HR 9125 2003
1	House Resolution
2	A resolution recognizing the 200th anniversary of Haitian
3	Independence and declaring January 1, 2004, "Republic of
4	Haiti Day" in Florida.
5
6	WHEREAS, a self-educated man of African ancestry and a
7	former slave, Toussaint L'Ouverture joined the Haitian slave
8	revolt, a 1791 black slave uprising against the French colonial
9	regime, and became its organizational genius, and
10	WHEREAS, although made a general by the French in 1795 for
11	his role in effecting the withdrawal of British militia from the
12	island, in 1801 Brigadier General Toussaint L'Ouverture was
13	challenged by forces of Napoleon Bonaparte in a move that soon
14	led to a truce but that resulted in Toussaint L'Ouverture's
15	being taken by trickery and sent to France, where he died in a
16	dungeon on April 7, 1803, and
17	WHEREAS, almost nine months later, after 10 years of
18	struggle and uprising, the French army was forced to abandon
19	Mole Saint-Nicolas in Haiti's last battle for independence, and
20	on January 1, 1804, the island nation of Haiti became the second
21	nation in the Western Hemisphere, after the United States, to
22	win complete independence, and
23	WHEREAS, because of the success of the Haitian Revolution,
24	Napoleon had no choice but to abandon his plan to secure a
25	stronghold in Louisiana from which to invade the Thirteen
26	States, and America was left to pursue its democratic destiny in
27	peace and, through the Louisiana Purchase, to extend its
28	territory westward into new frontiers, NOW, THEREFORE,
29
30	Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of
31	Florida:
32
33	That the Members of the House of Representatives
34	acknowledge their kindred spirit with the citizens of Haiti and
35	all people of Haitian descent in their fierce love of freedom
36	and join them in the joyful celebration of the 200th anniversary
37	of Haitian independence.
38	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives
39	declares January 1, 2004, "Republic of Haiti Day" in Florida.