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Haiti News Media > Haiti News > Faustin Elie Soulouque - Haitian President Faustin Elie Soulouque, Haitian President Faustin Soulouque (b. Petit-Goâve, August 15, 1782 – d. August 15, 1867)
President : March 1, 1847 – August 25, 1849 – Emperor
Faustin I : August 25, 1849 – January 13, 1859
Born a slave, Faustin Soulouque never intended to be President. Under President Boyer he had been made commander of Plaisance. Under President Riché he was the commander of the presidential guard.
On March 1, 1847, the Senate met to elect a new president. After eight ballots, neither one of the two main candidates were able to obtain a majority vote. A compromise was suggested; the candidate who had received only one vote at each ballot was chosen in the best tradition of the politque de doublure. That candidate was Faustin Soulouque. Surprised at his election, he declared to those sent to announce the news, If I am named president, I will behave as chief.”
He had himself declared Emperor Faustin I in August 1849. He created a nobility. His coronation in April 1852 drained the public treasury of badly needed resources.
Soulouque’s administration was very repressive. Political assassinations were very common. He relied on goons known as Zinglins to enforce his dictatorial ways. Often at odds with his ministers, he had many of them executed. Several generals commanding Haitian forces during the second invasion of the Dominican Republic were accused of treason and shared the same fate. He even became suspicion of the trusted General Augustin Maximilien aka Similien, head of the presidential guard and of the Zinglins, who was publicly fired and thrown in prison. Where he died in 1848.
He called up on Lysius Salomon Jeune to serve as his Finance minister. A monopoly of agricultural crops like coffee and cotton, destined for exportation, was instituted. Those crops were highly taxed. Because these measures did little to reorganize the finances of the State, the monopoly system was abandoned. Minister Solomon then applied a 20% export tax in coffee, Haiti’s main crop. That taxation cleared the was for the country’s most outrageous misappropriation of public funds. The emperor and his entourage were among the first to take advantage of the situation.
In the field of agriculture, the iron fisted regime of Faustin I achieved some good results. In spite of that, the government grew poorer. The national treasury was empty. The debt of independence could not be paid, which resulted in a French fleet entering the bay of Port-au-Prince to threaten Haiti; Soulouque was ready to resist, but a confrontation was avoided.
The 1849 Constitution proclaimed that “education was free”, but it was neglected and few schools were created.
Like President Pierrot, President Soulouque/Emperor Faustin I believed that the eastern part of the island belonged to Haiti. He made two unsuccessful campaigns against the Dominicans in 1849 and 1855.
Under his administration, James Theodore Holly, who would play a major role in the immigration of African-Americans to Haiti, visited the country for the first time. He was warmly received by the Emperor/
An insurrection led by General Fabre Geffrard forced Faustin to abdicate in January 1859.
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