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Thursday, April 01, 2010

Haiti's Declaration of Independence discovered at The National Archives (UK)

Haiti's Declaration of Independence discovered at The National Archives (UK)"After more than 50 years of searching, the only known printed copy of Haiti's Declaration of Independence has been discovered at The National Archives in Kew. Julia Gaffield, from America's Duke University, found the eight page pamphlet dated 1 January 1804 within The National Archives' colonial correspondence relating to Jamaica. The graduate student said: 'I was hoping that the original [Declaration] would be in London, but I wasn't certain that it would be. It wasn't a surprise, but it was very exciting!' The Declaration was attached to a letter sent on 20 January 1804 by Jean-Jacques Dessalines, first ruler and Governor-General of the Republic of Haiti, to Sir George Nugent, Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica. This document is only the second declaration of its kind in the world, the first being the US Declaration of Independence, printed on 4 July 1776."

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