By this gesture, they publicly designated that this country no longer wanted to be recognized as a French territory and that the people who lived on this land preferred to be dead rather than be slaves. "Liberté ou la Mort!" meaning "Liberty or Death" had become the new motto as it had already been embraced at the Ceremony held on August 14, 1791.

Haiti's first flag was sewn by a lady named Catherine Flon at the Congress.