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The royal declaration by Henri Christophe in 1821

The royal declaration by Henri Christophe in 1821

This is the actual declaration by Henri Christophe in 1821.

Henri Christophe, the President of Haiti (February 17, 1807 to March 28, 1811) and the king of Haiti (March 28, 1811 to October 8, 1820) was the son of a slave. During his lifetime, he has worked as a waiter, mason, sailor , billiard-marker, stable-hand and a drummer boy. He managed a hotel restaurant in Cap-Français, entered the army and achieved the rank of officer. By 1802, he was a general under the command of Toussaint. In 1811, he became King of Haiti. In 1811 Christophe changed Northern Haiti from a republic to a kingdom and had made himself the crowned King Henri I. He is mostly remembered for the citadels and fortresses he built, but his organizational and administrative brilliance is mostly overlooked. He created an atmosphere of work, discipline and introduced a system of education in his empire. As the king of Haiti, he took his responsibility seriously and declared Catholicism as the official religion of his country, although other beliefs were respected. He introduced a monetary system which is not much different from the present one. He had a grand engraved armorial coat of arms at head of caption title: two crowned lions holding a crowned shield, with a phoenix and with a scroll reading "am reborn from my ashes"" and another scroll underneath the lions reading"God my cause and my sword". The royal declaration represented a protest against the French plan to reconquer the former colony of Saint-Domingue, even as diplomatic negotiations were underway.

Read more about Henri Christophe, History

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