On 1 January 1804 , Dessalines , the new leader under the dictatorial 1805 constitution , declared Haiti a free republic in the name of the Haitian people , which was followed by the massacre of the remaining whites . Dessalines ' secretary Boisrond-Tonnerre stated , " For our declaration of independence , we should have the skin of a white man for parchment , his skull for an inkwell , his blood for ink , and a bayonet for a pen ! " Haiti was the first independent nation in Latin America , the first post-colonial independent black-led nation in the world , and the only nation whose independence was gained as part of a successful slave rebellion . The country was damaged from years of war , its agriculture devastated , its formal commerce nonexistent . The country , therefore , had to be rebuilt . To realise this goal Dessalines adopted the economic organisation of serfdom . He proclaimed that every citizen would belong to one of two categories , laborer or soldier . Furthermore , he proclaimed the mastery of the state over the individual and consequently ordered that all laborers would be bound to a plantation . To avoid the appearance of slavery , however , Dessalines abolished the ultimate symbol of slavery , the whip . Likewise , the working day was shortened by a third . Dessalines ' chief motivator nonetheless was production and to this aim he granted much freedom to the plantations ' overseers . Barred from using the whip , many instead turned to lianes , which were thick vines abundant throughout the island , to persuade the laborers to keep working . Dessalines effectively sent the Haitian people back into slavery . Nevertheless , he succeeded in rebuilding much of the countryside and in raising production levels
massacre of the remaining whites
1804 Haiti massacre
Haitian Revolution