Florida Senate - 2020                                     SM 974
       
       
        
       By Senator Pizzo
       
       
       
       
       
       38-01012-20                                            2020974__
    1                           Senate Memorial                         
    2         A memorial to the Congress of the United States,
    3         urging Congress to recognize October 17 as Jean
    4         Jacques Dessalines Day.
    5  
    6         WHEREAS, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, regarded as one of the
    7  founding fathers of Haiti, is celebrated as a leader who fought
    8  for and attained freedom for Haiti’s people, and
    9         WHEREAS, as a military leader during the Haitian
   10  Revolution, Dessalines went on to serve as the first ruler of an
   11  independent Haiti under the 1805 constitution, and
   12         WHEREAS, the generals of the Haitian Revolution Army
   13  proclaimed Dessalines as the Emperor of Haiti in 1804, crowning
   14  him as Emperor Jacques I, and
   15         WHEREAS, under Dessalines, Haiti became the first country
   16  in the Americas to permanently abolish slavery, and
   17         WHEREAS, Dessalines served as emperor until his
   18  assassination during a military revolt on October 17, 1806, the
   19  anniversary of which is celebrated in Haiti as Dessalines Day,
   20  NOW, THEREFORE,
   21  
   22  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   23  
   24         That the Congress of the United States is urged to
   25  recognize October 17 as Jean-Jacques Dessalines Day.
   26         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State dispatch
   27  copies of this memorial to the President of the United States,
   28  the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the
   29  United States House of Representatives, and each member of the
   30  Florida delegation to the United States Congress.