1969 GOLD HAITI 40 GOURDES "JJ DESSALINES" NGC PROOF 68 ULTRA CAMEO ONLY 435 MINTED

REPUBLIC OF HAITI

REIGN OF PRESIDENT FOR LIFE FRANCOIS "PAPA DOC" DUVALIER (1957-1971)

COMMEMORATING JEAN-JACQUES DESSALINES, FIRST RULER OF AN INDEPENDENT HAITI (1804-1806)

CERTIFIED BY NGC PROOF 68 ULTRA CAMEO

OBV: NATIONAL ARMS; DENOMINATION AND DATE BENEATH.

REV: 3/4 FACING UNIFORMED PORTRAIT BUST OF DESSALINES FLANKED BY LIFE DATES.

KM # 73

MOST HISTORIANS BELIEVE THAT JEAN-JACQUES DESSALINES (b. 1758, D. 1806) WAS BORN A SLAVE IN WHAT WAS THEN THE FRENCH COLONY OF SAINT-DOMINGUE (THE ISLAND OF HISPANIOLA). HE WAS A LABORER IN THE SUGAR CANE FIELDS AND ROSE TO BECOME A FOREMAN. AT THE AGE OF 30, HE WAS PURCHASED BY A FREED BLACK MAN, AND TOOK THE MAN'S LAST NAME, DESSALINES. HE JOINED THE SLAVE REVOLT WHICH LED TO THE HAITIAN REVOLUTION, AND BEGAN IN 1791. HE ROSE TO THE RANK OF LIEUTENANT AND JOINED SPANISH FORCES TRYING TO OUST THE FRENCH FROM SAINT-DOMINGUE. IN THAT SERVICE HE MET TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE, THEN A RISING MILITARY COMMANDER WHO WAS ALSO A FORMER SLAVE COMMITTED TO ENDING SLAVERY. LOUVERTURE, WHO WOULD BECOME KNOWN AS "THE BLACK NAPOLEON", JOINED THE FRENCH ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC IN 1794 AFTER THE FRENCH DECLARED AN END TO SLAVERY. JEAN-JACQUES DESSALINES BECAME LOUVERTURE'S LIEUTENANT, AND BY 1794 HAD BEEN PROMOTED TO BRIGADIER GENERAL. FIGHTING AGAINST THE SPANISH AND BRITISH, DESSALINES WON MANY MILITARY ENGAGEMENTS, EMPLOYING BRUTAL TACTICS, BURNING HOMES AND VILAGES TO THE GROUND, AND EMBRACING A "TAKE NO PRISONERS" POLICY.  THE REBELLIOUS SLAVES RESTORED MOST OF THE COLONY TO FRENCH RULE AND LOUVRETURE WAS NAMED GOVERNOR GENERAL. AFTER LOUVERTURE NAMED HIMSELF GOVERNOR FOR LIFE, THE FRENCH, NOW UNDER THE RULE OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, SENT A FLEET WITH A LARGE ARMY TO RE-ESTABLISH DIRECT CONTROL OF THE COLONY. DESSALINES DEFEATED THE NAPOLEONIC ARMY AT THE BATTLE OF CRÊTE-À-PIERROT. THE SAVAGE TACTICS OF THE FRENCH FORCES, AND THE FRENCH INTENTIONS TO RE-ESTABLISH SLAVERY, UNIFIED THE REBEL FACTIONS. WHEN LOUVRETURE WAS BETRAYED AND CAPTURED IN 1802, DESSALINES BECAME THE LEADER OF THE REVOLUTION. HIS FORCES ACHIEVED SEVERAL VICTORIES OVER THE FRENCH WHOSE RANKS HAD ALREADY BEEN DEPLETED BY YELLOW FEVER. THE LAST BATTLE OF THE REVOLUTION, THE BATTLE OF VERTIÈRES, LED TO THE SURRENDER OF THE FRENCH COMMANDER AND HIS FORCES IN 1803. THE LAST REMAINING COLONIAL ARMY OF NAPOLEON ON THE ISLAND SURRENDERED THAT SAME YEAR, CULMINATING IN THE ONLY SLAVE REBELLION IN HISTORY SUCCEEDING IN ESTABLISHING AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY. DESSALINES ORDERED ALL ROYALISTS KILLED TO ENSURE THE COUNTRY WOULD REMAIN INTACT. IN 1804, DESSALINES RATIFIED A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, AND DECLARED HIMSELF EMPEROR JACQUES I OF HAITI SHORTLY THEREAFTER. DASSALINES FORBID WHITE PEOPLE FROM OWNING PROPERTY OR LAND AND DECLARED HAITI AN ALL BLACK NATION. HE DAMANDED ALL BLACKS EITHER SERVE IN THE ARMY OR ON THE PLANTATIONS. IN THE 1804 HAITI MASSACRE HE HAD ALL WHITES KILLED. HE ENFORCED REGIMENTED PLANTATION LABOR STRICTLY COERCED BY HIS MILITARY. MANY BLACKS COMPLAINED THEY WERE IN SLAVERY ONCE AGAIN. OTHER LEADERS OF THE REVOLUTION, LIKE HENRI CHRISTOPHE AND ALEXANDRE PÉTION, CONSPIRED AGAINST HIS REMOVAL. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS DEATH ARE UNCERTAIN, AND MANY VERSIONS HAVE BEEN TOLD, BUT IN 1806 HE WAS ASSASSINATED. REVILED AFTER HIS DEATH AS A HATED TYRANT, THE 20th CENTURY ASSESSMENT PAINTED HIM AS AN ICON OF HATIAN NATIONALISM. THE HAITIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM AND A CITY ARE NAMED AFTER HIM, AND HE IS REGARDED AS ONE OF HAITI'S FOUNDING FATHERS.

CONTAINS 12.15 GRAMS OF .585 FINE GOLD (.2285 OZ AGW)

26 MM IN DIAMETER

ONLY ISSUED IN THE PROOF SET IN 1969 MINTAGE OF 435

THE HAITIAN REVOLUTION BEGAN IN 1791 AND ENDED IN 1804. KRAUSE CATALOG CALLS MOST HAITIAN COINS ISSUED FROM 1967-1970 "10th ANIVERSARY OF THE REVOLUTION" ISSUES. THIS IS ERRONEOUS. "PAPA DOC" WAS ENTRENCHED IN 1957, THE ISSUES ARE MORE LIKLEY HAVING TO DO WITH THE START OF HIS REIGN. HE WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT BY POPULAR VOTE, AND THOUGH HIS RULE WAS A BLOODY ONE, THERE WAS NO REVOLUTION BRINGING HIM TO POWER.

"IC" MINTMARK