Constitution of Haiti (1805)

The first Black republics imperial charter abolishing slavery at a stroke.

Overview

Promulgated May 20, 1805 under Emperor Jacques I, Jean Jacques Dessalines, Haitis first constitution declared all Haitians black regardless of color, in a radical inversion of the racial order of slavery. It abolished slavery forever, forbade whites from owning property, and established an empire with a powerful executive. It was the first constitution of the first state born of a successful slave revolution, and its defensive provisions responded to the ongoing threat of French reconquest. Subsequent Haitian constitutions, more than twenty across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, make the country a study in constitutional instability born of external pressure and internal struggle.