Constitution of Haiti


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As a French colony, Haiti was a leading supplier of sugar and, as such, was France's most lucrative colony—and, in fact, the most lucrative European colony in the world. It had been under the firm control of the French since 1697, when the Treaty of Ryswick divided the island of Hispaniola between France, which controlled Saint Domingue (the western third of the island), and Spain, which controlled the Dominican Republic. White landowners developed immense plantations for the raising...