appreciating the gathering of a government of national unity – a rare occurrence in the history of Haiti – bringing together former opponents who were invited to bury the hatchet, such as Georges Rigaud and Daniel Fignolé, and representatives of all social and political tendencies except the communists . The rapid implementation of an ambitious social and economic program, which met the needs of the majority, did the rest. The 1946 Constitution On November 22, 1946 the National Constituent Assembly, under the chairmanship of Senator Jean Bélizaire, voted on the new Constitution of the Republic of Haiti, following the previous 1935 Constitution. This new constitution protected fundamental freedoms and guaranteed the rights of the Haitian people. It also established a presidential system under which the President of the Republic, elected for six years, was endowed with a field of competence ranging from the definition of major political orientations to the control of government actions, diplomacy and the army. The 1946 Constitution introduced the habeas corpus principle. This principle guaranteed that a person under arrest had the right to a quick presentation before a judge, so they could rule on the validity of their arrest. This provision is the basis for the rule of law. This constitution also prohibited extradition for political reasons. It made the separation of the army and the police, as well as annual paid leave, compulsory. The Constitution of 1946, unlike that of 1935, did not grant the executive power a hand on Legislature, the Judiciary, nor the title of Chief of the Armed Forces for the acting President of the Republic of Haiti. Economic and Social Reforms Poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, deficient and under-exploited agricultural systems, financial difficulties, endemic diseases, deeply rooted social divisions – these are the difficulties which the government of 1946 had to tackle in the aftermath of the Second World War, which had further worsened Haiti’s economic situation. It was necessary first to clean up the financial situation and free the Republic of Haiti from financial supervision imposed by the United States following the conventions and protocols forced by the American occupier (1915, 1917 and 1922), and from the 1922 loan, contracted to balance previous loans with the French in 1875, 1896, and 1910. In December 1946, Estimé dispatched to President Harry Truman in Washington a ‘goodwill mission’ composed by the Minister of Finance, Gaston Margron; the Minister of External Relations, Jean Price-Mars;