Jean-Jacques Dessalines

The Full Profile

Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Leader of Haitian Independence, led the final phase of Haiti's war for independence and declared the new nation independent in 1804. Dessalines, born enslaved in Saint-Domingue, became a revolutionary general and later commander of Haitian forces after Toussaint Louverture's capture. He defeated Napoleon's expeditionary army and declared Haitian independence in 1804. His rule remains historically consequential and controversial, but Haiti's independence permanently altered Atlantic politics. After the victory at Vertières he proclaimed independence and restored the island's Taíno name: Haiti; his constitution offered citizenship to Black and Native people who reached Haitian shores, and the national anthem still bears his name.