25 Facts About Faustin Soulouque

Faustin Soulouque acquired autocratic powers, purged the army of the ruling elite, installed black loyalists in administrative positions and the nobility, and created a secret police and private army.

Faustin Soulouque was an enthusiastic vodouisant, maintaining a staff of bokors and manbos, and gave the stigmatized vodou religion semi-official status which was openly practiced in Port-au-Prince.

Faustin Soulouque was temporarily exiled to Jamaica before returning to Haiti where he died in 1867.

Faustin Soulouque was the last Haitian head of state to have participated in the Haitian Revolution, the last to have been born prior to independence, the last ex-slave and the last to officially style himself as a king or emperor.

Faustin Soulouque's mother, Marie-Catherine Faustin Soulouque, was born in Port-au-Prince in 1744, and was a creole of ethnic Mandinka descent.

Faustin Soulouque was freed as a result of a 1793 emancipation decree issued by Leger-Felicite Sonthonax, the Civil Commissioner of Saint-Domingue during the French Revolution, that abolished slavery in response to the Haitian Revolution that started in 1791.

Faustin Soulouque enlisted in the black revolutionary army in 1803 as a free citizen, as his freedom was in serious jeopardy due to attempts of the French government to re-establish slavery.

Faustin Soulouque fought as a private until 1804, when the conflict ended in revolutionary victory and Saint-Domingue achieved independence as Haiti.

Faustin Soulouque became a respected soldier during the conflict, and as a consequence he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Haitian Army in 1806, and made aide-de-camp to General Lamarre.

In 1810, Faustin Soulouque was appointed to the Horse Guards under President Alexandre Petion, and for the next four decades continued to serve in the Haitian military, rising to the rank of colonel under President Philippe Guerrier.

Faustin Soulouque was finally promoted to the highest command in the Haitian Army, attaining the rank of lieutenant general and Supreme Commander of the Presidential Guards under then-President Jean-Baptiste Riche.

At first Faustin Soulouque seemed to fill the role of puppet well, retaining the cabinet-level ministers of the former president and continued the programs of his predecessor.

However, within a short time, Faustin Soulouque surprisingly rejected his backers and began to consolidate himself as the absolute ruler of Haiti.

Faustin Soulouque placed heavy restrictions towards all opposition, and a wave of violence used against potential rivals led to numerous murders.

Faustin Soulouque maintained a resident staff of manbos and bokors at his residence in Port-au-Prince.

In December 1849, Faustin Soulouque married his long-time companion Adelina Leveque.

Faustin Soulouque attempted to create a strong centralized government, which while retaining a profoundly Haitian character, borrowed heavily from European traditions, especially those of the First French Empire.

In 1849, Faustin Soulouque launched his first invasion of the Dominican Republic, but his army fled after 400 Dominicans put up resistance at Ocoa.

Faustin Soulouque found himself in direct confrontation with the United States over Navassa Island, which had been seized from Haiti on the somewhat dubious grounds that guano had been discovered there.

Faustin Soulouque dispatched warships to the island in response to the incursion, but withdrew them after the United States guaranteed Haiti a portion of the revenues from the mining operations.

The question of who Faustin Soulouque really was is heavily disputed.

In every case we must conclude that Faustin Soulouque was a man of high intelligence, a realist, a pragmatist, and a superb, if ruthless politician and diplomat.

Jean-Joseph's eldest son, Prince Mainville-Joseph Faustin Soulouque, was created Prince Imperial of Haiti and heir apparent upon the succession of his uncle to the throne.

In 1858, a revolution against Faustin Soulouque was led by General Fabre Geffrard, Duc de Tabara, and in December of that year, Geffrard defeated Faustin Soulouque's army and seized control of most of Haiti.

Some records claim that he died in Kingston, but according to Haitian historian Jacques Nicolas Leger in his book Haiti, her History and her Detractors, Faustin Soulouque actually died in Petit-Goave in August 1867, having returned to Haiti at some point.