Dessalines had not designated a successor prior…

Dessalines had not designated a successor prior to his murder, and a number of candidates present themselves after his death.

The leading contender from the north is Henri Christophe, but he is not popular enough in the south to offset the desire there for a mulatto leader.

Consequently, the Constituent Assembly works out an arrangement that creates a weak presidency and a strong legislature.

Christophe will be president, and Alexandre Pétion will head the legislature, thus beginning a tradition of "politics by understudies" (politique de doublure), where, typically, a black president will be manipulated from behind the scenes by a mulatto.

However, this arrangement fails because Christophe is not content to be a figurehead president.