Louis Boisrond Tonnerre

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Louis Félix Mathurin Boisrond Tonnerre (aka Boisrond Tonerre) (June 6, 1776 Torbeck Saint-Domingue – October 20, 1806 Port-au-Prince, Haiti) a mulatto (Nicholls p. 36) served as Jean-Jacques Dessalines secretary. He drafted the final version of the Haitian Act of Independence which was read by Dessalines on the Place d'Armes of Gonaïves on January 1, 1804.

Tonnerre, while being drunk is said to have exclaimed, after reading a first draft of the Act of Independence by the mulatto Charéron: "All that which has been formulated is not in accordance with our true feelings; to draw up the Act of Independence, we need the skin of a white man for parchment, his skull for a writing desk [Inkwell?], his blood for ink, and a bayonet for pen." (Nicholls p. 36)

Boisrond Tonnerre was with Dessalines at Pont-Rouge north of Port-au-Prince (then Pont Larnage), on October 17, 1806 when Dessalines was assassinated in an ambush.


Louis Félix Mathurin Boisrond-Tonnerre (1776 - 1806), better known as simply Boisrond-Tonnerre, was a Haitian writer and historian. He is best known as the author of the 1804 Independence Act of Haiti, which formally declared Haiti's independence from the colonial rule of France. He is also known for his work chronicling the Haitian Revolution, Mémoires pour Servir à l'Histoire d'Haïti.

Boisrond-Tonnerre was born Louis Boisrond in Torbeck in southwest Haiti. He acquired the name "Tonnerre", French for "thunder", as an infant when his cradle was hit by lightning. His father, amazed that his infant son was unharmed, gave him the name "Tonnerre". Boisrond-Tonnerre studied in France before returning to Haiti.

On an earlier occasion Dessalines had been introduced to a Boisrond-Tonnerre. Though very different in both physique and education the two formed an instant bond. They shared the same violent characteristics and both were driven by the same implacable hatred of all whites. In anticipation of proclaiming the independence of Haiti on Jan. 1, 1804, Dessalines had one of his secretaries prepare the necessary proclamation.

When the leaders were reunited at the home of Dessalines on Dec. 31, 1803, to review it, Tonnerre felt that it was much too mild and declared it should be written on parchment made from the skin of a white! When the same group met at 7 a.m. the next day at the Place d'Armes in Gonaives for the independence ceremony Tonnerre was missing.

Soon found, it was learned that he had spent the entire previous night rewriting the proclamation, which was the one actually read. It was not on human parchment, but was vindictive and considered sublime by Haitians and classified Tonnerre as the father of the Act of Independence. Boisrond-Tonnerre was accorded heroes recognition on .


[edit] References Schutt-Ainé, Patricia, Staff of Librairie Au Service de la Culture (1994). Haiti: A Basic Reference Book. Miami, Florida: Librairie Au Service de la Culture, p. 90. ISBN 0-9638599-0-0.

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Reference

  • Nicholls, David (1996). From Dessalines to Duvalier. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-8135-2239-0
  • Généalogie d'Haïti et Saint-Domingue: Boisrond Tonnerre