Faustin Soulouque had been enslaved until 1793, could write little beyond his name, and commanded the presidential guard when deadlocked ministers settled on him as a compromise in March 1847. They expected a figurehead. Brandon's sketch follows what they got instead.

The country he inherited was unrecognized abroad, pressed for payment of foreign claims, divided north from south and black from mulatto, and had run through three presidents in three years. Soulouque outlasted his ministers, put down the killings of April 1848, and turned to bringing the eastern part of the island back under Haitian authority, winning at Azua before his troops were routed at Ocoa. To dispel the gloom after that defeat he was proclaimed emperor in 1849 and crowned in 1852 with regalia bought abroad.

The invasions failed, and in January 1859, his soldiers deserting to Geffrard, he sailed into exile.