Jean-Baptiste Riché

Jean-Baptiste Riché (* 1776, 1777 or 1780 in Grande Rivière du Nord , † February 27, 1847 in Port-au-Prince ) was a Haitian politician and President of Haiti .

biography

Military career

Already during the War of Independence from 1801 to 1804 he was a soldier and as such distinguished himself through particular bravery, especially in the battle of Crête à Pierrot.

After Haiti's independence , during the reign of the President of Northern Haiti, Henri Christophe , he was appointed General and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Army in 1807 . In this capacity he played an outstanding role in the outcome of the Battle of Siebert between the troops of Christophe and the President of South Haiti, Alexandre Sabès Pétion . During the siege of Port-au-Prince by the Northern Army Christophes in 1811 he was one of their most important generals. Due to his absolute loyalty to Christophe, he was de facto Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Army in his later reign as King Henry I of Northern Haiti.

After Christopher's suicide on October 8, 1820, he remained in the following decades one of the most influential generals in the subsequent governments of Jean-Pierre Boyer , Charles Riviere-Hérard , Philippe Guerrier and Jean-Louis Pierrot . When President Pierrot, a black man , began reforming the government, there was an uprising among the mulatto supporters of President Boyer, who had abdicated three years earlier.

This uprising ultimately led to the overthrow of Pierrot. One of the reasons for this was a planned campaign against the neighboring Dominican Republic , which had declared itself independent of Haiti on February 27, 1844. However, this campaign was rejected by the majority of Haitians. On the other hand, there was also unrest within the armed forces after Pierrot had appointed several leaders of small farmers from the Sud department to high military positions. The appointment of Jean-Jacques Acaau from Les Cayes as commander of the army units in the arrondissement of L'Anse-à-Veau met with massive resistance.

President 1846 to 1847

On March 1, 1846, Riché was appointed as his successor in Port-au-Prince for life President of Haiti . On March 24, 1846, Pierrot finally resigned as president, left Cap-Haitien , which he had proclaimed the capital of the republic, and settled on his Camp-Louise plantation .

The population of the south soon criticized President Riché openly, who was "in contrast to his predecessors less interested in politics than in social entertainment" , especially because he had fought against the south in 1844. General Jean-Jacques Acaau, who became the leader of the opposition and a declared opponent of Riché, was soon defeated in the fortress of L'Anse-à-Veau under his command and shot himself on March 12, 1846 to avoid capture. During further skirmishes from March to June 1846, the supporters of Acaau were finally defeated by the government troops.

Immediately after the pacification of the south, Riché ended the dictatorial powers introduced in 1844 . The State Council appointed by President Guerrier was in a Senate turned that on 14 November 1846, the Constitution continued in 1816 with most of the 1843 introduced constitutional amendments into force. The presidency for life was retained. Furthermore, he established himself through the establishment of the Maison Centrale for the schooling of homeless boys in the form of a boarding school.

However, Riché was already seriously ill at that time. A few days after returning from a trip to northern Haiti, he died on February 27, 1847 in Port-au-Prince.

proof

1. ↑ Walther L. Bernecker , Kleine Geschichte Haitis, Frankfurt am Main 1996, p. 84

Web links

• Chapter XVI, Haiti History Chapters, in: Haitiwebs.com
• Biography in Haitianmedia
• James D. Fearon / David D. Laitin: Haiti , Stanford University, 2006 (PDF file; 259 kB)
• Dates Principales De L'Histoire D'Haiti
• Decades Of Instability, 1843-1915 , Library Of Congress, 1989
• History of Haiti, 1804-1859

predecessor	Office	successor
Jean-Louis Pierrot	President of Haiti March 1, 1846 - February 27, 1847	Faustin Soulouque