Jean-Baptiste Riche

Jean-Baptiste Riché was instrumental in Christophe's victory at the Battle of Siebert on January 1, 1807. During the siege of Port-au-Prince in 1811,

Jean-Baptiste Riché ousted President Pierrot with the supports of his capable rebel mulattos along with much of the support of the Haïtian army. After becoming the president, his first act was to restore the Constitution of 1816 which was practically the revised version of the Constitution of 1806 written by Alexandre Pétion. He created the "Maison Centrale", a boarding school for homeless boys. He died on February 28, 1847 while in his office due to the overdose of Cantharide aphrodisiac properties. The Riché's presidency is often considered as ineffective by some historians. However, it is an established fact that he opened many ways of changes in the Haitian political landscape that were followed and adopted by some of his succeeding administrators. Thus, his presidency is often considered as the turning point in the history of Haïtian politics.

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Here is a picture of Jean-Baptiste Riché, President of Haiti.

Jean-Baptiste Riché (born 1780) was the Haitian President between March 1, 1846 to February 27, 1847. His military career began in 1802 when he was enlisted in the revolutionary army. He took active part in the war of independence and was hurt by a projectile that damaged the optic nerves of his right eye and went blind. After the downfall of Christophe in 1820, Riché took the side of the new government and retained his post (Commander of Haïti's Northern Province) during the subsequent administrations of Jean Pierre Boyer (President between 1818 to 1843) and his followers and he was able to retain that until Jean-Louis Pierrot became President of Haïti in 1845. These Boyer backers subsequently became his strongest critic. He was the son of a free black man, a sergeant in the colonial militia, who probably served in the rebel forces. Jean-Baptiste Riché was illiterate and old when became the Haitian President on March 24, 1846. He was succeeded to become the President of Haiti because he had a common sense that ended the dictatorship of his predecessors.

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