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COMPLEXITIES OF IMAGINING HAITI: A STUDY OF NATIONAL CONSTITUTIONS, 1801–1807
| By Julia Gaffield |
University of Toronto |
| The first four national constitutions in Haiti (1801–1807) reflect a complex and contested dialogue among different factions, each trying to define Haiti in their own cultural terms. These constitutions emerged within the context of power struggles between old and new elites who viewed a unified sense of nation as an important goal following Haiti's independence. While studies of early nineteenth century Haiti have emphasized the significance of colour in dividing a perceived mixed-race ancient libres caste from a black nouveau libres caste, the early constitutions point to a much more turbulent period during which political leaders struggled to define an "imagined community" that could underpin the development of the colony as an independent nation. |
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The first constitution in 1801 was an attempt by the revolutionary leader, Toussaint Louverture, along with President Borgela and others, to enhance sovereignty while also maintaining links to France.1 Following the declaration of independence on January 1, 1804, the 1805 Constitution was written under the rule of Jean Jacques Dessalines and signed by Dessalines and Henri Christophe (later King of the northern half of Haiti) along with other supporters.2 Alexandre Petion, who ruled the Republic covering the south and west portions of Haiti, largely wrote the 1806 Constitution, and it was co-signed by numerous others.3 Then, the 1807 Constitution was created under the direction of Henri Christophe and applied to the northern portion of Haiti. |
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Researchers have characteristically studied the constitutions between 1801 and 1807 primarily as legal documents. Their studies have analyzed the major obstacles facing political leaders during this revolutionary period including the limits they faced in applying each constitution across Haiti. This research approach has been most successfully and comprehensively used by Sibylle Fischer who has focused on the question of citizenship in Haiti's early constitutions by examining "the extraordinary challenges the new state was facing in a world where slaveholding was the rule and where colonialist designs were just beginning to extend into Africa and Asia."4 But these early constitutions reveal more than failed attempts to exercise state power if we consider them as efforts to express what Benedict Anderson has called an 'imagined community'. Anderson's insight can be built upon to suggest that the constitutions were not only legal documents, but also ideological texts that articulated national projects. Indeed, systematic study of the articles in each constitution reveals successive attempts to unify the country internally and to secure its place on the international stage. In significantly different ways, these attempts manifested themselves in the changing definitions of Haiti as a homogeneous symbol of black power and freedom. The multiple articulations of the claim of common racial identification were designed to realize Haiti's declared cultural and political distinctiveness in a tumultuous historical context. |
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