document the mission to eliminate slavery in the Caribbean, regenerate the black race, and place
Haiti at the center of a new Antillean federation.^147
In this first stanza, however, the description of Dessalines reads ambiguously. Thepowerful Emperor has conquered Independence and has marked history, what had undoubtedly
been primarily a Western-narrated history up to this point, but has a bloody stain been left on the
past? The last verse qualifies this history as a national one, but has Haitian history been marred
by a reputation of violence? Multiple readings of “il foula cette gloire” also lead to divergent
interpretations: Dessalines may have merely disregarded personal glory in the pursuit of national
independence, or trampled glory with ruthless actions, white genocide, suppression of mulatto
claims to property, and civil war. Finally, the meaning of “du sang fraternal” is the most
puzzling of all, possibly suggesting that it was by the strength of his brothers that Dessalines was
victorious. In this way, the “fraternal” nature of this revolution could refer to the larger anti-
colonial and race-based struggles which Haitian slaves, under Dessalines’ leadership, were the
first to undertake. Conversely, these verses could also lend the reading that Dessalines
committed fratricide, sacrificing whatever lives were necessary to achieve his goals. As the
poem points out, Dessalines was an Emperor and not an elected official. Despite national pride,
current historical studies elucidate Dessalines’ despotism and imposition of forced labor to
maintain the plantation system.^148 The beginning of the next stanza seems to confirm this
ambiguity, while also shifting the portrait of Dessalines in the more positive of the two
directions:
Pourtant il était beau, quand tirant nu son glaive,^149(^147) See articles in L’Union from le 18 octobre 1838, among others.
(^148) Michel Trouillot, Haiti: State Against Nation: The Origins and Legacy of Duvalerism (New York: Monthly
Review Press, 1990) 43-45.
(^149) Emphasis added.