Haiti

[Mallard]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Haitian_history

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This is a timeline of Haitian history. To read about the background to these events, see History of Haiti. See also the list of heads of state of Haïti.

This timeline is incomplete; some important events may be missing. Please help add to it.

15th - 16th - 17th - 18th - 19th - 20th - 21st
[edit] 15th centuryYear Date Event
1492 Christopher Columbus landed near today's city of Cap-Haïtien and claimed the island for Spain, naming it Hispaniola.
[edit] 16th centuryYear Date Event
1503 The first Africans were brought to Hispaniola for labor.
1508 Ferdinand II of Aragon officially established Spain's African slave trade.
1528 Don Sebastián Ramirez de Fuente became the first Catholic bishop of the island.
1592 Queen Anacaona, leader of the last Taino kingdom in Haiti, is executed by Spanish governor.
[edit] 17th centuryYear Date Event
1625 The French settled Tortuga Island and northwestern Hispaniola, naming their colony Saint-Domingue.
1665 The city of Port-de-Paix was founded on the northwest coast by French settlers.
1670 Louis XIV of France authorized the African slave trade in Saint-Domingue.
1685 Louis XIV enacted the Code Noir, regulating slavery in Saint-Domingue and the rest of the French colonial empire.
1697 Spain signed the Treaty of Ryswick, under whose terms she ceded the western third of Hispaniola to France.
[edit] 18th centuryYear Date Event
1749 The city of Port-au-Prince was founded by Charles Burnier, Marquis of Larnage and named the capital of Saint-Domingue.
1751 Slave rebellions in northern Saint-Domingue, led by François Mackandal, began.
1758 Mackandal was captured and publicly executed in Cap-Français.
1778 Volunteer Haitian slaves, led by French admiral Count d'Estaing, left for Savannah, Georgia to fight against the British in the American Revolutionary War.
1791 February 25 Vincent Ogé and Jean-Baptiste Chavannes, proponents of equal rights for free blacks and mulattos and leaders of an armed rebellion, were publicly executed in Cap-Français.
August 7 The Conseil des Représentants de la Commune was founded by affranchis to demand equal rights. Pinchinat was named president of the council.
August 14 Haitian Revolution: Dutty Boukman held a Vodou ceremony in Bois-Caïman, where hundreds of slaves vowed to die for liberty.
August 20 A force of Africans and slaves defeated the Europeans near Port-au-Prince.
August 22 Rebel leader Dutty Boukman was killed in a major revolt led by himself, Jean François, Georges Biassou, and Jeannot.
September 24 The Concordat de Damiens was signed, granting political rights to the affranchis.
November The First Civil Commission, comprising Roume, Mirbeck, and Saint-Léger, arrived in Cap-Français to restore order.
1792 April 4 France's Legislative Assembly voted to give full citizenship and equal rights to all free people of color.
September 18 The Second Civil Commission, comprising Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, Polvérel, and Ailhaud, arrived in Cap-Français to execute the law of April 4.
1793 April 12 A force led by the Second Civil Commission and affranchis defeated white colonists in a fight to enforce the law of April 4.
Toussaint Louverture offered his services as a military commander to the Spanish.
June 20 French colonial forces, under the authority of the Second Civil Commission, put down a revolt led by the white planter Galbaud.
Henri Christophe was promoted to the captaincy of the French colonial forces, but soon removed when accused of adultery.
British troops landed in Saint-Domingue.
June Toussaint, fighting for Spain, captured the city of Dondon.
August 13 Toussaint defeated the French general Desfourneaux at Ennery.
August 29 Sonthonax, without approval from the French government, declared the abolition of slavery in northern Saint-Domingue.
December 6 Toussaint captured Gonaïves for Spain.
1794 February 4 The French National Convention declared the abolition of slavery in all French colonies.
May Toussaint left the Spanish and joined the French forces.
June 1 The British captured Port-au-Prince from Colonel Montbrun of France.
October 21 Toussaint captured the cities of Saint-Michel and Saint-Raphaël for the French.
1795 October 13 Toussaint captured the city of Dondon a second time, this time for France.
October 14 The Treaty of Bâle was ratified, ending Spain's involvement in the conflict and surrendering the eastern part of Hispaniola to France.
1796 March 30 Toussaint rescued French commander Laveaux from mulatto rebel Villatte; Laveaux appointed Toussaint the Lieutenant-Governor of Saint-Domingue.
May 11 The Third Civil Commission, comprising Sonthonax, Roume, Giraud, Leblanc, and Julien Raymond, arrived in Saint-Domingue to establish diplomatic relations between France and the colony.
1797 May 1 Sonthonax appointed Toussaint the commander-in-chief of the French colonial forces.
1798 April 20 General Hédouville arrived in Cap-Français on the orders of the French government in order to oppose the ambition of Toussaint Louverture.
August 31 British general Maitland agreed to evacuate Môle Saint-Nicolas and surrender his troops to Toussaint.
1799 January 12 The generals of the colony - Toussaint, André Rigaud, Bauvais, and Laplume - met in Port-au-Prince and named Toussaint the lead commander. Rigaud surrendered control of the southern cities of Léogâne, Grand-Goâve, Petit-Goâve, and Miragoâne.
[edit] 19th centuryYear Date Event
1801 January 27 Toussaint invaded the eastern part of Hispaniola and captured Santo Domingo, declaring freedom for all slaves and appointing a ten-member Central Assembly to issue a constitution.
July 8 The Constitution of 1801 was promulgated, under which Toussaint Louverture was to be Governor General for life.
1802 January 29 A French expeditionary force, sent by Napoleon Bonaparte and led by his brother-in-law Charles Leclerc, arrived in Samana Bay.
February 1 French vessels arrived at Cap-Français.
February 4 Henri Christophe burned Cap-Français to resist the French troops.
February 23 Battle of Ravine-à-Couleuvres: French forces defeated Toussaint.
March Toussaint was defeated by French forces.
March 4 Battle of Crête-à-Pierrot: The battle began.
March 24 Battle of Crête-à-Pierrot: The battle ended with a French victory over Jean-Jacques Dessalines.
May 6 Toussaint arrived in Cap-Français to negotiate his surrender to the French.
June 7 Toussaint was arrested by General Leclerc and shipped to France, where he was imprisoned.
October 13 Dessalines, now Commander-in-Chief of the revolutionary forces, met with Alexandre Pétion in Haut-du-Cap to plan further military action.
November 1 Commander of the French forces General Leclerc died of yellow fever. He was succeeded by Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau.
1803 April 7 Toussaint died in the French prison of Fort de Joux.
May 18 The flag of Haiti was created during a meeting between Dessalines and Pétion in l'Arcahaie and sewn by Catherine Flon.
November 18 Battle of Vertières: During the last major battle of the revolution, Haitian forces under Dessalines and Pétion defeated the French.
November 19 French general Rochambeau signs a document of surrender and agrees to evacuate French troops from Saint-Domingue; Rochambeau is later given as a prisoner to the British
November 29 Dessalines' army arrives in Cap-Français; Christophe and Clerveaux issue a preliminary declaration of independence
December 4 French forces surrender Môle Saint-Nicolas to Dessalines' army, officially ending French presence on the island
1804 January 1 Dessalines, in Gonaïves, declares Haiti an independent nation and becomes Governor-General
September 22 Dessalines proclaims himself Emperor of Haiti
October 6 Dessalines becomes Emperor Jacques I in a coronation ceremony at Cap-Français
1805 May 20 Dessalines formulates the first constitution of Haiti as an independent country, the Imperial Constitution of 1805
1806 October 17 Dessalines is assassinated at Pont-Rouge by disaffected leaders of his administration
December 27 During a meeting at a cathedral in Port-au-Prince, the Constituent Assembly creates a new constitution and appoints Henri Christophe to a four-year term as President of the Republic of Haiti
1807 January 1 The Battle of Sibert ends with the division of Haiti into the southern Republic of Haiti under Alexandre Pétion and the northern State of Haiti under Christophe
February 17 Henri Christophe names himself President of the State of Haiti; a state council (7 generals and 2 civilians) appointed by Christophe meets in Cap-Haïtien and votes the Constitutional Act of Haiti
March 9 Pétion is elected President of the Republic of Haiti by the Constituent Assembly under the Constitution of 1806
1809 Louis XVIII of France sends a delegation to negotiate France's recognition of Haitian independence; Pétion meets with a French delegate, Dauxion-Lavaysse, and agrees to an indemnity payable to dispossessed French planters
1811 March 9 Pétion is elected to a second four-year term as President of the Republic of Haiti
March 26 Christophe proclaims himself King Henri I of the northern Haitian state, now known as the Kingdom of Haiti
May 28 The Kingdom of Haiti promulgates the Royal Constitution of Henri I
June 2 Christophe is crowned as King Henri I in Cap-Haïtien
1812 February 24 The Kingdom of Haiti establishes a civil code, the Henri Code
1814 November Christophe refuses to negotiate with French delegate Franco de Medina concerning France's recognition of Haitian independence
1816 June 2 Pétion promulgates the Republican Constitution
October 8 Louis XVIII of France sends another delegation to negotiate France's recognition of Haitian independence; Pétion cuts off negotiation, Christophe declines to meet the delegates
1818 March 29 Pétion, President of the Republic of Haiti, dies of fever
March 30 Jean-Pierre Boyer, Chief of the Presidential Guard, is appointed President-for-Life of the Republic of Haiti
1820 October 8 Christophe, King of the northern Haitian state, commits suicide
October 26 Boyer promulgates the Republican Constitution in Christophe's northern state; northern and southern Haiti are unified
1822 February 9 Boyer arrives in Santo Domingo and declares control over the entire island of Hispaniola
1825 April 17 King Charles X of France signs an ordinance which conditionally recognizes the independence of Haiti and imposes a 150 million franc indemnity on the Haitian government
July 3 A squadron of French ships arrives in Haiti to deliver the news of Charles X's ordinance of April 17 to President Boyer
1831 September 22 The city of Pétionville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince named for Alexandre Pétion, is founded by Boyer
1838 Haiti's remaining debt to France, 120 million francs, is reduced to 60 million francs
1842 May 7 An earthquake stikes northern Haiti, destroying the city of Cap-Haïtien (1842 Cap-Haïtien earthquake)
1843 March 13 President Boyer is overthrown and flees to Paris in exile
September 18 The Constituent Assembly begins formulating the Constitution of 1843; it will take more than three months to finish
December 31 The Constitution of 1843 is released and Charles Riviere-Hérard is appointed President of Haiti
1844 February 28 The Dominican Republic declares its independence from Haiti
April 4 The Piquets, peasants of southern Haiti led by Jean-Jacques Acaau, revolt against the government
May 3 The Piquets force Riviere-Hérard into exile; Philippe Guerrier is appointed President of Haiti
1845 April 15 President Guerrier dies in office; the State Council appoints Jean-Louis Pierrot President of Haiti
1846 March 1 President Pierrot is overthrown; Jean-Baptiste Riché becomes President of Haiti
1847 Haitian historian Thomas Madiou publishes the first volume of his seminal work Histoire d'Haïti ("History of Haiti")
February 27 President Riché dies in office
March 1 Faustin Élie Soulouque is elected President of Haiti
1852 April 18 President Faustin Soulouque is crowned Emperor Faustin I of Haiti
1858 December Forces led by Fabre Geffrard defeat Emperor Faustin's Imperial Army
1859 January 13 Fabre Geffrard is elected President of Haiti
1860 March 28 Haiti and the Vatican sign an agreement which divides Haiti into five dioceses
1862 The United States recognizes Haiti
December 15 Rhum Barbancourt is first produced
1865 Céligny Ardouin's eleven-volume work on the history of Haiti, Essais sur l'Histoire d'Haïti, is published
1867 President Geffrard is forced to flee the country
Sylvain Salnave is elected President of Haiti
The Constitution of 1867 is voted
1869 The National Assembly elects Nissage Saget to a four-year term as President of Haiti after the overthrow of Salnave
1870 Haitian writer Demesvar Delorme publishes the essay "Les Théoriciens au Pouvoir", which maintains that political power should be in the hands of the intellectual elite
1874 Saget relinquishes the Presidency; the Constituent Assembly elects Michel Domingue as President
President Domingue promulgates the Constitution of 1874
1875 President Domingue signs a treaty of peace and friendship with the Dominican Republic
1876 President Domingue is overthrown; the Constituent Assembly elects Pierre Théoma Boisrond-Canal to a four-year term as President
1879 The Constituent Assembly elects Lysius Salomon as President; President Salomon would institute many reforms and pay off Haiti's remaining debt to France for independence
1880 The National Bank of Haiti (or Haitian Central Bank) is founded by President Salomon
1882 Port-au-Prince and Haiti are dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Help during a mass in Bel Air
1883 Haitian poet Oswald Durand composes his most famous work, Choucoune
1884 Haitian writer Louis-Joseph Janvier publishes the article "L'Egalité des Races", which proclaims the equality of the races
1885 Haitian writer Anténor Firmin publishes the book De l'Égalité des Races Humaines, which proclaims the equality of the races
1888 President Salomon is overthrown; the Constituent Assembly installs a provisional government
The Constituent Assembly elects François Denys Légitime to the presidency
1889 President Légitime is overthrown; the Constituent Assembly installs a provisional government
The Constituent Assembly elects Florvil Hyppolite to a seven-year term as president
1893 Haitian writer Hannibal Price publishes De la Réhabilitation de la Race Noire par la République d'Haïti ("On the Rehabilitation of the Black Race by the Republic of Haiti") in response to Spenser St. John's Hayti or the Black Republic
1896 President Hyppolite dies of a heart attack; Tirésias Simon Sam is elected to a seven-year term as president
[edit] 20th centuryYear Date Event
1902 President Simon Sam resigns; Pierre Nord Alexis becomes president
1904 January 1 Haiti celebrates 100 years of independence
1908 Pierre Nord Alexis withdraws from the presidency; the Constituent Assembly appoints François C. Antoine Simon president
1911 President Antoine Simon cedes the presidency to Cincinnatus Leconte
1912 January 30 The Haitian Federation of Soccer is created
August 5 The Haitian American Sugar Company is founded
August 8 President Leconte and 300 soldiers are killed in an explosion at the National Palace; the Constituent Assembly appoints Tancrède Auguste president
1913 President Auguste dies during a visit to northern Haiti
Senator Michel Oreste is elected president by the Constituent Assembly
1914 President Oreste is overthrown and succeeded by Oreste Zamor
President Zamor is overthrown and succeeded by Joseph Davilmar Théodore
1915 President Théodore resigns and is succeeded by Vilbrun Guillaume Sam
July 28 Three thousand United States Marines, led by Admiral William B. Caperton, enter Port-au-Prince; beginning of the 19 year U.S. occupation of Haiti
August 12 Senator Philippe Sudré Dartiguenave is elected by the Constituent Assembly to a seven-year term as president
1919 April 12 The Haitian government undertakes a monetary reform with the National Bank of Haiti
October 31 Charlemagne Péralte, leader of the resistance against U.S. occupation, is assassinated
1920 Haitian writer Leon Laleau publishes his first compilation of poems, A Voix Basse
1921 January 24 President Dartiguenave addresses United States President Warren G. Harding concerning the needs of the Haitian people
April 12 United States President Harding responds to President Dartiguenave
1922 April 10 Louis Bornó is elected to a four-year term as president by the State Council
May 15 President Dartiguenave's term ends; Louis Bornó is sworn into office
December 28 The Central School of Agriculture (Ecole Centrale d'Agriculture) is founded in Damien
1926 President Bornó is re-elected by the State Council and makes a diplomatic trip to the United States
Haitian writer Leon Laleau publishes his second compilation of poems, La Flèche au Cœur
1928 Haitian writer Jean Price-Mars publishes his acclaimed novel Ainsi Parla l'Oncle ("So spoke the Uncle")
Leon Laleau publishes two more compilations of poems, Le Rayon des Jupes and Abréviations
1929 January 21 Haiti and the Dominican Republic sign an agreement settling the border between the two countries
1930 February 28 The Forbes Commission, sent by U.S. president Herbert Hoover to investigate Haiti's political situation, arrives in the country
April 21 Louis Eugène Roy is designated temporary president by state decree
November 18 Senator Sténio Vincent is elected to a six-year term as president
December 10 Fietta, the first Apostolic Nuncio (diplomatic representative of the Roman Catholic Church) to Haiti, arrives in Port-au-Prince
1931 Jacques Roumain publishes his acclaimed novel Gouverneurs de la Rosée ("Masters of the Dew")
August 5 The U.S. agrees to hand over control of the Offices of Public Works, Health, Agriculture and Education to the Haitian government
December 15 The ceremony commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the dedication of Port-au-Prince to the Virgin Mary, led by Archbishop Joseph Legouaze, began.
December 17 The anniversary ceremony ended.
1933 August 7 The governments of Haiti and the United States sign an agreement on the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country and the end of the U.S. occupation
October 18 President Vincent of Haiti and President Rafael Leónidas Trujillo of the Dominican Republic meet for diplomatic talks in Ouanaminthe in northeastern Haiti, near the Dominican border
1934 July 5 President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt visits Cap-Haïtien
August 14 Last American forces withdraw from Haiti, ending the U.S. occupation
August 21 The flag of Haiti is raised at Casernes Dessalines, where it was lowered nineteen years earlier at the start of the U.S. occupation
1935 May 16 A new constitution is released, reinforcing the authority of the executive branch of government and renewing President Sténio Vincent's mandate for five more years
1937 Between 17,000 to 35,000 Haitians living in the Dominican Republic are massacred by the Dominican armed forces on the orders of President Rafael Trujillo. U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull later declared "President Trujillo is one of the greatest men in Central America and in most of South America."
1938 May 18 The 135th anniversary of the flag of Haiti is celebrated with athletic festivities at the Champs-de-Mars in Port-au-Prince
1940 Haiti's national library, the Bibliothèque Nationale d'Haïti is organized
1941 April 14 Élie Lescot is elected to a five-year term as president
May 15 President Vincent's term ends; Élie Lescot takes office
1944 May 7 The Cathedral of Cap-Haïtien is consecrated after 100 years of restoration work
May 14 The Centre d'Art is founded; it exhibits important Haitian art works
1946 A military coup forces President Lescot to resign; the newly-created Executive Military Committee appoints Dumarsais Estimé president and an earthquake that was magnutide 8.1
1948 February 16 The government-owned tobacco company Régie du Tabac et des Allumettes is founded
1949 December 8 The bicentennial of Port-au-Prince's founding is celebrated; a World's Fair, the Exposition internationale du bicentenaire de Port-au-Prince, is held
1950 May 10 Dumarsais Estimé reliinquishes the presidency and is replaced by a provisional government
October 8 Presidential and legislative elections are held; Colonel Paul Magloire becomes the first president of Haiti to be elected directly by the people, the Delegates, and the Senators
December 6 Paul Magloire is sworn in as president
1951 President Magloire of Haiti and President Trujillo of the Dominican Republic meet for diplomatic talks
The Haitian Institute of Statistics (Institut Haïtien de Statistique) and the Haitian Institute of Farming and Industrial Credit (Institut Haïtien de Crédit Agricole et Industriel) are established by the government
1953 May 31 Father Rémy Augustin, the first native Haitian bishop, is consecrated at the Cathedral of Port-au-Prince
1954 January 1 A celebration commemorating the 150th anniversary of Haiti's independence from France, during which monuments to the "heroes of independence" are inaugurated in Port-au-Prince, began.
January 4 The celebration ended.
October 8 Hurricane Hazel kills an estimated 1,000 Haitians and desimates the coffee and cocoa crops, affecting the economy for years to come.
1955 January 26 President Magloire and his wife began a trip to the United States, Canada, and Jamaica.
February 17 Magloire's trip ended.
March 3 Vice-President of the United States Richard Nixon and his wife began a visit to Haiti.
March 5 Nixon's trip ended.
1956 President Magloire relinquishes the presidency; President of the Supreme Court Joseph Nemours Pierre-Louis becomes provisional president of Haiti
1957 Franck Sylvain is elected President of Haiti, but is succeeded by a thirteen-member Executive Council of Government
Daniel Fignolé is elected President of Haiti, but is replaced by a Military Council of Government
October 22 Dr. François "Papa Doc" Duvalier is elected President of Haiti
1958 Duvalier began to attack his opponents violently, driving many of them into exile.
1964 Duvalier's reign of terror ended.
The National Assembly votes to accept the Duvalieriste Constitution, establishing Duvalier as President for Life of Haiti
1968 October 28 François Wolf Ligondé, the first Haitian archbishop, is consecrated at the Cathedral of Port-au-Prince
1970 Thousands of Haitians began to flee poverty and repression in Haiti by boat, often arriving in south Florida.
1971 February The National Assembly approves an amendment to the constitution, allowing President For Life Duvalier to name his son, Jean-Claude Duvalier, as his successor
April 21 President for Life François Duvalier dies in Port-au-Prince
April 22 Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier succeeds his father as President for Life
1974 The Haiti national football team participates in the FIFA World Cup for the first time
1977 August 15 The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations commission arrives in Haiti; the commission meets with the Haitian government to discuss civil rights in Haiti
1980 May 27 President for Life Jean-Claude Duvalier marries Michèle Bennett
1983 March Pope John Paul II arrives in Haiti, becoming the first Pope to visit the country
August 27 The constitution is amended, creating the post of State Minister and allowing the President to name his successor
1985 June 6 President for Life Duvalier amends the constitution to allow the creation of the post of Prime Minister of Haiti
July A referendum is approved by 99.48% of voters, allowing political parties to participate in the government and recognizing the Presidency for Life of Jean-Claude Duvalier
July A constitutional amendment on the Presidency for Life is passed
November 28 Three schoolboys (Jean-Robert Cius, Daniel Israël, and Mackenson Michel) are killed during an anti-government demonstration in Gonaïves
1986 January 31 Rumors spread through Port-au-Prince that President Duvalier has fled the country
February 3 President Duvalier and members of his cabinet visit commercial and residential areas of Port-au-Prince as a show of power
February 7 President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees Haiti for Talloires, France; the National Council of Government (Conseil National de Gouvernement, CNG) is established, led by General Henri Namphy; the Legislative Chamber and Duvalier's armed forces, Volontaire Sécurité Nationale, are dissolved
February 25 The original blue and red flag of Haiti is raised at the National Palace, replacing the black and red flag of the Duvalier regime
March Former President of Haiti Daniel Fignolé returns to Haiti; a second version of the CNG is formed, consisting of Henri Namphy, Williams Régala, and Jacques François
March 20 More than two thousand students and public transportation drivers of Carrefour demonstrate against the CNG
April 26 Eight people are killed in an attack by armed groups on Fort-Dimanche
October 19 Forty-one people are elected to a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution, the CNG appoints twenty more constituents for a total of sixty-one
1987 March 10 The constituent assembly presents the new constitution, written in both French and Haitian Creole, to President of the CNG Henri Namphy
March 29 The new constitution is ratified by referendum; the results of 215 voting places show an approximately 99.81% approval rate
May 13 The CNG publishes a decree electing the members of the Provisional Electoral Council (Conseil Electoral Provisoire, CEP)
May 22 The CEP proclaims itself independent from the CNG
June 5 The CEP delivers the text of the electoral law to the Minister of Justice
July Large landowners (grandons) massacre hundreds of peasants demanding land in Jean-Rabel
July 17 During a ceremony at the Military Academy, the Haitian Armed Forces swear allegiance to the new 1987 constitution
November 29 At the Haitian presidential election, 1987 a massacre of voters takes place; the elections are suspended and General Namphy dissolves the CEP
December 10 General Namphy sets January 17, 1988 as the new election date; the CNG elects a new Provisional Electoral Council (Conseil Electoral Provisoire, CEP)
1988 January Christian Democrat Leslie Manigat is elected in military-run elections boycotted by the Haitian people and most candidates. In June he is overthrown in a military coup by Gen. Henri Namphy. In September, shortly after the St Jean Bosco massacre, Namphy is overthrown by Gen. Prosper Avril.
1990 January President/General Prosper Avril declares a state of siege in January.
March Rising protests convince Avril to resign. A Provisional Government led by Supreme Court Justice Ertha Pascal-Trouillot is formed.
December 16 Democratic elections take place. Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide, well known throughout the country for his support of the poor, is elected President with 67.5% of the counted popular vote. The "U.S. favorite" Marc Bazin finishes a distant second with 14.2% .
1991 January A coup by former Tonton Macoutes head Roger Lafontant is foiled after tens of thousands pour into the streets of the capital, surrounding the National Palace.
February 7 Aristide is sworn in as president.
September 30 A military coup deposes Aristide, who goes into exile first in Venezuela, then in the United States.
Thousands of Haitians begin to flee violence and repression in Haiti by boat. Although most are repatriated to Haiti by the U.S. government, many enter the United States as refugees.
1994 September The de facto military government resigns at the request of the United States in September, which then sends in troops to occupy Haiti. This occupation is sanctioned by the United Nations.
October 15 The U.S. returns Aristide as president.
1995 The U.S. nominally hands over military authority to the United Nations but maintains effective control of the occupation. Aristide dissolves the Haitian army.
December Former prime minister René Préval is elected president.
1996 February 7 Aristide leaves office and is succeeded by René Préval.
2000 May Legislative, municipal and local elections are held. The OAS disputes how the sovereign electoral council calculates the run-offs for eight Senate seats.
November Aristide is reelected for a second five-year term with 92% of the vote in elections boycotted by the opposition. The last UN peacekeeping forces withdraw from Haiti.
[edit] 21st centuryYear Date Event
2001 Aristide succeeds Préval for a second five-year term. For the next two years, and with Washington's support, Aristide's opponents use the OAS challenge to the 2000 elections to increase economic and political instability. Former Haitian soldiers carry out guerrilla attacks, primarily along the Dominican border and in the capital.
2004 Haiti's 200th anniversary of independence.
February 4 A revolt breaks out in the city of Gonaïves, with a local militia hostile to Aristide capturing the city and driving out the police force.
February 22 Rebels capture Haiti's second-largest city, Cap-Haitien, after just a few hours of fighting, claiming their biggest prize in a two-week uprising that has driven government forces from most of the country's north.
February 29 Aristide resigns from office and flees Haiti aboard a U.S. military aircraft to South Africa. Boniface Alexandre is inaugurated as interim president. Aristide later claims that he was forced from office and kidnapped by the U.S. government.
March UN Resolution 1529 authorizes a three month multinational interim peacekeeping force. It consists of troops from France, Canada, Chile and the U.S.
September Hurricane Jeanne kills over 1,900 people.
2006 February Rene Preval is elected president, defeating U.S.-backed and other candidates in an election overseen by U.N. peacekeepers
2008 April Riots break out in Les Cayes and Port-au-Prince over high food prices, forcing the ouster of Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis.
August-September Tropical Storm Fay, Hurricane Gustav, Tropical Storm Hanna and Hurricane Ike strike within a month, leaving nearly 800 people dead and wiping out a quarter of the economy.
November The Pétionville school collapse and the Grace Divine School collapse.
2009 May Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is appointed U.N. special envoy to Haiti. He is tasked with reinvigorating the country's moribund economy after the 2008 storms.
2010 January 12 A major earthquake, 7.0 on the Richter scale, kills over 230,000 and causes massive damage to buildings and infrastructure in Port-au-Prince

[Mallard]

http://haitiforever.com/windowsonhaiti/am-occup.htm

The Failure of the American Occupation of Haiti, 1915-1934
Marie-Josée Mont-Reynaud
March 2002
American Marines entered Haiti in 1915 in order to maintain peace and help stabilize the Haitian government. They occupied Haiti until 1934, controlling the Republic through a puppet Haitian government. This Occupation failed to achieve its goal of building a democratic government that would last after its forces departed. This paper ascribes this failure to the predominantly military character of the occupation, which undermined the sovereignty of the Haitian Republic and the development of democracy.



Many American officials involved in the Occupation believed their efforts were to aid in the peaceful governance of the country because Haitians were deemed incapable of such. American attitudes toward Haitians were typically paternalistic, claiming, for example “these people had never heard of democracy and couldn’t have comprehended it had they heard.”[1]



This paper maintains that Haitians did not want foreign intervention; Americans were in Haiti because they wanted to be there, not because they had been invited, and they remained there only by military force. The will of the Haitian people was not expressed because Haitian political sovereignty was constrained by the American military. This survey of the literature shows that military force was used to impose a democracy by undemocratic means. Elections under the Occupation were rigged; a treaty was passed by force; martial law was declared; military tribunals were held; the press was censored; the Haitian Senate was dissolved; the constitution was changed by an unconstitutional plebiscite, and opposition was violently repressed. These procedures reveal the ideology of the Occupation forces that might could make right in Haiti.



Ultimately, it would be this characteristic repression and lack of adequate preparation for self-government that would leave Haiti vulnerable and worse off than before the Occupation. The American attempt to correct the Haitian political environment made the mistake of using force, which only exacerbated problems. American might did not set Haitian politics right.



“Haiti is a rebellion called a republic”[2]

Reasons for the U.S. decision to intervene varied. Different views accorded primacy either to strategic, military, economic or humanitarian objectives.[3] The intervention had long been considered and planned by the United States before its actual occurrence. For a long time there had been concerns about German presence in Haiti as a threat to American territory, as well as various attempts at negotiating U.S. control of customs receivership.[4] Because of Haiti’s violent history, and the several interventions of the U.S in the past[5], the U.S was well prepared to intervene again. Indeed, in anticipation of yet another crisis, the Navy Department’s “Plan for Landing and Occupying the City of Port-au-Prince” drafted the situation calling for its intervention:

Situation - The government has been overthrown, all semblance of law and order has ceased; the local authorities admit their inability to protect foreign interests, the city is being overrun and in the hands of about 5,000 soldiers and civilian mobs. [6]





The event ultimately provoking the United States into action was eerily similar to the Navy Department scenario. On July 27th 1915, Haiti’s president, Vilbrun Guillaume Sam ordered 167 political prisoners killed. A mob, outraged at this “butchery”,[7] invaded the French Legation where President Sam was hiding and mutilated his body in the street.[8] This exceptionally barbaric event paved the way for the U.S. marines to enter, ostensibly to protect American property and interests. The USS Washington under Rear Admiral William B. Caperton landed in Port-au-Prince.[9] An ex-U.S. marine reflected, “We had a perfect right to go into Haiti, just as I believe that the police have a right to go into the house of any man who maintains a nuisance.”[10] On the other hand, members of the Haitian Union Patriotique, an organization of elite Haitian nationalists, felt that this intervention was unwarranted.[11] Dantes Bellegarde, diplomat and leading member of the Union, deemed the intervention “in violation the right of the people and in contempt of Haiti’s sovereignty.”[12]



Although there was confusion among the U.S. leadership about “what we ought to do or what we legally can do,”[13] orders were given to protect if not seize government money[14] and to assure the Haitian people that the United States had “no design on the political or territorial integrity of Haiti”.[15] Shortly thereafter, American marines took charge of Haitian customs houses and Caperton declared martial law[16] and press censorship.[17] The American Occupation of Haiti had begun.



“Primitive African Peasants”
American officials who entered Haiti in 1915 came with preconceived ideas about the African race and its capacity for self-government.[18] In addition to skewed racial perceptions[19], the Americans also arrived believing that their role was, among other things, to teach a recalcitrant child nation to behave like a mature, democratic nation. Americans believed the Haitians to be “primitive African peasants” to whom they had a “duty to develop their political capacity,”[20] and whom they would teach to govern so that Haiti would “be fit to enter the family of nations.”[21] Smedley Butler, Colonel at the time, explained how the Marines saw themselves as “the trustees of a huge estate that belonged to minors”[22]. With such a mind-set, the United States “set out to spread the blessings of a stable government of law”[23] in Haiti.



Teaching Democracy with Undemocratic Means
An examination of United States procedures in Haiti reveals the use of physical intimidation to forcibly mold policies to U.S. interests, evident in the American involvement in the election of the Haitian President and the signing of the Haitian-American treaty. These two examples illustrate the dictatorial, authoritarian and unconstitutional practices, and the bullying attitude of the Americans towards the Haitian government.



With the passing of Guillaume Sam in 1915, Haiti needed a new President and the United States sought a candidate it could support to maintain order. Of the several candidates, one, Dr. Rosalvo Bobo, was eliminated as hostile to United States interests and leader of caco rebel groups;[24] a second, J-N. Leger, an otherwise suitable candidate, refused due to patriotic inclinations;[25] a third candidate, Phillipe Sudre Dartiguenave, appeared to be more compliant.[26] Not surprisingly, U.S. Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels telegrammed “The U.S prefers election of Dartiguenave.” He later noted, “Of course, you and I know that this was equivalent to America making Dartiguenave President”.[27] As the National Assembly selected Dartiguenave on August 12th, “the Marines stood in the aisles with their bayonets”.[28] Their commander, Colonel Butler, reflected “His Excellency Phillipe Sudre Dartiguenave was put in office in September. I won’t say we put him in. The State department might object. Anyway, he was put in.”[29]



President Dartiguenave was soon presented with a treaty, which was to be signed without modification.[30] The treaty provided for U.S. control of customs, an American Financial Advisor, establishment of a Haitian gendarmerie, and American aid in the development of sanitation, agriculture, and public works. The sole mention of military force permitted its use only to protect the country from foreign invasion.[31] The U.S. threatened the reluctant Dartiguenave to sign the treaty quickly or risk the imposition of military government. Recognizing that he had no other choice, Dartiguenave signed but the National Assembly demanded revisions and stalled ratification. The U.S., in control of the Haitian treasury, promptly withheld the legislators’ salaries.[32] Thus, Caperton negotiated the treaty by physical intimidation and coercion.[33]



These coercive methods violated “every canon of fair and equal dealing between independent sovereign nations and of American professions of international good faith”.[34] Secretary Lansing himself had misgivings: “I confess that this method of negotiation… does not meet my sense of a nation’s sovereign rights and is more or less an exercise of force and an invasion of Haytian independence.”[35] Given such financial and military pressure, a declaration of martial law and the imprisonment of journalists, Pierre Hudicourt, a member of the Union Patriotique, rightly questioned whether the approval of the treaty could possibly be the free expression of the Haitian people.[36] Indeed, this forced treaty marked the beginning of repression of the Haitian voice and will through coercion. These examples of U.S. policies were not good lessons in democracy, but rather a usurpation of Haitian political independence.



“Fantôme d’autorité”

Under the terms of the treaty, the Americans controlled everything in Haiti, except education and the courts.[37] These conditions made the Haitian government a phantom authority[38] without any real power of its own. Laws needed the approval of the American High Commissioner, who effectively blocked many Haitian initiatives from being enacted.[39] Members of the Union Patriotique, including Dantes Bellegarde and Pierre Hudicourt, criticized this state of affairs. According Bellegarde, “nothing would be undertaken in Haiti, the credit for which could not be wholly attributed to the Americans.”[40] With the treasury in American hands, the Haitian government did not even have discretion over the use of public funds. Dartiguenave was “no more than a toy in the hands of … the High Commissioner who has absolute omnipotence.”[41] High Commissioner and Brigadier General of the Navy, John J. Russell kept a troop of Marines housed behind the Presidential Palace.[42] The American military was no mere presence; it reflected the strong union of politics and power in the American Occupation of Haiti.



Non Participatory Democracy
Under the Occupation, Haitians were not able to be actively involved in government as would be expected in a democracy. Haitians were barred from the higher offices in the administration, which were filled with Americans. American officials such as the Financial Advisor had much more power than was outlined in the treaty; instead of merely guiding the Haitian government in developing successfully, they had “exceeded their role as counselors and … transformed themselves into veritable dictators.”[43] With the Haitian Senate dissolved in 1916, the country was essentially left in the hands of Dartiguenave and a handful of cabinet members, who were heavily influenced by American interests. Thus the Haitian masses did not benefit from representation, nor were they able to participate in government through elections, which were restricted by Marines. In one instance, the Marines closed polls on election day, to the protest of the voters who tried to enter anyways, and the Marines resorted to violence to disperse the crowd.[44] Dantes Bellegarde protested this exclusion of Haitians from the politics of their own country, exclaiming “What a way to teach us self control, by taking from us all control of our affairs!”[45] How could the Haitians be taught the principles of a democratic government if they were not participating in its administration?



Sovereignty
The Haitian Republic won its independence from France in 1804, and it was determined to keep it. The intervention of American marines in 1915 undermined that hard-earned freedom. Although the American government claimed its entry was solely to benefit the Haitians, to establish peace and a democratic government,[46] it stole from the Haitians what was in fact most dear to them. The Haitians were very protective of their sovereignty, as represented by the attitude of one Haitian lawyer, when he said, “What characterizes our political existence, our personality, is our independence. We must therefore try to preserve it by every means possible.”[47] Thus, during a century of government overthrows, revolutionary forces had been careful to avoid situations that would prompt foreign intervention, by never harming foreigners and consistently maintaining payment on foreign debts.[48] Haiti did not want the Occupation because it directly threatened its political sovereignty, so vital and cherished by its people.



The Repression of the Haitian Voice
Opposition to the Occupation began right after the Marines disembarked. Rebels, termed “cacos” by the Americans, vehemently tried to resist American control of Haiti. In response, the Haitian and American governments began a vigorous campaign to disband the rebel armies.[49]



Charlemagne Péralte, a prominent caco leader opposed to Dartiguenave, rallied caco support to “drive the invaders into the sea and free Haiti”.[50] His attacks, aimed at isolated posts of guards and gathering more advanced weapons were recognized as a considerable threat. The repression of caco rebels began with the difficult task to “Get Charlemagne.”[51] Following his betrayal, Péralte was trapped and killed on November 1st 1919 and with him died much of caco resistance. Péralte’s naked body was set on a door, in a semblance of crucifixion, and left as an example to other cacos. In the killing of Péralte, Americans displayed the same brutality that they had found so shocking when exhibited by Haitians in the murder of Guillaume Sam.[52]



In the campaign to free Haiti of “banditry,”[53] large numbers of cacos were killed, with estimates ranging from 1,500[54] in the most conservative accounts to 3,000[55]. Some sources also suggest that up to 5,500 Haitians died in forced labor camps under the corvée system operating under the Occupation.[56] The corvée was a law contained in the rural code of the Constitution that required citizens to work up to 3 days per year on the public roads to maintain them, or pay a tax[57]. The Occupation used this clause to justify raids and remove men from their families to work in marginal conditions for months at a time. This system was reminiscent of the conditions of slavery under the French; it seemed as though the Americans were forcefully keeping the Haitians in bondage to serve their interests.[58] To maintain worker morale, there were “weekly pep talks by Dartiguenave and his cabinet ministers whom Smedley (Butler) brought out to ‘impress upon (the workers) that they were doing this for their country and not for the white man.’”[59]



In response to opposition from vocal political dissidents, Admiral Caperton had declared martial law and strongly censored the press back in 1915.[60] Beyond a mere lack of freedom of speech, journalists were also arrested and incarcerated for inflammatory articles and their presses were shut down[61]. When the editors of several prominent Haitian newspapers were imprisoned, they asked the editor of The Nation to “let the American public know how the Haitian people is forbidden to cry when it is being crushed.”[62] When news of these circumstances returned to the U.S., many Americans raised objections to such authoritarian American policies as “clear violations of international law and of our own constitution.”[63] Riots against the Occupation provoked also Marine reprisal, as in Aux Cayes in 1929. In order to dissolve the encroaching crowd of protesters, Marines shot into the unarmed mob killing at least two dozen people.[64] This incident became known as the Cayes Massacre, and served as the chief example of possibly (in many cases unwarranted) American brutality. Press censorship and the campaign against the cacos are examples of the Occupation’s use of force to stifle dissent and the voice of the Haitian people.



“Bulwark to peace and security”
The Marines left Haiti believing they left behind “a bulwark to the peace and security of the Western Hemisphere.”[65] In a popular narrative of the day by ex-Marine John Craige, this legacy is described:

“For the first time in her history the Haitian Republic saw an Inauguration Celebration when both the incoming and outgoing president took part in the ceremonies in a perfectly peaceful manner. Both on the same platform, both alive, both free and both reasonably happy. How the old times had changed and the old order of things had passed away.”[66]



However, beneath this calm surface, “resentment against the American Occupation had long been smoldering”[67] and burst after the Marines left. Dantes Bellegarde claims the United States didn’t even establish the peace and order so tooted by the imperialists: “Haiti does not have peace. Peace, real peace, is not material order imposed by the force of bayonets.”[68] Indeed, Haiti’s subsequent turbulent history reveals the failure of the American Occupation to establish a secure democratic government.



Haiti - a New Order?
Despite John Craige’s wishful thinking, Haiti’s violent history repeated itself. The first president elected when the Haitians were on their own, Elie Lescot fell under protest from the masses, at which point the army assumed power, and ushered the next President in. Subsequent presidents came and went by a series of such coup d’états, culminating in the Duvalier’s dictatorial reign in the 1950s. The Gendarmerie, the American-trained Haitian police force, facilitated these years of bloody coups and dictatorship. While hailed as one of the great achievements of the Occupation, the Gendarmerie became a tool in the hands of politicians who bought their support to overthrow governments and bring new presidents into power. Indeed, the rulers who succeeded each other violently from 1951 to 1958 (Paul Magloire, Leon Cantave and Antonio Kebreau) had been trained by American Marines in politics and crowd control and graduated from the American Military School in Haiti in 1931.[69] This presidential parade illustrates that the Occupation failed to teach Haitians the tools to maintain a democracy. Instead of fostering democracy, the Occupation championed military might, schooled dictators and trained Haitians to respond to force: “We are teaching them to accept military control as supreme law, and to acquiesce in the arbitrary use of superior power.”[70]



The Occupation failed to transform the underlying political system in Haiti. Rather, it perpetuated the way power changes hands by force, and reinforced “the tradition that power comes out of the hand holding a gun.”[71] A Haitian Creole proverb “Konstitisyon se papye, bayonèt se fè” (“A constitution is paper, a bayonet is steel”) speaks to this legacy of Haiti’s history. The ideology of the American Occupation that “might makes right” ultimately failed to set government right in Haiti.







--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Endnotes

[1] John H. Craige, Black Baghdad (New York: Minton, Balch & Co., 1933), 15.

[2] John W Blassingame, “The Press and American Intervention in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, 1904-1920.” Caribbean Studies 9, no. 2. (1969), 30. quoting from the September 5, 1915, Chicago Tribune.

[3] H.P. Davis, Black Democracy: The Story of Haiti (New York: Dial Press, 1928), 171-2. Emily Greene Balch, Occupied Haiti (New York: Writers Publishing Co., 1927), 20-1. Joseph Chatelain, La Banque nationale: son histoire, ses problemes, Collection du Tricinquantenaire de l’Independence d’Haiti (Lausanne: Imprimerie Held.1954), 107-8. Recognizing American economic motivations, Colonel Smedley Butler felt that he was “a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers.” Hans Schmidt, Maverick Marine. (Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 1987), 2.

[4] Paul H. Douglas, “The American Occupation of Haiti I,” Political Science Quarterly 42 (1927): 229-232. Balch, 1927:21. Michel-Rolph Trouillot Haiti: State Against Nation. (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1990), 100. Raymond Leslie Buell, “The American Occupation of Haiti,” Foreign Policy Association Information Service 5, no. 15 (1929): 337-8.

[5] Alex Dupuy, Haiti in the World Economy: Class, Race and Underdevelopment since 1970. (Boulder: Westview Press, 1989), 117-8. John H. Craige, Cannibal Cousins (New York: Minton, Balch & Co., 1934), 16-24. Lowell Thomas, Old Gimlet Eye: The Adventures of Smedley D. Butler as told to Lowell Thomas (New York: Farrar and Rinehart, 1933), 181.

[6] Schmidt, The United States Occupation of Haiti, 1915-1934 (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1971), 64.

[7] Davis, 165.

[8] W.B. Seabrook The Magic Island (New York: Literary Guild, 1929), 281-2: “The mob, of course, simply tore him to pieces. Mostly they used their hands. But one woman cut off his head with a machete and marched with it. Another woman, they say, ripped out his heart and marched, tearing it to shred with her teeth. Ropes were fastened to the torso, and it was dragged through the streets.”

[9] Information from whole paragraph summarized in various sources: Buell 1929, 340-2. Davis 1928 161-72. Robert Debs Heinl Jr. and Nancy Gordon Heinl, Written in blood: The Story of the Haitian People, 1492-1971 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978) 406-22.

[10] Craige 1934, 60.

[11] Dantes Bellegarde claims “the United States intervened in the domestic affairs of the Republic of Haiti in July 1915, although the Haitian people had committed no violation of the rules of international law and had not imperiled the lives of interests of American citizens” Dantes Bellegarde, “Haiti Appeals to the World.” The Nation117, no. 3051 (1923): 750

[12] Dantes Bellegarde, Pour une Haitie heureuse. Vol. 2 (Port-au-Prince: Imprimerie Cheraquit, 1929), 5. translated from the French

[13] Heinl, 406.

[14] Captain Edward L. Beach suggested, “Take up your quarters in the Legation… Give what orders you deem necessary… Find out where government money is kept. Take any necessary measure to protect it.” Heinl, 407.

[15] Arthur C. Millspaugh, Haiti Under American Control, 1915-1930 (Boston: World Peace Foundation, 1931), 40.

[16] In his declaration of martial law, Admiral Caperton proclaimed himself “invested with the power and responsibility of the government in all its functions and branches throughout the territory,” Millspaugh, 60.

[17] “The freedom of press will not be interfered with, but license will not be tolerated. The publishing of false or incendiary propaganda against the Government of the United States or the Government of Haiti … or matter which tends to disturb the public peace will be dealt with by military courts.” Heinl, 426

[18] Secretary Lansing’s assessment of the African race’s inability to self-govern was due to “an inherent tendency toward savagery and a physical in ability to live a civilized life.” Galeano 1996

[19] When Williams Jennings Bryans, then Secretary of State, is first briefed on Haitian history he exclaims: “Dear me, think of it! Niggers speaking French!” Heinl, 388

[20] Medill McCormick, “Our Failure in Haiti,” The Nation 111, no. 2891 (1920):615.

[21] Rayford W. Logan, “Haiti: the Native Point of View,” Southern Workman 58, No. 1 (Hampton Institute: 1929): 39. Rayford W. Logan similarly likened the American intervention in Haiti to the way one would resolve a quarrel between children, by portraying the “self-appointed redeemers’” attitude thus: “You can’t squabble anymore… Do what I tell you. Although I am of a different and superior race, although I do not speak your language, I know what is best for you. I am going to pay off you debt out or your money; and make new loans for you… We are going to teach you how to govern yourselves so that you will be fit to enter the family of nations.”

[22] Butler cited in Schmidt 1978, 89.

[23] Editors, “Editorial Paragraphs,” The Nation 122, (1926): 167.

[24] Editors, “The Rape of Haiti,” The Nation 113, no. 2940 (1921): 548. Lowell 933, 182.

[25] “I cannot bind myself in advance to any terms that the U.S. will demand. I must be in a position to defend Haiti’s interests. I am for Haiti; not for the United States.” “The Rape of Haiti,” 548.

[26] Ibid: According to Caperton, Dartiguenave “realizes Haiti must agree to any terms laid down by the U.S. (and) professes to believe any terms demanded will be for Haiti’s benefit”.

[27] Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels in Schmidt 1971, 73.

[28] Thomas 1933, 182.

[29] Ibid.

[30] Heinl, 418.

[31] James Weldon Johnson, discussing article XIV of the treaty, finds it ironic that “this clause which the Haitians had a right to interpret as a guarantee to them against foreign invasion should first be invoked against the Haitian people themselves, and offer the only peg on which any pretense to a right of military domination can be hung.” Self-determining Haiti, I: The American Occupation.” James Weldon Johnson, “Self-Determining Haiti, I: The American Occupation.” The Nation 111, no. 2878 (1920): 237.

[32] Editors, “The Concession of the National City Bank” The Nation 111, no. 2880 (1920): 310. Heinl, 423

[33] In a message of September 8th, Caperton wrote: “Successful negotiation of treaty is prominent part of present mission. After encountering many difficulties treaty situation at present looks more favorable than usual. This has been effected by exercising military pressure at propitious moments in negotiations.” Cited in “The Rape of Haiti,” 1921, 552.

[34] Report by 24 American lawyers presented to the Secretary of State, entitled “The Seizure of Haiti by the United States,” cited in Davis, 353-4.

[35] cited in Schmidt 1971, 74.

[36] Pierre Hudicourt, Anexion de la Republica de Haiti por los Estados Unidos del Norte [Memorandum dedicado a la Quinta Conferencia Panamericana de Santiago de Chile en nombre de la Union Patriotica de Haiti] (Santiago: Casa Amarilla, 1923), 21. Translated from the Spanish

[37] Complete Original Treaty in E. Mathon, Annuaire de Legislation Haïtienne (Port-au-Prince: L’imprimerie de l’Abeille, 1916), xii-xvi.

[38] Georges Sylvain, Dix Années de Lutte: Pour la Liberté 1915-1925. Vol. 1 (Port-au-Prince, Henri Deschamps, [1950]), 81.

[39] Balch, 32.

[40] Bellegarde 1929b, 242.

[41] Huddicort, 23. Translated from Spanish.

[42] Balch, 32-3.

[43] Dantes Bellegarde 1923:750.

[44] “The morning of election day, in Port au Prince, the voting places were closed and guarded by the police and a marine officer called Lieutenant Beale. A candidate for the mayoralty, Mr. Windsor Bellegarde made an appeal to the dean of the Court of First Instance and the latter issued an ordinance… ordering that the doors of the voting places be open and the election held. The Chief of the Constabulary, an American officer, refused to obey the peremptory order of the court. In the afternoon, the voters were brutally dispersed and beaten by Beale and his policemen. All over the country, the Government acted in the same way. In the town of Leogane the constables fired on the voters, wounding several of them dangerously. No representatives and no senators were elected and taxation is going in Haiti without representation.” Perceval Thoby, "Haiti Misruled” The Nation 122, no. 3170 (1926): 376.

[45] Dantes Bellegarde, La Republique d’haiti et les Etats-Unis devant la Justice Internationale (Paris: Librairie de Paris-Lires, 1924), 16.

[46] Captain Beach’s statement to the Legislature on August 11th 1915: “What has been done as well as what will be done, is conceived in an effort to aid the people of Haiti in establishing a stable Government and in maintaining domestic peace throughout the Republic.” Mathon, ix: translated from the French.

[47] Magdaline W. Shannon, Jean Price Mars, the Haitian Elite and the American Occupation, 1915-1935 (London: St. Martin’s Press, 1996), 6.

[48] Douglas, 232.

[49] Harry Johnson, “Haiti and its regeneration by the United States.” The National Geographic Magazine, (Dec. 1920): 506.

[50] Péralte cited in Heinl, 452.

[51] Captain H.H. Hanneken later reflected upon being given this order: “It was a pretty big order. It meant running down one Haitian out of several millions of Haitians in a country as big as the State of New York. And that one Haitian was surrounded by his friends, operating in a country almost entirely sympathetic to him.” Heinl, 456.

[52] This earned the U.S, military the nickname “cacos en kaki” [cacos in khaki] Roger Gaillard, Les Blancs Debarquent. Vol. 6, Charlemagne Péralte, le caco (Port-au-Prince: Imprimerie le Natal, 1982), 38.

[53] Patrick Bellegarde-Smith, Race, Class and Ideology: Haitian Ideologies for Underdevelopment, 1806-1934 (New York: The American Institute for Marxist Studies, 1982), 19.

[54] as Reported by the Senatorial Investigation Committee. Suzy Castor, La ocupación norteamericana de Haití y sus consequencias (1915-1934) (Mexico, Siglo XXI editores, 1971), 138.

[55] James Weldon Johnson, “Self-Determining Haiti, IV: The Haitian People.” The Nation 111, no. 2882 (1920) available from haiti_occupation_series_03.shtml

[56] Trouillot, 106.

[57] Dantes Bellegarde, Les Blancs Debarquent. Vol. 5, Hinche Mise en Croix (Port-au-Prince: Imprimerie le Natal, 1982), 229-30.

[58] Paul H. Douglas claimed that the construction of roads largely benefited the American Marines who used them to trek across the country hunting down cacos. Douglas, 378.

[59] Schmidt 1987, 92.

[60] Heinl 1978.

[61] Editors, “The Press in Haiti,” The Nation 125, no.3241(1927):167-168.

[62] Moravia et al., “A Voice from a Haitian Jail,” The Nation 125 no.3241: (1927): 168.

[63] The Seizure of Haiti by the United States cited in Davis, 353. However, Carl Kelsey, an observer in Haiti, suggested that the censorship of press of the Americans was not in fact as oppressive as it was made out to be. He explains, “In pre-occupation days no paper dared criticize the government unless it could get ample protection and editors were often arrested and papers seized. The establishment of censorship, therefore, had little real effect on their activities but it gave a chance for an argument that might appeal to Americans at home.” Carl Kelsey, “The American Intervention in Haiti.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science vol. C (1922): 140.

[64] L.J. de Bekker, “The Massacre at Aux Cayes” The Nation 130, no. 3376:308-10.

[65] Sheperd, Lemuel C. in James H. McCrocklin, Garde d’Haiti (Menasha, WI: George Banta Company, 1956), v.

[66] Craige 1934, 101-3.

[67] Schmidt 1971, 205.

[68] Dantes Bellegarde, L'occupation americaine d'Hayiti, ses consequences morales et economiques (Port-au-Prince: Imprimerie Cheraquit, 1929), 11. Translated from the French.

[69] Trouillot, 106.

[70] Balch, 153.

[71] Trouillot, 104.

[Mallard]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roosevelt_Corollary

Roosevelt Corollary


A political cartoonist's commentary on Roosevelt's "big stick" policy.The Roosevelt Corollary was an extension of the Monroe Doctrine by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt in 1904. Roosevelt's extension of the Monroe Doctrine asserted a right of the United States to intervene to "stabilize" the economic affairs of small states in the Caribbean and Central America if they were unable to pay their international debts. The alternative, according to the U.S. assumptions, was intervention by European powers, especially Great Britain and France, which had lent money to countries that were unable to repay. As with many high-risk investments, these loans were made with the lenders fully aware of the financial difficulties these countries were going through, and they were part of a broader campaign to gain economic control of nations with unstable economies. The catalyst for the new policy was the British and German gunboat diplomacy in the Venezuela Crisis of 1902-1903.[1]

Contents [hide]
1 Overview
2 Shift to the "Good Neighbor" policy
3 Criticism
4 See also
5 Bibliography
6 References

[edit] OverviewRoosevelt's December 1904 Annual message to Congress declared:

All that this country desires is to see the neighboring countries stable, orderly, and prosperous. Any country whose people conduct themselves well can count upon our hearty friendship. If a nation shows that it knows how to act with reasonable efficiency and decency in social and political matters, if it keeps order and pays its obligations, it need fear no interference from the United States. Chronic wrongdoing, or an impotence which results in a general loosening of the ties of civilized society, may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention by some civilized nation, and in the Western Hemisphere the adherence of the United States to the Monroe Doctrine may force the United States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence, to the exercise of an international police power.
Presidents cited the Roosevelt Corollary as justification for U.S. intervention in Cuba (1906–1909), Nicaragua (1909–1910, 1912–1925 and 1926–1933), Haiti (1915–1934), and the Dominican Republic (1916–1924).

[edit] Shift to the "Good Neighbor" policyIn 1928, under President Calvin Coolidge, the Clark Memorandum stated that the U.S. did not have the right to intervene unless there was a threat by European powers, reversing the Roosevelt Corollary. In 1934, Franklin D. Roosevelt further renounced interventionism and established his "Good Neighbor policy", leaving unchallenged the emergence of dictatorships like that of Batista in Cuba or Trujillo in the Dominican Republic.

[edit] CriticismThe argument made by Mitchener and Weidenmier (2006) in support of the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine has been criticized on the grounds that it "represent[s] the one-sided approach that some scholars bring to the study of imperialistic and hegemonic interventions and also highlight how arguments for the general utility of imperialism are increasingly made and accepted." Christopher Coyne and Stephen Davies,[disambiguation needed] in their article "Nineteen Public Bads of Empire, Nation Building, and the Like", argue that a foreign policy modeled on the Roosevelt Corollary leads to negative consequences both in national security terms and in terms of its effect on domestic politics.

Critics such as Noam Chomsky, have argued that the Roosevelt Corollary was merely a more explicit imperialist threat, building on the Monroe Doctrine, and indicating that the U.S. would intervene not only in defense of South American states in the face of European imperialism, but would also use its muscle to obtain concessions and privileges for American corporations.[2]

Serge Ricard of the University of Paris goes even farther, stating that the Roosevelt Corollary was not merely an addendum to the earlier Monroe Doctrine, through which the U.S. pledged to protect the Americas from European imperialist interventions. Rather, the Roosevelt Corollary was "an entirely new diplomatic tenet which epitomized his 'big stick' approach to foreign policy".[3] In other words, while the Monroe Doctrine sought to bar entry to the European empires, the Roosevelt Corollary announced America's intention to take their place.

A recently published book, The Imperial Cruise,[4] documents that in 1905 Roosevelt imagined that his “international police powers”[5] extended to North Asia.[6] Unable to use American force in North Asia, Roosevelt believed that Japanese expansionism into the area would further U.S. interests. In July 1905 Roosevelt secretly agreed a “Japanese Monroe Doctrine for Asia.”[7]” that allowed the takeover of Korea by Japan. With this secret and unconstitutional maneuver,[8] Roosevelt inadvertently ignited the problem (Japanese expansionism in Asia) that Franklin Delano Roosevelt would later confront as WWII in Asia.[4] The New York Times wrote, "The Imperial Cruise is startling enough to reshape conventional wisdom about Roosevelt’s presidency."[9]