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Dominican Republic HAITI AND SANTO DOMINGO
Although they shared the island of Hispaniola, the
colonies
of Saint-Domingue and Santo Domingo followed disparate
paths.
Cultural differences explained the contrast to some
extent, but
the primary divergence was economic. Saint-Domingue was
the most
productive agricultural colony in the Western Hemisphere,
and its
output contributed heavily to the economy of France. By
contrast,
Santo Domingo was a small colony with little impact on the
economy of Spain. Prosperous French plantation owners
sought to
maximize their gain through increased production for a
growing
world market. Thus, they imported great numbers of slaves
from
Africa and drove this captive work force ruthlessly.
Although by the end of the eighteenth century economic
conditions were improving, landowners in Santo Domingo did
not
enjoy the same level of wealth attained by their French
counterparts in Saint-Domingue. The absence of
market-driven
pressure to increase production enabled the domestic labor
force
to practice subsistence agriculture and to export at low
levels.
For this reason, Santo Domingo imported far fewer slaves
than did
Saint-Domingue. Spanish law also allowed a slave to
purchase his
freedom and that of his family for a relatively small sum.
This
contributed to the higher proportion of freedmen in the
Spanish
colony; by the turn of the century, freedmen actually
constituted
the majority of the population. Also in contrast to
conditions in
the French colony, this population profile contributed to
a
somewhat more egalitarian society, plagued much less by
the
schisms of race.
Stimulated to some degree by a revolution against the
monarchy that was well underway in France, the inevitable
explosion took place in Saint-Domingue in August 1791
(see Dominican Republic - The Slave Rebellion of 1791
, ch. 6). The initial reaction of
many
Spanish colonists to news of the slaughter of Frenchmen by
armies
of rebellious black slaves was to flee Hispaniola
entirely.
Spain, however, saw in the unrest an opportunity to seize
all, or
part, of the western third of the island through an
alliance of
convenience with the British. These intentions, however,
did not
survive encounters in the field with forces led by the
former
slave, François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture
(see Dominican Republic - Toussaint Louverture
, ch. 6). In recognition of his leadership
against the
Spanish (under whose banner he had begun his military
career),
the British, and rebellious royalists and mulattoes,
Toussaint
was named governor general of Saint-Domingue by the French
Republic in 1796. By the next year, Spain had surrendered
the
entire island to his rule. This action reflected not only
Spain's
growing disengagement from its colony, but also its
setbacks in
Europe and its relative decline as a world power.
Although France nominally enjoyed sovereignty over the
entire
island of Hispaniola, it was prevented from establishing
an
effective presence or administration in the east by
continuing
conflict between the indigenous forces led by
Toussaint--and
later by Jean-Jacques Dessalines--and an expeditionary
force
dispatched to Hispaniola by Napoléon Bonaparte in 1802 in
an
effort to bring the island more firmly under French
control. Upon
defeating the French, Dessalines and his followers
established
the independent nation of Haiti in January 1804. A small
French
presence, however, remained in the former Spanish colony.
Dessalines attempted to take the city of Santo Domingo in
March
1805, but he turned back after receiving reports of the
approach
of a French naval squadron.
By 1808 a number of émigré Spanish landowners had
returned to
Santo Domingo. These royalists had no intention of living
under
French rule, however, and they sought foreign assistance
for a
rebellion that would restore Spanish sovereignty. Help
came from
the Haitians, who provided arms, and from the British, who
occupied Samaná and blockaded the port of Santo Domingo.
The
remaining French representatives fled the island in July
1809.
The 1809 restoration of Spanish rule ushered in an era
referred to by some historians as España Boba (Foolish
Spain).
Under the despotic rule of Ferdinand VII, the colony's
economy
deteriorated severely. Some Dominicans began to wonder if
their
interests would not best be served by the sort of
independence
movement that was sweeping the South American colonies. In
keeping with this sentiment, Spanish lieutenant governor
José
Núñez de Cáceres announced the colony's independence as
the state
of Spanish Haiti on November 30, 1821. Cáceres requested
admission to the Republic of Gran Colombia (consisting of
what
later became Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela), recently
proclaimed established by Simón Bolívar and his followers.
While
the request was in transit, however, the president of
Haiti,
Jean-Pierre Boyer, decided to invade Santo Domingo and to
reunite
the island under the Haitian flag.
The twenty-two years of Haitian occupation witnessed a
steady
economic decline and a growing resentment of Haiti among
Dominicans. The agricultural pattern in the former Spanish
colony
came to resemble the one prevailing in all of Haiti at the
time--
that is, mainly subsistence cultivation with little or no
production of export crops. Boyer attempted to enforce in
the new
territory the Rural Code (Code Rural) he had decreed in an
effort
to improve productivity among the Haitian yeomanry, but
the
Dominicans proved no more willing to adhere to its
provisions
than the Haitians had been
(see Dominican Republic - Boyer: Expansion and Decline
, ch.
6). Increasing numbers of Dominican landowners chose to
flee the
island rather than to live under Haitian rule; in many
cases,
Haitian administrators encouraged such emigration,
confiscated
the holdings of the émigrés, and redistributed them to
Haitian
officials. Aside from such bureaucratic machinations, most
of the
Dominicans' resentment of Haitian rule developed because
Boyer,
the ruler of an impoverished country, did not (or could
not)
provision his army. The occupying Haitian forces lived off
the
land in Santo Domingo, commandeering or confiscating what
they
needed to perform their duties or to fill their stomachs.
Dominicans saw this as tribute demanded by petty
conquerors, or
as simple theft. Racial animosities also affected
attitudes on
both sides; black Haitian troops reacted with reflexive
resentment against lighter-skinned Dominicans, while
Dominicans
came to associate the Haitians' dark skin with the
oppression and
the abuses of occupation.
Religious and cultural life also suffered under the
Haitian
occupation. The Haitians, who associated the Roman
Catholic
Church with the French colonists who had so cruelly
exploited and
abused them before independence, confiscated all church
property
in the east, deported all foreign clergy, and severed the
ties of
the remaining clergy to the Vatican. For Dominicans, who
were
much more strongly Roman Catholic and less oriented toward
folk
religion than the Haitians, such actions seemed insulting
and
nihilistic. In addition, upper-class Haitians considered
French
culture superior to Spanish culture, while Haitian
soldiers and
others from the lower class simply disregarded Hispanic
mores and
customs.
The emigration of upper-class Dominicans served to
forestall
rebellion and to prolong the period of Haitian occupation
because
most Dominicans reflexively looked to the upper class for
leadership. Scattered unrest and isolated confrontations
between
Haitians and Dominicans undoubtedly occurred; it was not
until
1838, however, that any significant organized movement
against
Haitian domination began. Crucial to these stirrings was a
twenty-year-old Dominican, of a prominent Santo Domingo
family,
who had returned home five years earlier after seven years
of
study in Europe. The young student's name was Juan Pablo
Duarte.
Dominican history can in many ways be encompassed by a
series
of biographies. The personality and attributes of Duarte,
however, ran counter to those of most of the country's
caudillos.
Duarte was an idealist, an ascetic, a genuine nationalist,
a man
of principle, and a romantic in a romantic age. Although
he
played no significant part in its rule, he is considered
the
father of his country. He certainly provided the
inspiration and
impetus for the achievement of independence from Haiti.
Shocked,
when he returned from Europe, by the deteriorated
condition of
Santo Domingo, the young student resolved to establish a
resistance movement that would eventually throw off the
Haitian
yoke. He dubbed his movement La Trinitaria (The Trinity)
because
its original nine members had organized themselves into
cells of
three; the cells went on to recruit as separate
organizations,
maintaining strict secrecy, with little or no direct
contact
among themselves in order to minimize the possibility of
detection or betrayal to the Haitian authorities. Young
recruits
flocked to Duarte's banner (almost literally, for it was
Duarte
who designed the modern Dominican flag) as a result of the
pent-
up resentment under Haitian rule. Despite its elaborate
codes and
clandestine procedures, La Trinitaria was eventually
betrayed to
the Haitians. It survived largely intact, however,
emerging under
the new designation, La Filantrópica, to continue its work
of
anti-Haitian agitation.
Despite their numbers and their base of popular
support, the
Trinitarios (as the rebels still referred to themselves)
required
a political disruption in Haiti proper to boost their
movement
toward its ultimate success. The overthrow of Boyer in the
Revolution of 1843 provided a catalyst for the Dominican
rebels.
Charles Rivière-Hérard replaced Boyer as president of
Haiti. Like
most Haitian leaders, he required a transition period in
which to
deal with competitors and to solidify his rule.
Rivière-Herard
apparently identified one disaffected Haitian faction in
the
administration of the eastern territory; his crackdown on
this
group extended to the Trinitarios as well, because
apparently
there had been some fruitless contacts between the
Dominicans and
some liberal Haitians. The increased pressure induced
Duarte to
leave the country temporarily in search of support in
other Latin
American states, mainly Colombia and Venezuela. In
December 1843,
a group of Duarte's followers urged him to return to Santo
Domingo. They feared that their plans for an insurrection
might
be betrayed to the Haitians and had therefore resolved to
carry
them through quickly. Duarte sailed as far north from
Caracas as
the island of Curaçao, where he fell victim to a violent
illness.
When he had not arrived home by February 1844, the rebels,
under
the leadership of Francisco del Rosario Sánchez and Ramón
Mella,
agreed to launch their uprising without him.
On February 27, 1844--thereafter celebrated as
Dominican
Independence Day--the rebels seized the Ozama fortress in
the
capital. The Haitian garrison, taken by surprise and
apparently
betrayed by at least one of its sentries, retired in
disarray.
Within two days, all Haitian officials had left Santo
Domingo.
Mella headed the provisional governing junta of the new
Dominican
Republic. Duarte, finally recovered, returned to his
country on
March 14. The following day he entered the capital amidst
great
adulation and celebration. As is so often the case in such
circumstances, the optimism generated by revolutionary
triumph
would eventually give way to the disillusion caused by the
struggle for power.
Data as of December 1989
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