Also known as: Dessalines letter to Jefferson, Dessalines to the President 1803, Dessalines to the President of the United States — June 23, 1803
Last updated: April 16, 2026
On June 23, 1803, Dessalines wrote to Thomas Jefferson seeking diplomatic recognition and trade relations for the emerging Haitian state. The letter survives in the Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress and was sent as part of a coordinated diplomatic strategy alongside the Nugent letter. Jefferson never responded, and the letter's survival in the presidential archive documents both the reach of Dessalines's diplomatic outreach and the deliberate American silence that followed.
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Jean-Jacques Dessalines. "Dessalines to the President of the United States — June 23, 1803." 1803. Rasin.ai, https://rasin.ai/connections/sources/dessalines-jefferson-letter-1803. Accessed 2026-05-05.