GonaÃ ves is also known as City of Independence because it was there that Jean-Jacques Dessalines declared Haiti independent from France on 1 January 1804 . GonaÃ ves is also known as Haiti 's City of Independence because it was there that Jean-Jacques Dessalines declared Haiti , the former Saint-Domingue , independent from France on January 1 , 1804 by reading the Act of Independence , drafted by Boisrond Tonnerre , on the Place d'Armes of the town .