Constitution of Haiti
Constitution of 2012
The Constitution of Haiti (French: Constitution d'Haïti, Haitian Creole: Konstitisyon Ayiti) is the supreme law of the Republic of Haiti. It was modeled after the constitutions of the United States, Poland and France. The latest version of the document was approved by Parliament in March 2011 and came into effect on June 20, 2012.
History
A total of 22 constitutions have been promulgated throughout Haiti's history, before the first constitution, a colonial constitution was promulgated under the short-lived government of then-Governor-General in 1801 Toussaint Louverture, who had become one of the leaders of the revolutionary forces in the Haitian Revolution.
First Constitution of Hayti as a free country promulgated by Jacques I.
Constitution of 1806, for the southern Republic of Haiti, written largely by Alexandre Pétion.
Constitution of 1807 formalized a northern State of Haiti with Christophe as its President for Life and a small appointed Council of State, composed primarily of generals. Banned divorce and public exercise of any religion other than Catholicism, and suspended operation of the constitution at any location attended by the army. Unusual in its omission of any prohibition against white ownership of land.
Constitution of 1811 for the northern State of Haiti, establishing a hereditary monarchy under Christophe. Again, prohibition against white ownership of land was omitted.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Constitution of Haiti” as constitution of 2012. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as constitution of 2012. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q19883868. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2011, 2012, 1801 and 1806.
Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Constitution of Haiti”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Constitution of Haiti primary sources, Constitution of Haiti archive and Constitution research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Constitution of Haiti”?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
- Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Constitution of Haiti” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.