Fabre Geffrard

Common card · No. 471420

Guillaume Fabre Nicolas Geffrard (French pronunciation: [ɡijom fabʁ nikɔla ʒɛfʁaʁ]; 19 or 23 September 1806 – 31 December 1878), known as the "Redeemer of the Republic", was a mulatto general in the Haitian army and President of Haiti from 1859 until his deposition in 1867. On 18 April 1852, Faustin Soulouque made him Duke of Tabara. After collaborating in a coup to remove Faustin Soulouque from power in order to return Haiti to the social and political control of the colored elite, Geffrard was made president in 1859. To placate the peasants he renewed the practice of selling state-owned lands and ended a schism with the Roman Catholic Church which then took on an important role in improving education. After surviving several rebellions, he was overthrown by Major Sylvain Salnave in 1867. Geffrard was the first head of state of Haiti to have been born in the 19th century, as well as the first to be born after independence.

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