French Saint Domingue—The forced relocation of Spaniards to the southeastern part of the island left the rest of Hispaniola open to the depradations of the buccaneers, who were an international bunch, but mostly French.  Throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, the Caribbean was one of the many battlefields in the on-going wars among the European superpowers—Spain, France, Holland, Germany and England.  Fortunes waxed and waned.  In 1697, Spain officially ceded the western part of Hispaniola to France as part of the Treaty of Ryswick, a division that was ratified by the Treaty of Aranjuez.  The French half was called Saint Domingue.  In 1795, in the Treaty of Basilea, Spain signed away to France all rights to the island, but France didn’t keep the island very long.  The slaves in her New World colony, heeding the call of “Liberty, Fraternity and Equality,” rebelled in 1804 to found the first free republic in the New World, the Republic of Haiti.

 1822-1844, Haitian rule of Santo Domingo--In 1822 the Haitian army, commanded by General Toussaint L'Ouverture, invaded and occupied formerly Spanish Santo Domingo. The Haitians seized all governmental posts, abolished slavery, and redefined the laws and court systems, including land-holding laws. They established new territorial boundaries and boundaries among individually owned lands, redistributed lands and their holdings (many Spaniards lost ranches, plantations and homes that their families had owned for centuries), and laid claim to mansions, warehouses, churches and other valuable buildings and lots in the principal towns and cities. The Haitians also imposed their French language upon the courts and schools, and restricted fiestas, cockfighting and other long-established cultural observances and traditions, substituting their own. 

Understandably, there was much resistance to the Haitian domination of Santo Domingo, especially by "whites," who resented being governed by "Africans." Many abandoned the island, heading off to Spain, Puerto Rico, Cuba or the American mainland. Among those who remained, there were a multitude of conspiracies. The conspiracy that proved successful in overturning Haitian rule was begun by a secret society called "The Trinity." Their leader in the Capital was a young man named Juan Pablo Duarte, the son of a Spanish merchant. 

1844, the first independent Dominican Republic--The overthrow of the Haitian president Jean Pierre Boyer in 1843 initiated a renewed cry for independence among the Spanish-speaking people of the eastern half of the island. The Trinitarians gained two new leaders in addition to Duarte (who was now in exile): Francisco del Rosario Sánchez and Ramón Mella. They staged a coup that was successful on February 27, 1844. The declaration of the independent Dominican Republic and the signing of its constitution at the gates of the Conde in what is today Independence Park did not, however, end the fighting between Haitians and Dominicans. 

The first Dominican presidents--General Pedro Santana was elected president of the newly independent Dominican Republic. He supported Buenaventura Báez as his successor to the presidency in 1849. Báez was another of those who had fought to help the country gain independence and was still fighting to keep it independent. Báez was supposed to be Santana's "puppet," but he had a mind and ambitions of his own. In 1853, Santana was re-elected to the presidency in a hotly contested race. He sent Báez into exile, accusing him of entering into a conspiracy with officials of the Catholic Church to turn the country into a private enterprise, with Báez as lifelong leader. Báez continued to oppose Santana, who was negotiating with the U.S. to establish a naval base on the Samaná Peninsula, something that Haiti, Spain and England did not want to see happen, each for its own particular reasons. The threat of the U.S. presence led to one of the bloodiest battles in the on-going Haitian-Dominican war, that of Santomé on December 22, 1855, and it, plus Santana's over-authoritative methods, put him in growing disfavor with the populace. Santana resigned and left on May 26, 1856, leaving Vice President Manuel de Regla Mota to run the country, which was in severe economic distress. Under pressure from Spain, Regla Mota named Báez to the vice presidency, then resigned so Báez could take over the presidency, which he did on October 6, 1856.... But Santana was not yet finished. Supported by the people of the Cibao, he came back out of exile to lead a rebellion against Báez, but he betrayed the leaders from Santiago. He overthrew General José Desiderio Valverde and Benigno Filomeno de Rojas, whom the Cibaeños had named as president and vice president instead of Báez, declared invalid the new, more liberal and democratic Constitution of Moca, and, with a powerful troop of soldiers, seized control of the Capital away from Báez in July of 1858. 

Annexation to Spain (1861-1865) and the War of Restoration--Twenty-two years of occupation by Haitians and more than15 years of war and civil strife destroyed the economic foundations of the Dominican Republic. Santana, who had once looked to the U.S. for support, now looked to Spain. The annexation was officially celebrated on March 18, 1861, in the Capital's Cathedral Plaza, despite the many Dominicans who were opposed to it. Santana, of course, was appointed as Captain General--however, he was replaced by a series of Spanish generals beginning in January of 1862.

It didn't take Dominicans long to figure out that Spain was not going to govern in their best interests--for one thing, the Spanish government wanted to re-establish slavery. The first major rebellion began in February 1863, in Neiba. Soon the entire Cibao was up in arms. On September 14, a provisional government was declared to restore the Republic under the liberal, democratic Constitution of Moca. After two years of fierce battles, Spanish politicians decided to let the Dominican Republic go because it was too costly and because the Dominicans were too solidly united in their War of Restoration. The Queen of Spain annulled the annexation on March 3, 1865. 

Red & Blue fragmented politics--The once-again independent Dominican Republic was fragmented after the War of the Restoration. The people of the Cibao (Santiago was their core city) had different economic and political goals from the people of Santo Domingo in the south, as well as from those of the people of Puerto Plata in the north. Among the contenders for the presidency were the former generals Pedro Antonio Pimentel, José María Cabral, Pedro Guillermo, Césaro Guillermo, Manuel Altagracia Cáceres, Gregorio Luperón, Ulises Francisco Espaillat, and Buenaventura Báez (again). The era was marked by caudillo-ism-rule by regional "strongmen"--and by fierce fighting between the two predominant political parties, the Azules (literally the "Blues," they were the PNL, the National Libertion Party, former supporters of Santana) and the Rojos (the "Reds," Báez's supporters). The presidency changed hands 21 times between 1865 and 1879! It was during this turbulent time that the U.S., once again, considered annexing the Dominican Republic for the $100,000 in U.S. cash and $50,000 in weapons that Báez requested for the deed. President Ulysses S. Grant's secret agent outlined a treaty that was signed on November 29, 1869--but it was not approved by either the U.S. Senate nor by the Dominican people. Despite a positive report on the Republic by a U.S. investigating committee in 1871, Charles Sumner, the annexation project's main opponent, led the defeat of the proposal. Next Page

Liberal rule, then a return to caudillo-ism in the late 19th century--The liberal Azul party eventually won out, and General Gregorio Luperón took over, ruling the Dominican Republic provisionally from Puerto Plata, in October of 1879. He sent his assistant, General Ulises "Lilís" Heureaux, to Santo Domingo. In 1880, Luperón signed a new, more liberal constitution, a modified version of the Constitution of Moca. He also promoted economic and military reforms, public education (he appointed the Puerto Rican intellectual Eugenio María de los Hostos to oversee the establishment of the first public high school), and supported trade relations with Haiti. At the end of his term, Luperón supported the intellectual Catholic priest Father Fernando Arturo de Meriño for the presidency, who was confirmed by popular vote on July 23, 1880. The next duly elected president was General Lilís Hereaux, who reverted back to strongman politics--the 1884 elections were rife with fraud. General Casimiro Nemesio de Moya was the only presidential contender powerful enough to run against Hereaux, but he could not win. Hereaux remained in power by force of arms until he was assassinated in July of 1899.
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