Bruno Blanchet

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Bruno Blanchet (1760–1822) was secretary of state of the Republic of Haiti.

Political context[edit]

By nationalizing the land left abandoned by French planters, Jean-Jacques Dessalines incurred the emnity of those who sought to become landowners based on their family ties.[1] Blanchet was fired from his post as treasurer of Jérémie and became an agent of Henri Christophe tasked with convincing general Nicolas Geffrard to lead an insurrection against Dessalines,[2] who was assassinated by his collaborators on 17 October 1806 in Pont-Rouge north of Port-au-Prince.[3]

During the secession of the North of Haiti by King Henry, the South of the country became a republic under the military authority of Alexander Pétion. During the first months of 1807, there was no civilian leader of the new republic.

Political responsibility[edit]

Bruno Blanchet took part in the Constituent Assembly on 18 December 1806. He was one of the dominant voices in the crafting of a democratic constitution with a rigid separation of powers between the Senate and the President, which Pétion thought Christophe would not accept. It was adopted by the national assembly on 27 December 1806.[4] As expected, Christophe did not accept the terms of this new Constitution, refused the presidency and subsequently tried but failed to take Port-au-Prince in early January 1807. Pushed back by Pétion's army, he retreated to his stronghold in the North leaving the position of president vacant.[5][6]

Bruno Blanchet was named Secretary of State on 19 January 1807.[7]

On 10 March 1807, Alexander Pétion officially became President of the Republic and appointed Bruno Blanchet Secretary General of the Government.[8]

Bibliography[edit]

  • Dubois, Laurent (2012). Haiti: The Aftershocks of History. New York: Picador.
  • Gaffield, Julia (October 2015). "The "States of Hayti" and the British Empire". Haitian Connections In the Atlantic World: Recognition after Revolution. University of North Carolina Press. doi:10.5149/northcarolina/9781469625621.003.0006.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Dubois 2012, pp. 47–48.
  2. ^ Madiou fils 1848, pp. 226, 273.
  3. ^ "Anniversary of the death of Dessalines". Archived from the original on 2013-07-01. Retrieved 2017-05-03.
  4. ^ Madiou fils 1848, pp. 370–375.
  5. ^ Dubois 2012, p. 57.
  6. ^ Text of the Constitution of 1806
  7. ^ Janvier, Louis Joseph (1886). Les constitutions d'Haïti, 1801-1885 (in French). Paris: Marpon et Flammarion. p. 81.
  8. ^ De Saint-Domingue à Haïti, 1791-1870 Par Leslie Jean-Robert Péan