Jean-Jacques Dessalines
Jean-Jacques Dessalines (Haitian Creole pronunciation: Jan-Jak Desalin ; French: [ʒɑ̃ ʒak dɛsalin]; 20 September 1758 – 17 October 1806) was a leader of the Haitian Revolution and the first ruler of an independent Haiti under the 1805 constitution.
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Quotes
[edit]- Yes, we have replied to these real cannibals, war for war, crime for crime, outrage for outrage. Yes, I have saved my country. I have avenged America. With all my pride and glory, I swear this in front of all mortals and the Gods. What does the judgment pronounced on me by contemporary and future races matter? I did my duty, and I have kept my own self-respect that is enough for me. But what am I saying? The preservation of my unfortunate brothers, and the witness of my conscience are not my only recompense: I saw two classes of men who were born to love one another, to help and save one another, finally mixed and merged together, dashing toward vengeance, arguing who should have the honor of giving the first blow. Black and yellow, which the refined duplicity of the Europeans have so long sought to divide: you who today comprise a whole, a single family: do not doubt it, your perfect reconciliation had to be sealed with the blood of your executioners. You shared the same calamities, weighing on your heads, the same ardor for attacking your enemies, and the same promised fate. Now your common interests must render you forever one, indivisible and inseparable. Maintain this precious concord, this happy harmony among you. It secures your happiness, your salvation, your success. It is the secret of the invincible.
- Proclamation (28 April 1804), translated from French into English by Julia Gaffield in The Haiti Reader (2020)
Quotes about
[edit]- Hayti had much improved under his management, especially in agriculture. The towns, many of them, had been rebuilt, commerce extended, and the arts patronized. Military talents have been ascribed to Dessalines even superior to Toussaint. He certainly had great courage, but upon the battle field it seemed to be the headlong fury of the tiger rather than the calm deliberation of L'Ouverture. Of all the heroic men which the boiling caldron of the St. Domingo revolution threw upon its surface, for the purpose of meeting the tyrannical whites, of bringing down upon them terrible retribution for their long and cruel reign, and of vindicating the rights of the oppressed in that unfortunate island, the foremost place belongs to the African, the savage, the soldier, the general, the president, and lastly the emperor Jean Jacques Dessalines.
