Jean-Nicolas Nissage Saget (; September 20, 1810 – April 7, 1880) preceded

Sylvain Salnave Sylvain Salnave (; February 6, 1827 – January 15, 1870) was a Haitian general who served as the President of Haïti from 1867 to 1869. He was elected president after he led the overthrow of President Fabre Geffrard. During his term there were c ...

as President of

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

in 1869. Coming into power by coup, Saget was the first Haitian president to serve out his term of office (1869–1874) and retire voluntarily, although his retirement led to a renewal of the political turmoil between blacks and the country's

mulatto ( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...

elites. He died in 1880.

Presidency

On March 19, 1870, the National Assembly elected General Nissage Saget President of Haiti for a term of four years, expiring on May 15, 1874. During his presidency, Saget attempted to observe the Constitution of 1867. The liberals sought drastic change rather than trying to extend public liberty gradually, including by introducing the parliamentary system, trying to subject the Executive Power to the legislative body, and compelling those members of the Cabinet who were not in sympathy with the House of Representatives to relinquish their offices. Misunderstandings with the President ensued. Notwithstanding, some useful reforms took place, the most important of them being the redeeming of Haiti's paper currency. During his presidency, Saget dealt with a number of diplomatic incidents, including the Batsch affair with Germany, the ''Hornet'' incident with Spain and the United States, and the United States' attempted annexation of neighboring Santo Domingo (the Dominican Republic). Despite these few minor troubles with the foreign powers, peace remained undisturbed. The transfer of power from Saget to his successor did not go smoothly. The House of Representatives and the Senate, which had met in April 1874, were to assemble in National Assembly in order to elect a new President. There were two candidates for the office:

Michel Domingue Michel Domingue (; July 28, 1813 – May 24, 1877) served as the president of Haiti from 14 June 1874 to 15 April 1876. Biography Michel Domingue was born in Les Cayes in 1813. He graduated from military training and became commander of Armed ...

(Commandant of the Southern Department, supported by Saget and his followers) and Pierre Monplaisir Pierre (the candidate of the liberal party). Many of Pierre's supporters withdrew from the House because of a dispute over the validity of a key Pierre supporter's election, meaning that there was no

quorum A quorum is the minimum number of members of a group necessary to constitute the group at a meeting. In a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature), a quorum is necessary to conduct the business of ...

for the presidential election. Saget's term was to expire on May 15, 1874, and the liberal party tried to persuade him to remain in power until his successor could be elected. He emphatically refused, and on May 14, 1874, he relinquished the presidency to the Council of the Secretaries of State, having previously appointed Michel Domingue Commander-in-Chief of the

Haitian Army Originating from the Army of Saint-Domingue (1791–1803), then the Indigenous Army (1803–1915), the Haitian Army (''Armée d'Haiti'') is the Land warfare, land component of the Armed Forces of Haiti. It is the largest branch of the armed forces ...

. On May 20, Saget left Port-au-Prince for

Saint-Marc Saint-Marc (; ) is a List of communes of Haiti, commune in western Haiti in Artibonite (department), Artibonite departement. Its geographic coordinates are . At the 2015 Census the commune had 266,642 inhabitants. It is one of the biggest cities ...

, on a donkey, where he lived until his death on April 7, 1880.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saget Nissage, Jean-Nicolas Presidents of Haiti 1810 births 1880 deaths People from Saint-Marc People of the Six Years' War