Haiti Historical Archive & Cultural Memory

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History • Memory • Justice

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Available inKreyòl · Français · EnglishEvery claim traces to evidence

Editorial illustration — not a historical document

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The 1825 French indemnity

Every claim traces to evidence

On 17 April 1825, Charles X issued an ordinance tying French recognition of Haitian independence to an indemnity of 150,000,000 francs for former colonists.

Claims

  • The ordinance set the indemnity at 150,000,000 francs

    Article 2 of the ordinance of 17 April 1825 required payment of 150,000,000 francs to the Caisse générale des dépôts et consignations de France for indemnification of former colonists.

    quantitativeDirect primary2 sourcesEvidence →

  • The ordinance set five equal annual instalments

    Article 2 required the 150,000,000 francs in five equal annual terms, with the first due on 31 December 1825.

    Disputed: This record describes the schedule created by the 1825 ordinance. It does not claim that the original schedule was ultimately followed unchanged or that every scheduled amount was actually paid as specified.

    factualDirect primary1 sourcesEvidence →

Financial record

Every figure travels with the source it came from and the place inside that source where it appears.

  1. 17 April 1825

    Indemnity required by the ordinance of 17 April 1825

    The total obligation stated in Article 2 of the ordinance.

    Amount
    150,000,000 FRF
    From
    Haiti
    To
    Caisse générale des dépôts et consignations de France
    Source

    Ordonnance de Charles X du 17 avril 1825, reproduced in Outre-Mers. Revue d'histoire, t. 90, n°340-341 (2003), p. 249. ↗

    Located at: Article 2
    The ordinance set the indemnity at 150,000,000 francs →
  2. 31 December 1825

    First scheduled instalment, due 31 December 1825

    One of five equal annual terms specified by Article 2. This is a scheduled obligation, not evidence that the instalment was actually paid on that date.

    Amount
    30,000,000 FRF
    From
    Haiti
    To
    Caisse générale des dépôts et consignations de France
    Source

    Ordonnance de Charles X du 17 avril 1825, reproduced in Outre-Mers. Revue d'histoire, t. 90, n°340-341 (2003), p. 249. ↗

    Located at: Article 2
    The ordinance set five equal annual instalments →

Totals

Totalled separately per currency. No combined figure is produced, because that would require exchange rates nobody here has cited.

  • 180,000,000 FRF· 2

Money flow

Built from the recorded endpoints. Amounts are only added together when they share both endpoints and the same currency.

  • Haiti180,000,000 FRFCaisse générale des dépôts et consignations de France

Calculation models

Several readings of the same sum may coexist. None of them is an official amount — there is no such designation.

The indemnity as stated in the 1825 ordinance

Base value
150,000,000 FRF
Base year
1825
Method
nominal
Result
150,000,000 FRF (1825)

The amount is reproduced directly from Article 2 with no conversion or adjustment.

Assumptions

The scanned Persée reproduction accurately transmits the promulgated ordinance text.

This is a nominal historical amount in francs of 1825. It is not a present-day valuation.

Re-derived from the stated parameters: matches.

Source inputs

  • Ordonnance de Charles X du 17 avril 1825, reproduced in Outre-Mers. Revue d'histoire, t. 90, n°340-341 (2003), p. 249. ↗

Value of one scheduled annual instalment

Base value
150,000,000 FRF
Base year
1825
Method
arithmetic division {"divisor":5}
Result
30,000,000 FRF (1825)

The 150,000,000-franc total stated in Article 2 is divided by the five equal annual terms specified in the same article.

Assumptions

The five terms are equal, as the ordinance states.

The calculated 30,000,000-franc amount describes the original schedule. It does not establish actual payment history.

Re-derived from the stated parameters: matches.

Source inputs

  • Ordonnance de Charles X du 17 avril 1825, reproduced in Outre-Mers. Revue d'histoire, t. 90, n°340-341 (2003), p. 249. ↗

Methodology

MigraTeck researched and wrote this dossier from cited historical sources. Primary evidence is preferred where available. External authors and repositories remain attributed and linked. Numerical models state their inputs, method, assumptions and limitations so readers can distinguish documentary facts from calculations.

Scope

This dossier covers the 1825 ordinance, the amount it imposed, and the five-instalment schedule it established. Every numerical statement is attached to its evidence.

What this dossier does not establish

Stated so the edges of the work are visible. Absence here means not-yet-evidenced, not zero.

This dossier does not yet claim what Haiti ultimately paid, when individual payments occurred, or which banks handled them. It does not state an inflation-adjusted or modern present value because no approved price-index model has been entered. Missing evidence is treated as unknown, never as zero.

Statements and responses

  • Published scholarly reproduction of the 1825 ordinance

    academicOutre-Mers. Revue d'histoire2003

    Ordonnance de Charles X du 17 avril 1825, reproduced in Outre-Mers. Revue d'histoire, t. 90, n°340-341 (2003), p. 249. ↗

Methodology and integrity

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