The historian Beaubrun Ardouin was born 230 years ago

230 years ago, on October 30, 1796, Beaubrun Ardouin was born in Petit-Trou-de-Nippes. A historian and politician, he wrote Études sur l'Histoire d'Haïti, published between 1853 and 1865.

Un autodidacte au service de l'État

Having grown up during the revolutionary period, Ardouin had little formal schooling and educated himself, drawing inspiration from Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau. A printer, then a lawyer at the Port-au-Prince bar, substitute judge, and government commissioner, he became a senator in 1832 under Jean-Pierre Boyer. Imprisoned in 1843 after the fall of Boyer, he served in 1845 on the Council of Secretaries of State, which exercised executive power. In 1848, he was resident minister in Paris. He also served as vice-president under Jean-Louis Pierrot.

Une lecture de la révolution

In his work, Ardouin compared the Haitian revolution to other national revolutions across the American continent, setting aside issues of race and class. Coming from a free family before the revolution, he presented free men of color as its natural leaders. His principal opponent was the historian Thomas Madiou, who defended the memory of Black heroes, led by Toussaint Louverture.

Une famille de lettrés

Alongside his brothers Céligny, a politician and historian, and Coriolan, a poet, he belonged to "L'École de 1836," founded by Ignace Nau. Céligny was executed in 1849, and Beaubrun published his Essais sur l'Histoire d'Haïti in 1865. Beaubrun Ardouin died in Port-au-Prince on August 30, 1865.