1805

May 20

Dessalines formulates the Imperial Constitution of 1805, which is the first constitution of Haiti as an independence country.

1806

October 17

Dessalines is assassinated at Pont-Rouge by disaffected leaders of his administration.  He is remembered as the Father of the Haitian Nation.

December  27-28

In the old cathedral of Port-au-Prince, a new Constitution is promulgated by the Constituent Assembly, and Henri Christophe is appointed President of the Republic of Haiti for four years.

1807

January 1

Battle of Sibert. Henri Christophe provokes a civil war against Alexandre Petion at Sibert.  Subsequently, Haiti is divided into two states: the Northern State under the leadership of Henri Christophe and the Western and Southern States under the leadership of Alexandre Petion.

February 17

In the north region of Haiti, Henri Christophe proclaims himself President of the State of Haiti. A state council of nine members, seven generals and two civilians, chosen by Henri Christophe, meets in the city of Cap-Haitien and votes the Constitutional Act of Haiti.  The first Haitian coins are minted in Cap-Haitien, by the government of Henri Christophe.

March 9

Alexandre Petion is elected President of the Republic of Haiti of the Western and Southern regions by the Constituent Assembly under the 1806 Constitution.

1809

Louis XVIII, King of France, sends a mission to Haiti to negotiate acknowledgement of Haiti’s independence by France.  One member, Dauxion-Lavaysse, meets with Petion who defends the value of the independence for Haitians but agrees to a reasonable indemnity payable to the dispossessed French planters who fled to France after the independence.

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