The emblem was adopted with the independence of the country in 1807. The use of the symbol was interrupted twice; once was during the period of Henri I. The then president Henri Christophe had declared himself as the emperor of Haiti and adopted a royal coat of arms. On the gold coat of arms was a phoenix rising from its flames with pentagrams around it, and the motto Je renais de mes cendres (in Spanish, I will rise from my ashes) inscribed on a ribbon outlining the shield. . Two magnificently crowned lions support either side of the shield, and the motto Dieu ma cause et mon épée (in Spanish, God, my country and my sword) was placed at the bottom. In 1811, after the proclamation of General Henri Christophe as King of Haiti, a coat of arms in an azure field was spread on the flag with a gold phoenix surmounted by five-pointed stars and bearing the Latin motto Ex Cineribus on its border. Nascitur ("From the ashes we will rise"), with a crown ringing the bell. The proclamation of the President General Faustin Soulouque as Emperor of Haiti under the name of Faustino I in 1849 led to the dissemination of a new emblem. The coat of arms adopted by Soulouque consisted of an azure field with a palm tree highlighted by a golden eagle, in the Napoleonic style, on two pieces of artillery crossed in a cross. The set, represented according to the heraldic fashion of the 19th century, was completed with two lions as a support and stamped with a crown with a motto, all on a purple mantle.

After the overthrow of Soulouque in 1859, the republican authorities took up the traditional emblem that would be modified again during the Duvalier regime, removing some elements such as the Phrygian cap and chains, and adopting the red and black colors of the Haitian flag, also altered. . With the overthrow of the Duvaliers, the 1987 Constitution established the coat of arms created in 1807 as the official emblem.