Jean Jacques Dessalines

Quick-Facts about Jean-Jacques Dessalines

Some Jean-Jacques Dessalines' quick facts are:

• Born a slave
• Became a leader in the Haitian Revolution's armies and supported Toussaint Louverture
• Was responsible for the ultimate defeat of France's forces
• Declared Haiti an independent country
• Declared himself emperor of Haiti
• Died at the hands of his former allies who no longer supported his authoritarian rule
• Seen both as a revolutionary and a tyrant

Fig 1 - Dessalines Portrait

Early Life

Historians are unsure of the location of Jean-Jacques Dessalines's birth. Some believe he was born in West Africa and brought to Haiti, then known as the French colony known as Saint-Domingue. Others believe he was born as an enslaved person on the island.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines originally had the name Duclor, after the owner of the plantation on which he was raised, a common practice for enslaved peoples in the Atlantic World. He later adopted the last name Dessalines from his second owner, a free black landowner named Des Salines.

The Haitian Revolution and Jean-Jacques Dessalines

There are limited historic records of Jean-Jacques Dessalines's biography in his early years besides the fact that he was bought by Des Salines. He carried scars from his brutal treatment for his entire life. Some historians believe his adoption of the name Dessalines indicates he was better treated by his second owner than his first.

Regardless, he eventually escaped slavery. In 1791, a slave rebellion in Haiti sparked the Haitian Revolution. Dessalines supported the revolution.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines entered into the historic record when he was promoted as a captain in the revolutionary forces of Toussaint Louverture in 1793.

"The Tiger"

He established himself as one of Toussaint Louverture's most important lieutenants and was given the nickname of "the Tiger" for his ferocity on the battlefield. He supported Toussaint Louverture's efforts fighting the French, then the Spanish, and the British. Dessalines played a key role in the defeat of Spanish forces on the eastern side of the island in 1794.

After Louverture and the Haitian Revolutionary armies established firm control over the island, Jean-Jacques Dessalines supported the new government and helped put down a rebellion in the south. Dessalines was made governor of the southern part of the island by Toussaint Louverture as a reward for his service.

Renewed Struggle for Independence

By this time, Toussaint Louverture's forces had become dominant on the island and the colony of Saint-Domingue operated as a practically independent state. However, Napoleon sent a large French force to the colony in 1802 to reestablish white rule and remove Toussaint Louverture.

Dessalines originally fought against the French forces. However, he became convinced that the French general Leclerc would make good on his promises to end slavery if Dessalines supported the French. So, Dessalines chose to lay down his arms in 1802 and help the French capture Louverture.

Eventually, Dessalines came to the conclusion that Leclerc and the French could not be trusted. The brutal treatment of Louverture in prison and his death in April 1803 helped affirm for Dessalines and other Haitian independence leaders they needed to resume resistance to French rule.

The Indigenous Army

Dessalines declared himself the head of the "Indigenous Army" and took up arms again.

Fighting during this phase was especially brutal. Leclerc went so far as to call for the murder of all the slaves in Haiti and supported the importation of an entirely new slave workforce for Saint-Domingue. Dessalines and his forces found themselves in a war for survival that could only end in absolute independence.

Fig 2 - Dessaline's coat of arms.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Independent Haiti

By late 1803, the French colonial forces were all but defeated. In addition to the success of Dessalines's army, the French troops suffered from diseases such as Yellow Fever. On November 29, 1803, an armistice was signed that withdrew the French Army from Saint-Domingue.

On January 1, 1804, Jean Jacques Dessalines declared Saint-Domingue to now be the independent nation-state of Haiti.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines as Emperor of Haiti

Dessalines first declared himself ruler of Haiti. Rumors of a plot to overthrow him by the remaining French white landowners led him to order the killing of thousands to maintain independence. Scholars estimate that between 1,000 to 5,000 men, women, and children were killed in the ensuing violence.²

In November 1804, Jean Jacques Dessalines declared himself emperor for life of Haiti. Dessalines instituted harsh policies of forced labor on plantations by the recently freed slaves, and he supported the rebuilding of the plantation system because he thought it important for the new nation-state's economy.

However, his authoritarian rule inspired opposition from some of his fellow independence leaders, who decided they now supported overthrowing Dessalines.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines's Death

Alexandre Petión and Henri Christophe, former allies who had fought with Dessalines against the French rose against him.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines was killed in an ambush on August 17, 1806. His body was dragged through the streets and dismembered, a cruel ending but also a sign of the opposition to his harsh rule.

After his death, Petión and Christophe engaged in a power struggle that led to further civil war on the island, adding to the devastation and destruction the Haitian Revolution had caused over the previous 16 years.

Fig 3 - French propaganda illustration of Dessalines beheading whites.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines Accomplishments

Jean-Jacques Dessalines has a complicated legacy. While often remembered for his brutal rule as emperor and overthrow at the hands of his former allies, Jean-Jacques Dessalines's accomplishments were also important.

The most important of Dessalines's accomplishments was securing independence for Haiti. His declaration of independence in 1804 made Haiti only the second independent nation-state in the Atlantic World.

Independence had also ensured the permanent end of slavery. It prevented any possible reimposition of slavery by French colonial authorities. Dessalines supported above all else the enshrinement of abolition.

He also became the first Black head of state in the Atlantic World. Haiti held important symbolic power for enslaved and colonized people of color elsewhere.

Legacy of Violence, Instability, and Exclusion

However, Jean-Jacques Dessalines's legacy is also characterized by his authoritarian rule and use of violence to secure the goals he supported.

His harsh reimposition of the plantation economy inspired the opposition to him and contributed to the further instability of independent Haiti long after his death.

His massacres of the white population also sparked fear among the white-led nation-states. The United States, fearing the Haitian Revolution would inspire slave rebellions at home, refused to recognize his government and imposed trade sanctions against it.

France only recognized Haitian independence in 1825 with the requirement that they pay reparations. The new nation-states that emerged later in South America also mostly kept their distance from Haiti, fearing slave rebellions or being excluded from trade with the United States and European countries.

It's clear that Dessalines saw himself as an Enlightened leader, and he supported the freedom and equality of the formerly enslaved peoples of Haiti, willing to use violence to achieve it. The reactions to the Haitian Revolution and Dessalines reveal the predominant racist views and fears of a slave rebellion that characterized the white-led nations at the time.

2. Statistics cited by Julia Gaffield, "Meet Haiti's Founding Father, whose Revolution was too Radical for Thomas Jefferson," The Conversation, August 30, 2018.

3. C.R. Gibbs as quoted by DeNeen L. Brown in "The Haitian Leader Assassinated After an Anti-slavery Revolution Two Centuries Ago," The Washington Post, July 19, 2021.