Alexandre Pétion

Litographic portrait of Alexandre Pétion

Alexandre Pétion

Alexandre Sabès Pétion (French pronunciation: /alɛksɑ̃dʁ sabɛs petjɔ̃/) (April 2, 1770, Port-au-Prince, Saint-Domingue - March 29, 1818, Port-au-Prince, Republic of Haiti) was a Haitian military and politician. He fought during the last phases of the Haitian revolution and was the first President of the Republic of Haiti between 1806 and 1818.

Biography

Beginnings

He was born in Port-au-Prince, the son of a wealthy French settler named Pascal Sabès and a free mulatto lady named Úrsula. In 1788 he was sent to France to study at the Military Academy in Paris. He adopted the pseudonym Pétion in honor of Pétion de Villeneuve , who was a member of the Convention and of the Society of Friends of Negroes. Returning to his native island, he participated between 1798 and 1799 in the expulsion campaign of the British and the Spanish.

Fight

The young Pétion returned to Saint-Domingue and sided with André Rigaud, leader of the black freedmen, with Toussaint Louverture during the War of the Knives that began in June 1799. Since November the The mulatto faction found itself cornered in the strategically important port of Jacmel, on the southern coast. Pétion led the defense, and Jean Jacques Dessalines led the assault. The fall of Jacmel in March 1800 ended the revolt, and Pétion, along with other Free Frenchmen of color, went into exile in France.

In February 1802, Pétion returned to Saint-Domingue with Rigaud and an army of 12,000 Frenchmen under Charles-Victor-Emmanuel Leclerc, brother-in-law of Napoleon Bonaparte. After the betrayal of Toussaint carried out by France, Pétion joined the nationalist forces in October 1802, following the secret conference of Arcahaie, and gave his support to Dessalines. General Clairveaux was Pétion's main support at this time. The French expeditionary force was defeated on November 18, 1803 at Vertieres, and Saint-Domingue became a Republic on January 1, 1804. On September 2, 1804, the chiefs of the army appointed Dessalines "Governor-General for Life." who on October 6, 1804 proclaimed himself emperor.

Pétion became the ideologue of the assassination of Dessalines in October 1806 and, subsequently, he vindicated liberal democracy against the intentions of Henri Christophe. This, elected president, broke with the Senate controlled by Pétion and Haiti was divided into two states. The Senate did not recognize Christophe as president and elected Pétion as such. On January 27, 1807, the Senate stripped Christophe of all his positions, alleging that he had not sworn in the presidency of the Republic and proceeded to elect Petión as the first president of the republic. Then a ridiculous war raged until 1810, during which time Christophe controlled the north, the traditional stronghold of the radical black factions, while Pétion controlled the south.

President of the Republic of Haiti

Knowing the aspiration of the peasants (former slaves) to become owners, Pétion decided to divide the plantations between the former settlers and the people. This action was the object of great popular acceptance, and the people baptized him as Papá Bon-Kè, or "Good-hearted Dad". However, the Haitian economy, based on the export of sugar and coffee, fell into autarky and became mere subsistence agriculture.

After defeating the armies of England, Spain and France, in 1815 the Haitian leader gave Manuel Dorrego asylum and began contacts with Simón Bolívar, who was taking refuge in Jamaica, depressed and on the verge of suicide. Petión offered the future liberator arms, ships and soldiers to resume the war of secession in Spanish America. He asked him and made him sign that in exchange for this support the Spanish-American revolutionaries should decree the abolition of slavery in America. Bolívar assumed the commitment and left for the continent with soldiers selected by Petión himself.

Already triumphant, and before the Interview in Guayaquil with the Liberator José de San Martín, Bolívar said:

“Lost Venezuela and the New Granada, the island of Haiti received me with hospitality: the magnanimous President Alexander Petion gave me his protection and under his auspices I formed an expedition of 300 comparable men in value, patriotism and virtue to the companions of Leonidas....”

Alexandre was the founder of the Liceo Pétion in Port-au-Prince. Although he was originally a supporter of constitutional democracy, he found the limitations imposed on him by the Senate cumbersome. In 1816 he proclaimed himself president for life and drew up a model constitution for the Haitian republic, laying the foundations for the recognition and independence of Haiti. But in 1818, the constant conspiracies against him and against the government led him to dissolve the Senate and rule as a dictator.

Pétion died of yellow fever in 1818 and was succeeded by his protégé Jean-Pierre Boyer.