Duke Student Discovers Haiti's Declaration of Independence

Wow! Its amazing that such a document has lasted this long.

clipped from news.duke.edu DURHAM, N.C. -- A Duke University graduate student has discovered what is believed to be the only known printed copy of Haiti's Declaration of Independence. While researching the early independence of Haiti in February, Julia Gaffield found the document, an eight-page pamphlet dated Jan. 1, 1804, in the British National Archives in London. It is only the second declaration of its kind in the world, the first being the U.S. Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson and others. Gaffield, who is researching early 19th century Haiti for her doctoral dissertation in history, said the document had been overlooked in the British archives, even as researchers spent decades searching for it in Haiti. "I wasn't specifically looking for it, but I had an eye out for it because I knew it was missing," Gaffield said. "We figured there was an original somewhere, but didn't know if it still existed."