Jean-Pierre Boyer

Jean-Pierre Boyer (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ pjɛʁ bwaje]; 15 February 1776 – 9 July 1850) was a Haitian military officer and statesman. He was one of the leaders of the Haitian Revolution, and served as the president of Haiti from 1818 to 1843. He reunited the north and south of the country into the Republic of Haiti in 1820 and also annexed the newly independent Spanish Haiti (Santo Domingo), which brought all of Hispaniola under one Haitian government by 1822. Serving as president for just under 25 years, Boyer managed to rule for the longest period of time of any Haitian leader.

Boyer was born in Port-au-Prince and was the biracial son of a French tailor and an African mother, a former slave from the Congo. He was sent to France by his father for his education. During the French Revolution, he served as a battalion commander, and fought against Toussaint Louverture in the early years of the Haitian Revolution. He later allied himself with André Rigaud, also of mulatto ancestry, in the latter's abortive insurrection against Toussaint to try to keep control of the southern region of Saint-Domingue.

After going into exile in France, Boyer and Alexandre Pétion returned in 1802 with the French troops led by General Charles Leclerc. After it became clear the French were going to try to reimpose slavery and restrictions on free gens de couleur, Boyer joined the patriots under Pétion and Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who led the colony to independence. After Pétion rose to power in the Republic of Haiti in the South, he chose Boyer as his successor. He was reportedly under the influence of his (and his predecessor's) lover, Marie-Madeleine Lachenais, who acted as his political adviser.

When Santo Domingo became independent late in 1821, Boyer was quick to occupy and gain control, uniting the entire island under his rule by 9 February 1822. Boyer ruled the island of Hispaniola until 1843, when he lost the support of the ruling elite and was ousted.

After the uprising of African slaves in the north of Saint-Domingue in 1791, Boyer joined with the three Republic commissioners sent in 1793 and went there to fight against the grand blancs (plantation owners) and other French royalists. In 1793, Saint-Domingue was invaded by British forces trying to capitalize on the current unrest to capture the colony. Boyer went to Jacmel, where he joined forces with mulatto leader, General André Rigaud. While other mulatto leaders surrendered to Toussaint Louverture in southern Saint-Domingue during the War of the South, Boyer escaped to France with Rigaud and Alexandre Pétion.

Boyer traveled to Paris, where he stayed until 1801. Napoleon was angered by Toussaint Louverture's efforts to establish total control over the colony, and France dispatched 20,000 troops to Saint-Domingue in December 1801. Boyer was part of the expedition, which arrived in February 1802. By mid-1802, Rigaud and other Black officers learned that the French intended to take away the civil rights of free people of color and re-institute slavery for former slaves in Saint-Domingue (as they had managed to do in Guadeloupe.) They sent General Leclerc to defeat the rebels, and over the next 21 months, added to his forces by 20,000 troops. Boyer joined forces with other Black rebels to defeat the French. In November 1803, France withdrew its surviving 7,000 troops, less than one-third of the forces sent to the island. Most had died as a result of yellow fever, which was endemic to the island.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines, a former slave from the North, declared Haitian independence on 1 January 1804. He established himself as Emperor Jacques I. He was assassinated by opponents in 1806. Alexandre Pétion and Henri Christophe competed to rule Haiti, and represented the split between the urban mulatto elite of the South and the black former slaves of the North, respectively. After years of warfare, they established separate states: Pétion continuing the Republic of Haiti in the southern part of Haiti, and Christophe creating the State (later Kingdom) of Haiti in the north.

In 1818 Pétion died and Boyer replaced him as the second President of the Republic of Haiti. This was an arranged transition since Pétion had selected Boyer as his successor and the Senate approved his choice. The 1816 revised constitution provided for the President to select his successor as a measure to protect the nation from foreign intrusion. Joseph Balthazar Inginac also continued as the President's secretary and right hand.