The Cost of Independence: Haiti's Claim for Restitution of the 1825 Indemnity Imposed by France

For 20 years following Saint-Domingue’s declaration of independence (1804), the governments of France and Haiti negotiated to settle the dispute generated by that declaration. The French tried to bring their colony back under French sovereignty before accepting the principle of Haitian “independence” if Haiti remained a protectorate of France. In 1825, the French government demanded that the Haitian government accept an ordinance issued by king Charles X granting full independence to Haiti in exchange for fiscal privileges and the payment of an indemnity amounting to 150 million francs. Faced with the threat of a blockade of Haitian ports, President Boyer accepted the ordinance. France later agreed to reduce the indemnity to 90 million francs, a sum that Haiti fully paid.

On the eve of the bicentennial of Haitian independence (2004), the issue of the indemnity was “resurrected” by Haitian president Aristide. He demanded that the French government repay with interest to his country the “ransom” disbursed during the 19^th century: a sum amounting to 17 billion euros. For the past 10 years, calls for restituting to Haiti the indemnity have made the issue a hot topic of debate on both sides of the Atlantic. This paper will examine the history of the indemnity, the various facets of its “resurrection” as a claim for restitution and the debate that has surrounded it during the past decade.