\u201cIn the name of the Holy, most August\u00a0and Indivisible Trinity of Almighty God: I swear and promise, on my honor and my conscience, in the hands of our President Juan Pablo Duarte, to cooperate with my person, life and property to the final separation of the Haitian government and to establish a free, sovereign and independent republic, free\u00a0from\u00a0all foreign domination,\u00a0that\u00a0will be called the Dominican Republic,\u00a0represented by its tri-colored flag in crimson and blue quarters traversed by a white cross.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the meantime, we will be recognized as the Trinitarians, with the sacred expressions of God, Country and Freedom.\u00a0 I promise this before God and the world.\u00a0 If I do this, may God protect me, and if not, may he take it into account; and may my associates punish me for perjury and treachery if I betray them.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Founding Members<\/i>.\u00a0There were nine founding members of la\u00a0Trinitaria: Juan Pablo Duarte, Juan Isidro P\u00e9rez, F\u00e9lix\u00a0Mar\u00eda\u00a0Ruiz, Felipe\u00a0Alf\u00e1u, Jos\u00e9\u00a0Mar\u00eda\u00a0Serra, Juan\u00a0Nepomuceno\u00a0Ravelo, Jacinto de la Concha, Pedro\u00a0Alejandrino\u00a0Pina\u00a0and Benito Gonz\u00e1lez.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Organization<\/i>.\u00a0As they acted secretly, to avoid\u00a0betrayal, they structured the group in cells of three people each, called\u00a0iniciados.\u00a0 Each one of the members responded to a pseudonym, and they communicated among each other with a cryptic alphabet created by Juan Pablo Duarte.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Work<\/i>\u00a0of D<\/i>issemination<\/i>.\u00a0The Trinitarians developed a powerful educational effort on nationalist and independence ideals.\u00a0 They created two cultural societies to this end (La\u00a0Filantr\u00f3pica\u00a0and La\u00a0Dram\u00e1tica) that brought theatrical works to the stage that represented the struggle against the oppression of other peoples.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Trinitarians and the O<\/i><\/b>verthrow of Boyer<\/i><\/b>.<\/b>\u00a0 While the Trinitarians established and strengthened the group in old Spanish Santo Domingo, the Haitian side was building strong opposition to President Boyer under the \u201cSociety of the Rights of Man and Citizen\u201d, also known by the name\u00a0La\u00a0<\/i>Reforma<\/i>.\u00a0 The Trinitarians collaborated with this movement, which brought Charles\u00a0H\u00e9rard\u00a0to power in early March 1843.\u00a0 Ram\u00f3n\u00a0Mat\u00eda\u00a0Mella\u00a0and Juan\u00a0Nepomuceno\u00a0Ravelo\u00a0(members of\u00a0La\u00a0<\/i>Trinitaria<\/i>) served as special emissaries for the coordination of the conspiracy between both sides of the island, while Juan Pablo Duarte\u00a0organized\u00a0popular groups for the election of new local authorities in various towns.<\/p>\n Other Separatist G<\/i><\/b>roups<\/i><\/b>.\u00a0 The removal of Boyer intensified the activity of the separatist\u00a0groups\u00a0that had been forming on the eastern side of the island:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Triumph of the Tr<\/i><\/b>initarians in the Popular Councils<\/i><\/b>.\u00a0 As a foundation for the establishment of a new group that would reform the Haitian Constitution, the government of Charles\u00a0H\u00e9rard\u00a0planned elections for the Popular\u00a0Councils, in order to then form the corresponding electoral colleges.\u00a0 The triumph of the Trinitarians in all of the districts of the Dominican side in June 1843 caused the Haitian government to decree the persecution of the political party: the government ordered the imprisonment of its known members (Ram\u00f3n\u00a0Mat\u00edas\u00a0Mella, Jos\u00e9\u00a0Joaqu\u00edn\u00a0Puello, Juan\u00a0Nepomuceno\u00a0Ravelo,\u00a0Pepillo\u00a0Salcedo\u00a0and Esteban Roca, among others, were jailed).\u00a0 Juan Pablo Duarte was forced into exile in Venezuela.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Separatist M<\/i><\/b>anifesto of January 16, 1844<\/i><\/b>.\u00a0 Despite their momentary dissolution, the Trinitarians regrouped under the leadership of Francisco\u00a0del\u00a0Rosario S\u00e1nchez, Vicente\u00a0Celestino\u00a0Duarte,\u00a0and Ram\u00f3n\u00a0Mat\u00edas\u00a0Mella, released a short time after his imprisonment.\u00a0 They took advantage of\u00a0H\u00e9rard\u2019s\u00a0oversight and the new Haitian authorities, who had the attention focused on the consolidation of their power in Haiti.\u00a0 But they also were urged on by the pro-French group\u2019s actions,\u00a0supported by the French consul\u00a0in Puerto Pr\u00edncipe, M.\u00a0Levassuer, to acquire the \u201cprotection\u201d\u00a0of France and start a coup against\u00a0the Haitians on the eastern part of the island, on April 25, 1844.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After\u00a0the group led by Buenaventura\u00a0B\u00e1ez\u00a0and Manuel\u00a0Mar\u00eda\u00a0Valencia presented a manifesto that justified their intentions to separate the Dominican people from Haiti, placing it under French protection, the Trinitarians hurried to\u00a0issue, on January\u00a016, 1844, their \u201cManifesto\u00a0of the people of the East of the Island formerly known as Hispaniola or Santo Domingo, on the causes of its separation from the Haitian Republic\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 In this act of independence, they cited essential cultural characteristics of\u00a0dominicanness\u00a0and the basic principles of the new State were established on the basis of the fundamentals stated in the Trinitarian oath:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Written with the participation of\u00a0Tom\u00e1s\u00a0de Bobadilla, a Dominican that had been an official in the Haitian government during the Boyer period, the Manifesto of January 16, 1844 sealed the pact between the Trinitarians and a significant portion of the conservative Dominican forces, which would foster\u00a0the imminent declaration of independence.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Trinitarians proclaimed the independence of the Dominican Republic on February 27, 1844, with a shot fired by Ram\u00f3n\u00a0Mat\u00edas\u00a0Mella\u00a0in the\u00a0Puerta\u00a0de la\u00a0Misericordia\u00a0in the city of Santo Domingo.\u00a0 Immediately afterward, they went to the\u00a0Puerta\u00a0del\u00a0Conde, where Francisco del Rosario S\u00e1nchez lifted the national flag and where the Constitutive Act of the Dominican State was read and sworn.\u00a0The next day, February 28, the Haitian authorities\u00a0surrendered.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The first Haitian attacks against the new state were carried out in early March.\u00a0 The Generals\u00a0Pierrot\u00a0and\u00a0Agust\u00edn\u00a0Souffront\u00a0and President\u00a0H\u00e9rard\u00a0advanced simultaneously over Dominican territory, the former in the north and the others in the south.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Dominican resistance was organized under the command of a cattleman\u00a0from\u00a0Seibo, Pedro Santana, the colonels Manuel More and Feliciano\u00a0Mart\u00ednez, Ram\u00f3n\u00a0Mat\u00edas\u00a0Mella\u00a0and Francisco Antonio\u00a0Salcedo, Antonio\u00a0Duverg\u00e9, Vicente Noble and many others.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The key conflicts\u00a0that served to establish the new sovereign state were the battles of\u00a0Fuente\u00a0del Rodeo (first armed conflict, March 3, 1844), the battle of\u00a0Azua\u00a0(March 19, 1844), the battle of March 30, El\u00a0Memiso\u00a0(April 13, 1844), the battle of la\u00a0Estrelleta\u00a0(September 17, 1845), the battle of\u00a0Beller\u00a0(October 27, 1845), El\u00a0N\u00famero\u00a0(April 17, 1849), Las Carreras (April 21, 1849), Battle of\u00a0Santom\u00e9\u00a0(December 22, 1855), Battle of\u00a0Sabana\u00a0Larga\u00a0(last confrontation with the Haitians, January 24, 1856).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The conservative forces were indispensable for the declaration and first military support of the independence, and they proved to be\u00a0decisive in internal politics from the first days of the Republic.\u00a0 The representatives of the predominant economic sectors, with little faith in the possibilities of the new country, quickly rejected the liberal nationalist current embodied by the Trinitarians.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The presidency of the Governmental Central Board established on March 1, 1844 fell into the hands of\u00a0Tom\u00e1s\u00a0Bobadilla, a former official of Boyer’s government, with great prestige among the upper class of the city of Santo Domingo. One of the first measures of the Board\u00a0was to try to concretize the famous “Plan\u00a0Levasseur”,\u00a0which earned\u00a0the protection of France.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n While the Trinitarians carried out a coup\u00a0d\u2019\u00e9tat\u00a0to avoid the implementation of the Plan (June 9, 1844), they did not control the situation for long, as Pedro Santana deposed the\u00a0Governing Board\u00a0led by Juan Pablo Duarte, reinstating the previous government on\u00a0the condition that he\u00a0would assume the presidency.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Santana then persecuted the Trinitarians.\u00a0 He declared many\u00a0of them\u00a0traitors, unfaithful to the country, and exiled them forever, including Juan Pablo Duarte, Ram\u00f3n\u00a0Mat\u00edas\u00a0Mella, Francisco\u00a0del\u00a0Rosario S\u00e1nchez, Pedro\u00a0Alejandrino\u00a0Pina, Gregorio del Valle, Juan Evangelista Jim\u00e9nez, Juan Jos\u00e9\u00a0Illas\u00a0and Juan Isidro P\u00e9rez.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The triumph of the conservatives during this first stage of the Republic was recorded in the text of the first Dominican Constitution.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was the first Magna\u00a0Carta\u00a0of the Dominican Republic.\u00a0 It was called the Constitution of San\u00a0Crist\u00f3bal, as it was written and ratified there.\u00a0 Though in principle, it established the separation of powers and the preeminence of the Legislative Power over the Executive Power, Santana, who arrived with a battalion of soldiers to the constituting assembly, forced them to include an article in the text that gave the president of the Republic all power to carry out his will, without institutional counterbalance.\u00a0 In effect, article 210 expressed the following \u201c\u2026during the current war and while a peace has not been signed, the President of the Republic can freely organize the army\u00a0and navy, move the nation\u2019s guards; and is therefore able to give all orders, provisions and decrees necessary, without being subject to any responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The successful, though arduous, rejection of the Haitian troops, which often attempted to enter Dominican territory, was not an obstacle to part of\u00a0the political leadership, who\u00a0continued to garner the favor of powerful countries: Haiti was seen as a threat.\u00a0 In 1846, President Santana sent Buenaventura\u00a0B\u00e1ez\u00a0on a diplomatic mission to\u00a0Spain, France and England to negotiate the recognition of the\u00a0Dominican Republic as an independent state and at the same time, attempt to\u00a0sign\u00a0a treaty of protection with the power that offered the greatest benefits.\u00a0\u00a0Even if Santana\u00a0did not achieve his desired objective,\u00a0he encouraged\u00a0these countries, as well as the United States,\u00a0a country he also appealed to for support, to gravitate\u00a0strongly around\u00a0the political life of the nation.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n France, the United States and England showed the most interest in the Dominican offer.\u00a0 In the case of the first two, the possibility of possessing the bay and peninsula of\u00a0Saman\u00e1\u00a0represented a large incentive.\u00a0\u00a0England, on the other hand, to maintain or increase\u00a0its level of commercial exchange with the Dominican Republic, supported the nation by signing\u00a0the Treaty of recognition, peace,\u00a0friendship, trade and navigation between the two countries\u00a0in 1850, which sought to diminish\u00a0the influence that the other two countries planned to wield (including the possession of\u00a0Saman\u00e1).\u00a0 The country\u2019s interest in preventing the Dominican Republic from needing the protection of another world power led it to attempt to hamper Haiti\u2019s attacks on its\u00a0neighbor to the east for a while.\u00a0 Consequently, between 1851 and 1855, inhabitants of the Republic enjoyed relative tranquility.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As Spain still considered that it maintained rights to the eastern part of the island of Santo Domingo, it denied, on principle, recognition of Dominican independence.\u00a0 But in 1855, it was forced to change this policy.\u00a0 Advances in\u00a0the United States\u00a0negotiations\u00a0with the Dominican government to rent the Bah\u00eda de\u00a0Saman\u00e1\u00a0encroached on Spain\u2019s maritime interests in the Antilles, which motivated the country to sign a Treaty of recognition, peace, friendship, trade, navigation\u00a0and extradition with the Dominican Republic (February 18, 1855).\u00a0 Likewise,\u00a0Spain assigned Antonio\u00a0Mar\u00eda\u00a0Valencia as consul in Santo Domingo with the mission\u00a0to offer political\u00a0support to all enemies of\u00a0President Santana and to those that opposed the agreement with the United States, registering them as Spaniards and consequently protecting them from Dominican government persecution.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Crisis.<\/i><\/b>\u00a0 The first period of the Republic, dedicated to defending against Haitian attacks and struggles for internal political organization, was marked by a permanent economic crisis.\u00a0 Productive activities were subjected to the needs of defense; exportation and importation levels decreased significantly and in some moments, were paralyzed.\u00a0 To defray military and government costs, the authorities resorted to the small businesses of foreign and local traders and to the issuance of paper money without backing.\u00a0 The losses caused by these issuances, especially for the productive and commercial sectors developed around\u00a0tobacco\u00a0in the\u00a0Cibao\u00a0region, paved the way for a civil war in 1857 that eventually resulted in two simultaneous governments (one in Santo Domingo and another in\u00a0Cibao, which would further impoverish the country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Annexation to Spain<\/i><\/b>.\u00a0In 1858, a possibility loomed on the Dominican horizon that the United States would take advantage of the political weakness and economic crisis to do what it had done in Nicaragua, that is, overthrow the government and occupy the country.\u00a0 Alarm grew when, in 1860, the Dominican government was forced to capture a group of U.S. adventurers that had \u201ctaken possession\u201d of the island adjacent to Alta Vela to exploit its guano deposits.\u00a0 After the incident, negotiations with Spain for protectorate status changed.\u00a0 The Dominican President at the time was Pedro Santana, who decided to\u00a0request an agreement of reincorporation or annexation of the country to Spain.\u00a0 The conditions that Spain was required to follow for the annexation were:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n With these measures, the conservative political elites\u00a0(especially those that followed and had benefited from Santana)\u00a0planned\u00a0to guarantee\u00a0for themselves\u00a0the enjoyment of the privileges that a possible U.S. occupation or the strengthening of the liberal\u00a0forces would endangered.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On March 18, 1861, the annexation to Spain was proclaimed in the esplanade of the Cathedral of Santo Domingo.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n First reactions.<\/i><\/b>\u00a0 The\u00a0people\u00a0 began\u00a0to manifest their reactions against the annexation\u00a0a few days after its proclamation.\u00a0 There were towns that attempted to mutiny, General Jos\u00e9 Contreras rose up in arms, and Francisco\u00a0del\u00a0Rosario S\u00e1nchez (exiled years earlier) formed an expedition that, entering through Haiti, attempted the \u201cRegeneration of the Republic\u201d.\u00a0 All of these patriotic expressions were smothered and their leaders, shot.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Restoration War.<\/b>\u00a0 From the start, the Dominican people expressed the deep discontentment with the annexation.\u00a0 They rejected the discrimination and oppression\u00a0from\u00a0Spanish authorities.\u00a0 Consequently, the provincial period did not last long, as the uprisings began in early 1863 (in\u00a0Neiba\u00a0and in Santiago), and by August 16, the War of Restoration broke out, when a group of 14 men, commanded by Santiago Rodr\u00edguez, raised the Dominican flag over the hill of\u00a0Capotillo.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Provisional Restoration Government and the Act of Independence.<\/b>\u00a0 On September 6, some 6000 men expelled the Spanish from the city of Santiago in a fierce battle that resulted in the burning of the city.\u00a0 The following day, the liberators formed a Provisional Restoration Government, electing General Jos\u00e9\u00a0Antonio\u00a0Salcedo\u00a0as President.\u00a0 This Government proceeded to write an Act of Independence that was signed by 10,000 Dominicans residing in the\u00a0Cibao\u00a0region.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Restoration Leaders<\/i><\/b>.\u00a0 During the\u00a0war, which lasted almost two years and cost Spain more than 10,000 casualties and 33 million pesos, Santiago Rodr\u00edguez, General Gaspar\u00a0Polanco, General Gregorio\u00a0Luper\u00f3n, Benito\u00a0Monci\u00f3n, Pedro Francisco\u00a0Bon\u00f3,\u00a0Benigno\u00a0Filomeno\u00a0Rojas,\u00a0Ulises\u00a0Franco\u00a0Espaillat, Jos\u00e9 Antonio\u00a0Salcedo\u00a0and Gregorio de Lora were some of the heroes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" La\u00a0Trinitaria On July 16, 1838, the secret society La\u00a0Trinitaria\u00a0was founded with the goal of disseminating independence ideas and effectively attaining the country\u2019s independence.\u00a0 The young Juan Pablo Duarte, son of traders and part of the small middle class of the city of Santo Domingo, was the leader of this liberal association, which embodied the highest … Continue reading “Dominican Independence”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1163,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1847","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dominicanaonline.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1847"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dominicanaonline.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dominicanaonline.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dominicanaonline.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dominicanaonline.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1847"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.dominicanaonline.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11119,"href":"https:\/\/www.dominicanaonline.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1847\/revisions\/11119"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dominicanaonline.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dominicanaonline.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.dominicana-online.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/juan-pablo-duarte.jpg\")
<\/a>The oath written by Juan Pablo Duarte, which sealed the foundation of La\u00a0Trinitaria, expressed the following:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n
\n
Proclamation of I<\/i><\/b>ndependence<\/i><\/b><\/h2>\n
The Republic in\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Chaos.<\/i><\/b>\u00a0 The conspiracies<\/i><\/b><\/h2>\n
Consolidation of the Independence<\/b><\/h3>\n
Political\u00a0<\/b>Predominance<\/b>\u00a0of the\u00a0<\/b>Conservative<\/b>\u00a0Annexationist<\/b>s<\/b><\/h2>\n
Con<\/i><\/b>stitution of November 6, 1844<\/i><\/b><\/h2>\n
The Search for Protectorates<\/b><\/h2>\n
Annexation and Restoration<\/b><\/h2>\n
\n
\n
Measures and A<\/i><\/b>ttitudes<\/i><\/b>\u00a0of the New Colonial Government<\/i><\/b><\/h2>\n
\n
Factors in Favor of the Dominican V<\/b>ictory<\/b><\/h2>\n
\n