Charles Rivière-Hérard

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Charles Rivière-Hérard

Charles Rivière-Hérard (born February 16, 1789 in Torbeck , † August 31, 1850 ) was a Haitian politician and President of Haiti .

biography

President 1843 to 1844

Rivière-Hérard embarked on a military career and eventually rose to general.

After President Jean-Pierre Boyer's flight to Jamaica and his formal abdication there on March 13, 1843, he became President of Haiti .

Boyer's escape led to Haiti being thrown into a serious national crisis, especially since the successful revolution previously led against him now revealed the different opinions of its leaders. The younger armed revolutionaries called for the abolition of the military regime and instead a form of civilian government shaped by liberalism . However, due to his military career, Rivière-Hérard was not the possible leader of a large liberal movement and therefore not a supporter of a civilian government. On the other side stood the poor rural population, who placed great hopes in the reform promises he had made to improve their situation.

The 1843 Constitution

In the meantime he proclaimed a provisional government and general elections in Port-au-Prince on April 4, 1843, and set the date for the session of the Constituent Assembly for September 15, 1843. At the same time, municipal administrations were established, the mayors of which took over the powers previously exercised by the military authorities.

The constitution, passed on December 30, 1843, contained many important innovations: judges should be elected by the people rather than by the president of the republic. Any charge based on criminal, political or press law reasons should be heard by a lay judge . The tenure of the presidency was not only abolished, but the term of office of the president was limited to four years. Measures taken by the President only became effective after the minister countersigned it. The right to initiate legislation lay with the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate as well as with the President. Municipal affairs of the municipalities and the arrondissements were incumbent on the assemblies of the municipalities and arrondissements. A budget for the state income and expenditure should be drawn up annually and was subject to the control of an audit office. The army was called a law-abiding body and a guarantee of personal freedom and respect for property was also given.

Crises, secession of the Dominican Republic and resignation

With the adoption of the constitution, Rivière-Hérard was also elected President. For Haiti, a new era in its history could have begun if all constitutional changes had been respected. However, the president did not have the power to push through the transition from military to civil government. Added to this were the tensions between the members of the governments due to their different ethnic and regional origins. The president saw himself as a supporter of the mulattos , of whose group he was himself.

Finally there were tensions with the neighboring former Spanish territory . The Provisional Government had led to unrest in particular by closing the ports of this part of Hispaniola by a decree of September 27, 1843, which led to a revolt in the Spanish part of the island a few days after taking his oath of office on January 16, 1844. Almost six weeks later, this part of the island declared its independence on February 27, 1844 as the Dominican Republic under the presidency of General Pedro Santana .

In addition to the destruction of territorial unity, the Republic of Haiti was hit by other grievances. As early as August 1843, residents in the Sud department rose up in an uprising out of dissatisfaction with empty promises made by Rivière-Hérard, but this was suppressed at Les Cayes , whereupon Lysius Salomon and other leaders of the revolt fled to the Dominican provinces of Azua and Baoruco .

The emerging crises and unrest were put down militarily by the President. His aversion to the constitution and its liberal supporters became increasingly evident, to which, however, he ultimately owed his presidency.

Ultimately, criticism of the president from the liberal population of the larger cities and the poor rural population of the south grew more and more, until this culminated in renewed unrest. The prerogatives of the mayors and local administrations were again restricted in favor of the military commanders of the arrondissements and communes. As a result, there was also an open dispute between the President and the members of the Constituent Assembly.

The president's popularity was already waning when, as the commander-in-chief of the army, on March 10, 1844, he wanted to begin a campaign with a 25,000-strong force against the neighboring, newly founded Dominican Republic, as he saw a cause for the unrest there. In the first days of April, the president captured Azua at the head of a loyal army unit, and then moved on against the Dominican capital Santo Domingo . The end of the young republic seemed near when the unrest in Cap-Haitien , Port-au-Prince and Les Cayes saved the continued existence of the Dominican Republic. The discontent in these cities quickly spread to other parts of the country.

The situation in the Sud department was tense. The smallholders of Les Cayes expected the promises he had made them to be fulfilled. On March 27, 1844, there was a meeting in Camp-Perrin, where it came to the formation of the Army of the Suffering ( "L'Armée Souffrante" ) under the leadership of one of their own, Jean-Jacques Acaau, who also had the title of one Generals was awarded. Acaau, who was completely without schooling, had the talent of mass mobilization. This made him the leader of the popular uprising that succeeded in conquering Les Cayes on April 5, 1844. In the aftermath there were brutal and bloody outbreaks of violence by the poor rural population against the rich urban population.

While Acaau ruled as the dictator of Les Cayes, the small farmers of Grand'Anse also took up arms. They conquered Jérémie and soon took control of the entire Nippes department . There were also outbreaks of violence against the urban population, who had previously granted the poor rural population high-interest loans and took over their land after not paying the interest.

On April 25, 1844, the inhabitants of Cap-Haitien initially refused allegiance to the president, and a council of state appointed General Philippe Guerrier as president of the North Department . When the people of Port-au-Prince followed the example of Cap-Haitien on May 3, 1844, he finally resigned as president and went into exile on June 2, 1844 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ JC Fanini: I Am Within the Crowd . iUniverse, 2002, ISBN 0-595-21928-4 , pp. 122 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
  2. ↑ Gyan Prakash (ed.): After Colonialism: Imperial Histories and Postcolonial Displacements (=  Princeton Studies in Culture / Power / History ). Princeton University Press, 1994, ISBN 1-4008-2144-4 , pp. 79 (English, limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. ^ Joan Dayan: Haiti, History, and the Gods (=  A centennial book ). University of California Press, 1998, ISBN 0-520-21368-8 , pp. 27 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
  4. ↑ Mamadou Diouf, Ulbe Bosma (ed.): Histoires et identités dans la Caraïbe: trajectoires plurielles (=  Histoire des suds ). Karthala Editions, 2004, ISBN 2-84586-440-X , pp. 250 (French, limited preview in Google Book search).

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Jean-Pierre Boyer President of Haiti
March 13, 1843 - May 2, 1844 		Philippe Guerrier
personal data
SURNAME Rivière-Hérard, Charles
BRIEF DESCRIPTION President of Haiti
DATE OF BIRTH February 16, 1789
PLACE OF BIRTH Torbeck
DATE OF DEATH August 31, 1850