The Army of Sufferers : peasant democracy in the early Republic of Haiti

Abstract

Focuses on Haitian debates concerning popular political participation in the context of the Liberal Revolution of 1843 and the Piquet Rebellion of 1844. The liberal challenge to the regime of President Boyer gave room to a peasant movement, the 'Army of Sufferers' or the Piquets, calling for black civil and political rights. Author traces 3 phases of the revolutionary situation of 1843-44 to show how political actors within Haiti debated various institutional and constitutional arrangements.

Keywords

• Haiti
• political history