Jean-Jacques Dessalines

**Jean-Jacques Dessalines** (Haitian Creole: _Jan-Jak Desalin_; ; 20 September 1758 – 17 October 1806), was one of the leaders of the Haitian Revolution and the first ruler of Independent Haiti under the Constitution of 1805.  Jacques ended slavery in Haiti, he was named Emperor of Haiti by the leaders of the Revolution. He was assassinated in 1806. He is regarded as one of the founding fathers of Haiti. During the Haitian revolution, he won a number of victories against Napoleon, who had re-introduced slavery in Saint Domingue. These victories made Dessalines one of  the most successful military commander in the struggle against Napoleonic France.

Dessalines was directly responsible for the country. Under his rule, Haiti became the first country in the Americas to permanently abolish slavery. Dessalines served as an officer in the French army when the colony was fighting against Spanish and British incursions. Later he rose to become a commander in the revolt against France. As Toussaint Louverture's principal lieutenant, he led many successful engagements, including the Battle of Crête-à-Pierrot.

In 1802 Louverture was betrayed and captured. Louverture was sent to prison in France where he died. Dessalines  then became the leader of the revolution and Général-Chef de l'Armée Indigène on 18 May 1803. His forces defeated the French army at the Battle of Vertières on 18 November 1803. Saint-Domingue was declared independent on 29 November. It was called independent Republic of Haiti on 1 January 1804. A council of generals chose Dessalines  to be its governor-general.

Dessalines ordered the 1804 Haitian Genocide of the remaining French population in Haiti. Between 3,000 and 5,000 people were killed, including women and children, as well as thousands of refugees. Some modern historians classify the massacre as a genocide due to its systemic nature.  Dessalines excluded surviving Polish Legionnaires, who had defected from the French legion to become allied with the enslaved Africans, as well as the Germans who did not take part in the slave trade. He granted them full citizenship under the constitution and classified them as _black_, along with all other Haitian citizens. Tensions remained with the minority of mixed-race or free people of color, who had gained some education and property during the colonial period.

## Other websites

- The Dessalines Reader. Short biography and links to many primary sources.
- "Haitian Constitution of 1805" , Webster University

## Infobox (royalty)

- **name**: Jacques I
- **reign2**: 1 January 1804 - 2 September 1804
- **signature**:
- **date of burial**: 17 October 1806 by Dédée Bazile
- **death place**: Pont Larnage (now _Pont Rouge_), near Port-au-Prince, First Empire of Haiti, Haiti
- **birth place**: Cormier, Grande-Rivière-du-Nord, Saint-Domingue
- **reign-type2**: In office
- **succession2**: President of Haiti, Governor-General of Haiti
- **image**:
- **spouse**: Marie-Claire Heureuse Félicité
- **full name**: Jean-Jacques Dessalines
- **coronation**: 8 October 1804
- **reign**: 2 September 1804 – 17 October 1806
- **succession**: List of heads of state of Haiti, Emperor of Haiti
- **signature type**: Coat of arms