Jean-Pierre Boyer (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ pjɛʁ bwaje]; 15 February 1776 – 9 July 1850) was one of the leaders of the Haitian Revolution, and the president of Haiti from 1818 to 1843.

[4] After going into exile in France, Boyer and Alexandre Pétion returned in 1802 with the French troops led by General Charles Leclerc.

After it became clear the French were going to try to reimpose slavery and restrictions on free gens de couleur, Boyer joined the patriots under Pétion and Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who led the colony to independence.

[5] When Santo Domingo became independent late in 1821, Boyer was quick to occupy and gain control, uniting the entire island under his rule by 9 February 1822.

[6] After the uprising of African slaves in the north of Saint-Domingue in 1791, Boyer joined with the French Commissioners and went there to fight against the grand blancs (plantation owners) and royalists.

While other mulatto leaders surrendered to Toussaint Louverture in southern Saint-Domingue, Boyer escaped to France with Rigaud and Alexandre Pétion.

[7] At the time, the United States supported French efforts to re-establish control over the colony, and France dispatched 20,000 troops to Saint-Dominingue.

By early 1802, Rigaud and other leaders learned that the French intended to take away the civil rights of mulattoes and re-institute slavery for former slaves in Saint-Domingue (as they had managed to do in Guadeloupe.)

Alexandre Pétion and Henri Christophe competed to rule Haiti, and represented the split between the urban mulatto elite of the South and the black former slaves of the North, respectively.

[13] Boyer sought to protect his country from the danger of France or Spain re-taking the Spanish side of the island and using it as a foothold to attack or re-conquer Haiti.

[citation needed] After promising protection to several Dominican frontier governors and securing their allegiance, in February 1822 Boyer annexed the newly independent state with a force of 50,000 soldiers.

[citation needed] By awarding land to Haitian military officers at the expense of former members of the Spanish forces of Santo Domingo, Boyer reduced his influence with the Spanish-Haitian leadership.

[citation needed] He continued the policy of Pétion, his former political mentor, of helping free blacks in other Spanish-American colonies to resist the Spanish crown.

[citation needed] Boyer ignored Haitian political opponents who called for reforms, such as parliamentary democracy, and veteran generals of the War of Independence, who believed that the revolution was not complete and that they were being neglected.

[citation needed] Boyer, and his assistants, Joseph Balthazar Inginac and Jonathas Granville, were deeply involved with the massive migration of black Americans to Haiti in 1824.

The term failure, then, should be applied to the prospects the Haitian government had with the migrants and the idea many white philanthropists in the U.S. had of relocating the entire black population out of the country.

[citation needed] Dewey proposed establishing a colony for American free blacks that would be separate from the rest of the island, with its own laws, legislature, etc.

Beginning in September 1824, nearly 6,000 Americans, mostly free blacks, migrated to Haiti within a year, with ships departing from New York, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

[15] Due to the poverty of the island and the inability of Boyer's administration to help support the new immigrants in the transition, most returned to the United States within a short period of time.