The death toll in Haiti has climbed beyond 500 people after the area was hit by a hurricane.
While Hurricane Hanna did little damage as it raced past the Bahamas and posed only a moderate threat to the US East Coast, the death toll in Haiti has risen steadily as the floods unleashed by its torrential rains began to recede.
At least 495 bodies have been found in the mud-heaped port city of Gonaives, where thousands survived by climbing on rooftops, bringing the death toll to 529.
Ships and planes have begun to arrive with desperately needed aid for Haiti, which has been hit by three deadly storms in less than a month. Scotsman.com News
Read more about the fascinating history of Haiti on Wikipedia
Upon assuming power, General Dessalines authorized the Constitution of 1804. This constitution, in terms of social freedoms, called for:
1. Freedom of Religion.
2. All citizens of Haiti, regardless of skin color, to be known as "Black." (This was an attempt to eliminate the multi-tiered racial hierarchy which had developed in Haiti, with full-blooded Europeans at the top, various levels of light to brown skin in the middle, and dark skinned "Kongo" from Africa at the bottom).
3. White men were forbidden from possessing property or domain on Haitian soil. Should the French return to reimpose slavery, Article 5 of the constitution declared: "At the first shot of the warning gun, the towns shall be destroyed and the nation will rise in arms."