Ephemeral independence

French occupation of the western side of the island

War of reconquers

Period of “España boba”

The ephemeral independence

The Haitian domination

The ephemeral independence

General poverty, the lack of attention from Spain, the social discrimination of the white minority toward the bulk of the population, as well as influences from the French and Haitian revolutions and the American emancipation movements produced a general environment of anti-Spanish sentiment.  There were various conspiracies in the period from 1810 to 1821:

• Independence conspiracy of Manuel del Monte (middle class).
  
• Independence conspiracy of “the Italians”.  The leader of the war of re-conquest, Ciriaco Ramírez participated (middle class).
  
• Conspiracy of the cattleman Don Fermín García (middle class).
  
• Abolitionist and independence movement of Mendoza and Mojarra (slaves and freed slaves)
  
• Pro-Haitian border separatist movement; it was astutely encouraged by the Haitian president Jean Pierre Boyer (cattlemen, traders, military men, mulattos and slaves from the border area).
  

The Independent State of Spanish Haiti.  There was another group of conspirators, composed of high officials in the government and the army that deposed the Spanish administration to proclaim an independent state that would ally itself in confederation with the Bolivarian project in Gran Colombia.  At the head of this movement was José Núñez de Cáceres, who had served as lieutenant of the governor and general advisor, and that in 1821 obtained the position of judge-advocate and rector of the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino.  It was Núñez de Cáceres who proclaimed the “Independent State of Spanish Haiti” on December 1, 1821.

The Haitian invasion.  The independence proclaimed by José Núñez de Cáceres lasted only a short time.  The Haitian president Jean Pierre Boyer, who had been trying to build upon support of the Dominicans on the border for unification with Haiti, invaded the eastern side of the island and took possession on February 9, 1822.  He arrived with an imposing army of 12,000 men, knowing that Núñez de Cáceres did not have the support of the white owners, which were pro-Spanish, nor the support of the discontented slave and mulatto population that saw that the new Constitution did not establish abolition of slavery.  Boyer, in addition, had acquired the tacit approval of the tobacco producers and businessmen of Cibao.