Henri Christophe - State and Kingdom of Haiti

State and Kingdom of Haiti

Following a power struggle with Pétion and his supporters in the South, Christophe retreated with his followers to the Plaine-du-Nord of Haiti, the stronghold of former slaves, and created a separate government there. Christophe suspected he was also at risk for assassination in the South. In 1807 he declared himself "président et généralissime des forces de terre et de mer de l'État d'Haïti'" (English: President and Generalissimo of the armies of land and sea of the State of Haïti). Pétion became President of the "Republic of Haïti" in the south, where he was backed by General Jean Pierre Boyer, a gens du couleur who controlled the southern armies.

In 1811 Henry declared the northern state of Haïti a kingdom and had himself crowned by Corneil Breuil, the archbishop of Milot. The 1 April 1811 edict gave his full title as

Henri, par la grâce de Dieu et la Loi constitutionelle de l'État Roi d'Haïti, Souverain des Îles de la Tortue, Gonâve, et autres îles adjacentes, Destructeur de la tyrannie, Régénérateur et bienfaiteur de la nation haïtienne, Créateur de ses institutiones morales, politiques et guerrières, Premier monarque couronné du Nouveau-Monde, Défenseur de la foi, Fondateur de l'ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Henri.

Henry, by the grace of God and constitutional law of the state, King of Haiti, Sovereign of Tortuga, Gonâve, and other adjacent islands, Destroyer of tyranny, Regenerator and Benefactor of the Haïtian nation, Creator of her moral, political, and martial institutions, First crowned monarch of the New World, Defender of the faith, Founder of the Royal Military Order of Saint Henry.

He renamed Cap Français as Cap-Henri. (It was later renamed as Cap-Haïtien).

Christophe named his legitimate son Jacques-Victor Henry heir apparent, giving him the title of Prince Royal of Haïti. Even in documents written in French, the king's name was usually given his preferred English spelling. His second son was a colonel in his army.

Christophe built for his own use six châteaux, eight palaces and the massive Citadelle Laferrière, on a mountain near Milot. With the remains of the Sans-Souci Palace, it has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Nine years later, at the end of his monarchy, Henry increased the number of designated nobility from the original 87 to 134.

The two parts of Haiti struggled to increase agricultural production to recover from the expensive and damaging wars. The United States had only recently ended its arms and goods embargo against Haiti, and began war with Great Britain in the War of 1812. Christophe had to choose whether to enforce a version of the slave plantation system to increase agricultural production, or to subdivide the land into parcels for peasants' subsistence farming. The latter was the policy of President Pétion in the South. King Henry chose to enforce corvée plantation work, a system of forced labor, in lieu of taxes, but also began his massive building projects. During his reign, Northern Haiti was despotic but the sugar cane economy generated revenue for government and officials.

Henry preferred trading with English and American merchants rather than the French and Spanish, who did not recognize Haiti an as independent country. (Note: The United States did not recognize Haiti diplomatically until 1867, so this is not accurate.) He ordered the importation of Africans to work on his vast projects instead of their being traded to other Caribbean countries to be held as slaves. As a result, numerous Africans who were originally brought by the French as slaves to the Caribbean came to Haiti. {{<--Needs expansion; it's confusing-->}}

He made an agreement with Britain that Haiti would not threaten its Caribbean colonies; in return the British Navy would warn Haiti of imminent attacks from French troops. In 1807 the British Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act of 1807 to abolish the importation of African slaves into British territories. Because of increased bilateral trade with Britain, Christophe's government earned an enormous sum of British pounds for his treasury. By contrast, Petion's Southern Haiti became much poorer because the land-share system reduced agricultural productivity, and exports fell.