.
• Staudenraus, P.J., The African Colonization Movement 1816-1865 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961).

Preceded by Alexandre Pétion President of Haiti

President of Haiti 1822-1843

Succeeded by Charles Riviere-Hérard President of Haiti