Tirésias Simon-Sam

Tirésias Simon Sam

Paul Tirésias Augustin Antoine Simon-Sam (born May 15, 1835 in Grand Rivière du Nord , † 1916 in Haiti ) was a Haitian politician and President of Haiti.

biography

Military and political career

After finishing school, Simon-Sam first completed military training, which eventually led to promotion to general .

He later began a political career, in the course of which he was first Minister of War in 1887 during the presidency of Lysius Salomon .

In October 1889 he became Minister of War and Minister of the Navy in the government of President Florvil Hyppolite . After his sudden death he belonged to Tancrède Auguste and Solon Ménos as a member of the Council of State Secretaries ( Conseil des Secrétaires d'État ) from March 24th to 31st, 1896 of the Provisional Government.

President 1896 to 1902

On March 31, 1896, he was elected as the successor to Hyppolite with the support of all parties to the President of Haiti for a term of seven years and sworn in as President on April 1, 1896.

The Lüders affair

One of the most important events of his presidency was the Lüders affair, which led to the loss of his previous reputation with the parties .

Emil Lüders (Émile Luders) was a German national who was involved in a brawl with police after the arrest of one of his protégés.

On September 21, 1897, Dorléus Présumé was arrested for a petty theft by the police of Port-au-Prince in front of his workplace, the Central Horse Stables ( Les Écuries Centrales ). The director of the stables was Emil Lüders, the son of a German father and a Haitian mother. After Présumé rejected his come along with the police, he was arrested and offered resistance . During these events, Lüders came in and took part in Présumé's resistance to the police. A police court thereupon sentenced Lüders and Présumé to one month imprisonment for brawling and assault . Her appeal to the criminal court did not lead to her release, but rather to the fact that both were sentenced by judgment of October 14, 1897 to an additional year imprisonment for resisting state authority. Was Although Lueders sentenced to a prison term of six days already because of violence against a soldier in 1894 and several witnesses, including two Frenchmen, a German and an Englishman its participation confirmed at the brawl with the police officers, the German stepped diplomatic mission in favor of Lueders a .

On October 17, 1897, the then German Chargé d'affaires, Count Schwerin, called on the presidential office and formally demanded the release of Lüders and the replacement of the judges of the criminal court and the police officers. Amazed at this approach by the German Chargé d'Affaires, which did not comply with international custom, President Simon-Sam refused to deal with the matter. However, Count Schwerin's position was also taken up by the US envoy , who sent a letter to the Haitian government on October 21, requesting the release of Lüders as a courtesy to the US. One day later Simon-Sam complied with this request and issued a pardon so that Lüders could leave Haiti.

Despite this pardon, two German warships , the cruiser corvette SMS Charlotte and the cruiser frigate SMS Stein , docked in the port of Port-au-Prince on December 6, 1897 . Immediately afterwards, Captain Thiele, the commander of SMS Charlotte , demanded the payment of damages in the amount of 20,000 US dollars to Lüders, permission to re - enter Haiti, an apology to the Reich government under Chancellor Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst and the firing of 21 Shot salute in honor of the national flag of the German Empire within an ultimatum of four hours.

The mood in the capital was tense. The townspeople, enraged by the high-handed demands of the Germans, were determined to defend themselves if Port-au-Prince were to be bombed. The diplomatic representatives of the foreign states use every means in their power to move President Simon-Sam to reason. Unable to take action against the German warships, Simon-Sam was ultimately forced to give in to the German demands. However, this indulgence violated Haitian national self-respect ( Amour propre ).

When the cruiser corvette SMS Nixe docked under the command of Captain Max von Basse almost two years later , there were initially fears of a renewed crisis, as there was another trial against a German national at the time.

In another case, however, a French national was expelled after an argument with the President's wife over a seat in the Cathedral of Port-au-Prince during the Easter procession . Intervention by the French legation was unsuccessful in this case.

Other events and end of term

As President, he did not initially have his own program, but continued the projects his predecessor had started.

To eliminate the already existing financial crisis , he appointed the two influential politicians Anténor Firmin and Ménos to his government. Later he also appointed Auguste Minister of the Interior in his government.

After Firmin's resignation as minister, bad credit agreements were signed at high interest rates, which exacerbated the financial crisis by using up almost all of the tax revenue to service the debt. However, the consolidation of the loan also led to widespread bribery that also affected the president, his family, ministers and foreign nationals, ultimately leading to financial chaos and economic disaster. Under his government there was also the immigration of Lebanese , who were called Syrians in Haiti . Their opening of small shops initially eased the economic situation, but this deteriorated again in 1896 due to a drop in the price of coffee in world trade .

Like his predecessors, President Simon-Sam also devoted himself to the construction of public utilities despite the economic difficulties. In addition to the construction of a new palace of justice in Port-au-Prince, the railway line between the capital and the lake Étang de Saumatre as well as his native town Grand Rivière du Nord and Cap-Haitien in northern Haiti was also carried out . In addition, the School for Applied Studies (École des Sciences Appliqués) was founded by five Haitians to train young engineers and architects.

Despite the domestic political difficulties, there was a festival in 1898 on the occasion of his two-year anniversary in office.

In terms of foreign policy , a reciprocity agreement was concluded with France in 1900 and a naturalization agreement with the USA in 1902.

In the meantime, there were repeated discussions in daily newspapers about the length of the president's term of office. After his election on March 31, 1896, the decree of the National Assembly erroneously set the end of the term of office on May 15, 1903. According to Article 93 of the then Haiti Constitution , in the event of the death, resignation or dismissal of the President, his successor is appointed for a seven-year term and his term of office always ends on May 15, even if the seventh year of the presidency has not yet ended. On the basis of this constitutional regulation, which applied to him, President Simon-Sam declared his resignation to the National Assembly on May 12, 1902 three days before the end of the constitutional term of office to avoid misunderstandings.

There was initially a dispute about his successor. While Simon-Sam himself unsuccessfully stood up for Maxi Mont-Plaisir, the majority of the Chamber of Deputies voted in favor of the former Minister Simon-Sam, Cincinnatus Leconte . In northern Haiti, however, the mood spoke in favor of Antenor Firmin as the new president.

His successor was a Provisional Government under the former President Pierre Théoma Boisrond-Canal .

After his resignation he went into exile in France and did not return to Haiti until 1914, where he died two years later. He also experienced the brief presidency of his son Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam from February to July 1916 and his murder by an angry crowd just before the invasion of the United States Marines .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Tiresias Simon-Sam, Haiti's President. In: New York Times. April 2, 1896
2. ^ Haiti and the Dominican Republic 1883 to 1914. Dissertation at the University of Oldenburg, excerpt, p. 251 ff.
3. ^ Haiti Fear Germany; Arrival Of A Warship At Port Au Prince Causes Alarm - The United States Maybe Appealed To. In: New York Times. December 22, 1899
4. ↑ Haiti To Expel A French Woman. In: New York Times. May 9, 1898
5. ^ New York Times. July 23, 1898
6. ^ Haiti's New Ministry; Liberal In Policy, But Less Pronounced Than The Old One. In: New York Times. December 14, 1897
7. ↑ Festivities In Haiti; Second Anniversary Of Gen. Simon Sam's Election Celebrated. In: New York Times. May 16, 1898
8. ^ Haitian President Resigns; Successor To Be Elected Monday - Republic Calm According To Latest Reports. In: New York Times. May 10, 1902
9. ↑ Uneasiness In Haiti; Serious Complications Feared In Selection Of Successor To President Sam. In: New York Times. May 11, 1902

Web links

• Biographical notes in rulers.org
• Chapter XXVI, Haiti History Chapters, in: Haitiwebs.com
• Biography in Haitianmedia
• James D. Fearon and David D. Laitin: Haiti. Stanford University, 2006 (PDF file; 259 kB)
• Decades Of Instability, 1843-1915. Library Of Congress, 1989
• World History: Haiti 1859-1915

predecessor	Office	successor
Florvil Hyppolite	President of Haiti March 31, 1896–12. May 1902	Pierre Théoma Boisrond Canal