Early Haitian State and the Question of Political Legitimacy

James Forde received his PhD from Griffith University, Australia, in 2017, where he has also taught a range of history subjects. His research interests include transatlantic print culture in the early nineteenth century, and the impact of revolutionary movements on American and British political thought.

• 1. Introduction.- 2. “The Bonaparte of the New World”: American and British Reactions to the Emergence of Emperor Dessalines.- 3. President Christophe and Commercial Legitimacy.- 4. King Christophe and the Question of Monarchical Legitimacy.- 5. The Death of a New World Monarch: Regicidal Imaginings in Transatlantic Republican Thought.- 6. The Promise and the Threat of Boyer and Haitian Republicanism.- 7. Conclusion.