Istwa Nou

In August 1931 the public works department, the health service and the wrecked Service Technique were handed back to Haitian control. Haiti could pass its own laws again without submitting them to the American legation, and the national bank could pay government warrants without an American signature. Colonel Little, back at the head of the marine brigade and genuinely liked in Port au Prince, ended martial law and ordered that the flagpole at the barracks flying the American colours be cut down until it stood lower than the flagpole at the palace. Two things remained. A treaty had to replace the one imposed in 1915, and a constitution had to replace that of 1918. The constitution of 1932 was presented as liberal, kept Louis Borno's amendments of 1927, concentrated more power in the palace, and quietly preserved the clause allowing foreigners to own land. The assembly then rejected the treaty. The way around it was an executive agreement between the two presidents, signed on 7 August 1933.