Dominican Declaration of Independence
| Dominican Declaration of Independence | |
|---|---|
 Eldest surviving document of the Dominican Declaration of independence | |
| Created | January 1844 |
| Ratified | January 16, 1844 |
| Date effective | February 27, 1844 |
| Location | Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic |
| Commissioned by | By Juan Contreras, Juan Evangelista Jiménez, Pedro Santana, and Gabino Puello |
| Author(s) | Francisco del Rosario Sánchez (drafter) Matías Ramón Mella (endorser) |
| Signatories | 53 signatories, including members of La Trinitaria and Dominican conservatives |
| Purpose | Announce Dominican independence, the causes of the separation from Haiti, and establishment of the First Dominican Republic. |
The Dominican Declaration of Independence (Spanish: Declaración de Independencia Dominicana) was a document written and conceived just before the founding of the Dominican Republic. It also serves as the Declaration of Independence of the Dominican Republic, a platform in which the nation was founded on. This manifesto, also called the Manifesto of January 16, 1844, presents the reasons that justify the separation from the Republic of Haiti, highlighting the grievances brought on during the Haitian occupation of Santo Domingo, which lasted from 1822 to 1844. It even goes into great detail of how this new independent state would emerge from this separation.
The Demonstration, as some call it, after the founding of the Republic, served as Magna Carta from February to November 6, 1844 when the first official constitution was proclaimed in San Cristóbal.
The Manifesto establishes the limits of the Dominican Republic and the provinces that compose it:[1]
| “ | Divided as is territory of the Dominican Republic into four provinces, namely Santo Domingo, Santiago or Cibao, Azua from the limit to Ocoa and Seibo. | ” |
Background
Colonial Period of Santo Domingo
The Dominican Republic’s first residents were friendly Tainos and cannibalistic Caribs, both of whose populations were dramatically diminished during the six years after Christopher Columbus's famous 1492 voyage. The tiny island Columbus named La Hispaniola became home to both the New World’s first formal European settlement, La Isabela, and the starting point of Spain’s vast conquest of much of the southwestern hemisphere. La Isabela, near present-day Puerto Plata, was shortly abandoned after its settlers endured three years of hunger, disease and mutiny. The remains of La Isabela are exhibited at the La Isabela National Historic Park (La Isabela), which includes the New World’s first Christian cemetery, the remains of Columbus’ modest home, and an ancient guayacán tree which has grown in the area since before Columbus’ time.[2]
The next settlement Columbus founded, Santo Domingo, remains very much alive as the Dominican Republic’s modern national capital. Centuries of history are found within the small square mile known as the Colonial Zone, including Catedral Primada de América (Calle Arzobispo Merino, Santo Domingo), the New World’s oldest cathedral. In 1596, Sir Francis Drake used the church as his headquarters after he captured Santo Domingo and collected ransom to return it to Spanish rule.[2]
The first African slaves were brought to the Dominican Republic in 1503 to replace hundreds of thousands of Taino who lost their lives to starvation, disease, massacres, and hard gold mining work. In 1605, the Spanish forcibly relocated their settlers on the west end of La Hispaniola closer to Santo Domingo to stop them from illegally trading with the Dutch, whom the Spanish were fighting at the time. Over half of these resettled colonists perished from disease or starvation. Spain ceded La Hispaniola’s west end, which would later become Haiti, to France in 1697 In the Treaty of Ryswick. Shortly after the outbreak of the Haitian Revolution, France seized control of all of La Hispaniola in 1795.[2] In 1801, Haitian forces briefly controlled the whole island before being ousted a year later. French rule persisted in eastern Hispaniola, until being reclaimed by Spain in 1809 after victory in the War of Reconquista led by Brigadier General Juan Sánchez Ramírez. Between 1795 and 1809, Santo Domingo was ruled periodically by the Spanish, French, Haitians, French again, and the Spanish.
First Dominican Independence, 1821
Although the colony was returned to Spain following the defeat of the French, the ruling colonial government offered little to no support in rebuilding the devastating economy. By now, Spain had neglected its Caribbean colonies, instead focusing on its South American holdings, which at this time was preparing to separate from the empire. It was this negligence, of which accumulated the España Boba period, along with the outbreak of the Spanish American Wars of Independence, that influenced the Dominican inhabitants to launch conspiracies to separate from Spain as well. Many of these revolts were suppressed, but eventually, in 1821, the Spanish were officially toppled and independence was declared by the revolutionary leader, José Núñez de Caceres. From this independence, a new nation, The Republic of Spanish Haiti, was established, and along with it, a constitution and manifesto declaring independence was produced.[3] But still under threat of invasion by Spain or neighboring Haiti, many of the elites turned to a foreign power for protection; Núñez de Caceres turned to Gran Colombia, where he attempted to attain support from El Libertador, Simón Bolivar, but to no avail.
Boyer's rule in Santo Domingo, 1822-1843
In February 1822, just two months after the independence, Haitian forces, under the command of Jean-Pierre Boyer invaded Santo Domingo. Unable to combat the invasion, Nùñez de Caceres had no other choice but to surrender the keys to the palace. This was largely due to the scant international support given to the new state. Since Boyer took possession of the eastern part of the island, he ordered a series of measures with the purpose of assuring its unification. One of them was the abolition of slavery, which benefited around 8,000 slaves. However, once freed, they were forced to remain as workers on the plots of land of the former slaveholders, as a way of reconciling interests with this oligarchic sector. This new form of agricultural production became the dominant one throughout the island, constituting the main commercial and economic activity.
He also promoted the electoral representation of the populations at various levels and the enforcement of the French civil code throughout the island. He imposed military service, while restricting the use of the Spanish language and eliminating some traditional customs, such as cockfighting. In 1827 a critical situation arose for the government, because the citizens strongly opposed paying taxes, which was one of the measures decreed by Boyer. He then appealed to the resource of issuing paper money, thus beginning a process of devaluation of the gourde, at that time the official currency on both sides of the island. At the same time, the international discredit of the Boyer government increased.
Faced with this situation, many sectors began to protest and conspire against Boyer's dictatorial government. At the contentious level, the creation of new movements made up of small peasants lacking labor and adequate financial resources with which to develop their productive activity was of some importance.
At the beginning of 1830, the extreme control to which the merchant sector was subjected determined a sharp drop in their activities, considerably reducing the trade of national products and the importation of manufactured articles from abroad. This was linked to the implementation of one of the strongest measures of the occupation regime, which was the prohibition of all Dominicans from engaging in commercial exchange. This resolution established that only persons of foreign origin, citizens of Haitian origin and representatives of international commercial houses could engage in commerce. Any person from the eastern part who wanted to engage in such activity had to first be sworn in as a Haitian citizen.
Another important fact that contributed to the desire for independence was the confrontation that the Catholic Church had against the Boyer government, since the latter confiscated its land and assets. The direct clash with Archbishop Pedro Valera also had repercussions on the entire population, which saw in these and other measures the violation of their political, economic, and social rights.
In summary, the limitation of celebrations of religious festivals, the prohibition of games of roosters and chance, the compulsory nature of the Code Rural Act, the non-use of Spanish in official acts and documents, the closure of the university, the recruitment of all young people and the payment of taxes, were measures that contributed to the displeasure and subsequent revolt against the Haitian government. By 1838, the resistance to Boyer's tyranny had grown, ultimately accumulating to his overthrow five years later.
Exile of Juan Pablo Duarte
In 1843, Juan Pablo Duarte, founder of the nationalist movement La Trinitaria, was arrested by the new Haitian President, Charles Rivière-Herard, due to being discovered as a revolutionary for Dominican independence. Other key members of the movement were arrested as well. Fear of persecution or possible execution by the Haitian authorities, Duarte escaped from prison and sought refuge in Curaçao, later relocating to Venezuela. With this sudden change of events, the struggle for independence was left under the leadership of Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, Matías Ramón Mella, and Duarte's elder brother, Vicente Celestino Duarte. Though left with very few resources, circulating handwritten pages throughout the nation, and under great danger, the campaign aimed to enlist more followers for the cause of independence, as well as finalizing the details.[4]
The most important of these documents was the Manifestation of the people of the eastern part of the island, formerly Spanish or Santo Domingo, on the causes of their separation from the Haitian Republic, on January 16, 1844, a couple weeks just before the birth of the Dominican Republic on February 27, 1844. Therefore, this manifesto is the official document of the nation, of which marks the beginning of Dominican laws.[5]
Drafting
Over the years, it has been heavily debated about the authorship of the document. Haitian historian Thomas Madiou, says that this manifesto was written and circulated by Sánchez and Mella.[6]
Manuel Dolores Galván affirms through his obituary, which was published in the magazine Letras y Ciencias on November 19, 1984, that he served as Sánchez's secretary. He also claims that manifesto was produced by Sánchez. In another account written in 1918 by Eustaquio Puello, he claimed that his father, General Gabino Puello, circulated through the south of the island the handwritten manifesto that was written by his cousin Manuel Dolores Galván during the Musié Pallén meeting.
In the Dominican Republic, however, Tomás Bobadilla was considered the author of the manifesto. This was perhaps due to the fact that during a session of the Tribunal, which took place in June 10, 1847, he would affirm:[7]
| “ | I believe, gentlemen, that none of you can be a better Dominican than I. I was the first to say: God, Fatherland and Liberty; I was the author of the January 16 Manifesto; in the night if February 27, I was at the head of the people; I was the President of the Governing Board.... | ” |
The Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic published a book titled, La Justa Causa de la Libertad, which contains the full script of the manifesto. The prologue is by historian Juan Daniel Balcácer, president of the Permanent Commission of National Ephemerides, who confirms that the Manifesto of January 16, also referred to as the Dominican Act of Independence, was authored by Bobadilla. Therefore, the author of the Dominican Declaration of Independence can be credited to Bobadilla, which supported the pronouncement of the Puerto Del Conde on the night of February 27, 1844, the birth of the newly independent state that became the Dominican Republic.[8]
Further evidence is shown in the Manifesto itself, which contained the ideas of the author, seconded by all it's signatories and supported by all the people. It said clearly:[9]
| “ | The Dominican Republic is built on the ideas of Tomás Bobadilla Briones. The Manifestation is the first document of the Collection of Laws, Decrees and Regulations of the Dominican Republic. | ” |
Published version
Eventually, at Mella's suggestions, the draft of the manifesto was given to Bobadilla for publishing. This was finalized on January 16, 1844. This manifesto urged Dominicans to separate from Haiti. The signatories called on the peoples of the East to unite and sacrifice hatred and personalities for the sake of the homeland: “that the feeling of public interest be the motive that decides us for the just cause of freedom and separation; with it, we do not diminish the happiness of the Republic of the West, and we make our own." In the manifesto, the heroes maintained that their cause is just and promised to divide the new Republic into four provinces: Santo Domingo, Santiago or Cibao, Azua from the Ocoa limit, and Seibo, will be composed the Government of a certain number of members of each one of them so that they thus participate proportionally in their sovereignty.
While expressing their dissatisfaction with the human rights violations committed by the Haitian government, the revolutionaries who fought for the proclamation of the Dominican Republic noted:
| “ | The decent attention and respect that is due to the opinion of all men and to that of civilized nations; demands that when a people that has been united to another, wants to resume their rights, vindicate them, and dissolve their political ties, declare frankly and in good faith, the causes that move them to their separation, so that they do not believe that it is ambition or the spirit of novelty that can move you. | ” |
Next, the Dominican independentists highlighted:
| “ | We believe we have demonstrated with heroic constancy that the ills of a government must be suffered while they are bearable, rather than justice done by abolishing forms; but when a series of injustices, violations and vexations, continuing to the same end, denote the design of reducing everything to despotism and the most absolute tyranny, it falls to the sacred right of the peoples and their duty to throw off the yoke of such a government and provide for new guarantees, ensuring its future stability and prosperity…. | ” |
They expressed that the peoples of the island, formerly Hispaniola or Santo Domingo, acted driven by 22 years of oppression by the Haitian government, and hearing the cries of the homeland from all sides, made the firm resolution to permanently separate Santo Domingo from Haiti, and to constitute a free and sovereign state. They maintained that the Dominican people, due to one of the fatalities of luck, is suffering the most ignominious oppression. According to the text, the Dominican inhabitants felt tyrannized by the Haitians, who deprived them of the Spanish language, Catholicism, and their customs:
| “ | Our condition has not changed at all: the same outraged, the same treatments of the previous administration, the same or higher taxes, the same monetary system without any guarantee that works the ruin of its people and s petty constitution that will never make the people happy. The country has set the seal on ignominy by depriving us, against natural law, of even the only thing we had left as Spaniards: our native language! And putting aside our august religion, so that it disappears from among us; because if when that state religion, if when it was protected, it and the ministers were despised and vilified, what will it not now be surrounded by sectarians and enemies? | ” |
In another part of the manifesto explains the following:
| “ | The twenty-one years of Boyer's perverting administration passed, during which time the inhabitants of the East suffered all the privations that cannot be enumerated: he treated its inhabitants worse than a people conquered by force: he squeezed the juice out of them, getting as much benefit as he could to satisfy his greed and that of his loved ones, he made slaves in the name of freedom. He forced them to pay a debt that they had not contracted like those of the Western part, who took advantage of other people's goods, when on the contrary, they owe us the wealth that they have usurped or embezzled. | ” |
The people of the East further solidified their justification, highlighting the historical context of the country:
| “ | If the eastern part was considered voluntarily incorporated into the Haitian Republic, it should enjoy the same benefits as those to whom it had joined; And if by virtue of that union, we were obliged to uphold their integrity, she was obliged on her part to give us the means to fulfill it, she failed them, violating our rights and us to the obligation. If it is considered to be subject to the Republic, then all the more reason it should enjoy without restrictions all the rights and prerogatives that had been agreed upon or had been promised to it, and lacking the unique and necessary condition of its subjection, it remains free and entirely released; and the duties towards herself oblige her to provide for her own preservation by other means. If one considers with respect to the constitution of Haiti of 1816. It will be seen that in addition to the originality of the case, of giving a bastard constitution, to a foreign country that neither needed it, nor named its natural deputies to discuss it, there is also a very scandalous usurpation, because even then the Haitians were not in possession from this part, nor before, when the French were expelled from the French part, they gave it away, this one, because it was not theirs. By the Treaty of Basel, this part was ceded to France, and later restored or returned to Spain by the peace of Paris, by virtue of which the takeover of it by the Spanish in 1809 was sanctioned, and which lasted until the 30th of November 1821 that it separated from the metropolis. When the sons of the West revised the constitution in 1816, this part did not belong to Haiti or to France, the Spanish flag flew from their fortresses. By virtue of a perfect law, and from the fact that the Island of Santo Domingo was called by its natives, Haiti does not follow, that the Western part that first became a sovereign state giving itself the name of the Republic of Haiti, is called the Eastern part or oriental, as an integral part of it, when the 1st belonged to the French and the 2nd to the Spanish. What is very certain is that if the part of the East belongs to a domination, other than that of its own children, it would be to France or Spain, and not to Haiti, since those of the East have a better right to dominate those of the West, than on the contrary, if we go back to the first years of the discovery of the immortal Columbus. Consequently, given the established assumption, there is a usurpation that does not legitimize anyone's right, in a case like ours. | ” |
They announced the creation of an interim government with an 11-member junta that would be in office until the state constitution is formed. Social and political changes that would be granted following the creation of a free and sovereign state consisted of the democratic system, equal civil and political rights, the abolition of slavery, freedom of religion and freedom of the press. In addition, it included a government program, public instruction, the development of agriculture, commerce, science and the arts, and the issuance of Dominican currency. These reforms are explained in the following text:[10]
| “ | Considering, finally, that due to the difference in customs and the rivalry that exists between one and the other, there will never be perfect union or harmony. The peoples of the previously Spanish part of the Island of Santo Domingo, satisfied that in twenty-two years of aggregation to the Haitian Republic, they have not been able to take any advantage, rather, on the contrary, they have been ruined, they have become impoverished, they have degraded, and they have been treated in the lowest and most abject way, they have resolved to separate forever from the Haitian Republic, to provide for their security, and conservation, constituting themselves under its old limits, in a free and sovereign State. In which, and under its fundamental laws, it will protect and guarantee the democratic system: the freedom of citizens, forever abolishing slavery, the equality of civil and political rights without regard to distinctions of origin or birth, properties will be inviolable and sacred. The Catholic Religion, Apostolic and Roman will be protected in all its splendor as that of the State; but none will be persecuted or punished for their religious opinions. The freedom of the press will be protected, the responsibility of public officials will be ensured, there will be no confiscation of property for crimes or offenses, public instruction will be promoted and protected at the expense of the State, rights will be reduced to the minimum possible, there will be complete oblivion of votes and political opinions issued up to this date, as long as individuals adhere in good faith to the new system. Military ranks and jobs will be kept under the rules established. Agriculture, commerce, science and the arts will be equally promoted and protected: the same as the status of people born on our soil, or that of the strangers who come to live in it in accordance with the laws. Finally, efforts will be made to issue, as soon as possible, a currency with a real and true guarantee, without the public losing the Haitian one. This is the end that we propose with our separation, and we are resolved to give the entire world the spectacle of a people that will sacrifice itself in defense of its rights and that it will be reduced to ashes and rubble, if its oppressors who boast of being free and civilized, they want to impose conditions even harsher than death on us. If against reason and justice they want us to transmit to our children and to posterity a shameful slavery, then, facing all dangers, with persevering firmness, we solemnly swear before God and men, that we will use our weapons in defense of our freedom and our rights, trusting in the mercies of the Almighty who will happily protect us, making our opponents lean towards a just and rational reconciliation, avoiding bloodshed and the calamities of war frightful that we will not provoke; but that it will be extermination if the case arises. | ” |
Aftermath
Among the signatories of the manifesto are Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, Matías Ramón Mella, Tomás Bobadilla, Jacinto de la Concha, Juan Nepomuceno Ravelo, and Felipe Alfau, and many others. At the time the manifesto was put into circulation, the hero Juan Pablo Duarte was in exile in Curaçao, therefore his signature does not appear in the list of signatories.
The signatories of the Manifesto of January 16, 1844, concluded with the following call:
| “ | To the union, Dominicans!, since the opportune moment is presented to us from Neiba to Samaná, from Azua to Montecristi, the opinions are in agreement and there is no Dominican who does not exclaim with enthusiasm: SEPARATION, GOD, COUNTRY AND LIBERTY. | ” |
The dissemination of the manifesto provoked immediate reactions in the Haitian government and increased acts of repression, but it could not prevent the decision of the Dominicans of the eastern part of the island. Finally, on February 27, 1844, the Dominicans expelled Haitian rule and declared independence as the new and improved Dominican Republic.
The promises made in the manifesto to maintain this state precipitated into a series of bloody conflicts that the Dominican revolutionaries would have to endure to fulfill them, ultimately triggering the Dominican War of Independence, which lasted from 1844 to 1856. In addition, these promises also foreshadowed the Dominican Restoration War and the Six Years' War conflicts.
Signatories
At the end of the manifesto included signatories of Trinitarios and conservatives alike. Among the signatories included the following:[11]
- Francisco del Rosario Sánchez
- Matías Ramón Mella
- Tomás Bobadilla
- Vicente Celestino Duarte
- Jacinto de la Concha
- Juan Nepomuceno Ravelo
- Felipe Alfau
- Manuel Jiménes
- Jose M. Perez
- Juan Arriaga
- Carlos Moreno
- Ldo. Valverde
- Pedro Bonilla
- P. de Castro y Castro
- Manuel Cabral
- Silvano Puyol
- José M. Caminero
- Mariano Echavarría
- Ramón Echavarría
- Angel Perdomo
- Bernardo Santin
- Juan Santin
- Pedro Mena
- Juan Ruiz
- F. Sosa
- Manuel Guerrero
- W. Guerrero
- Tomás Concha
- P. Valverde
- José Joaquín Puello
- Gabino Puello
- W. Concha
- J. de la Cruz García
- J. Pichardo
- Pablo Pichardo
- Gabrie J. de Luna
- Luis Betances
- Joaquín Lluveres
- Domingo Rodríguez
- C. Rodríguez
- JG Brea
- Jacinto Brea
- Antonio Brea
- Juan Pina
- M. Leguisamon
- Narciso Sánchez
- Antonio Volta
- Ignacio Padua
- Pedro M. Mena
- M. Aybar
- José Piñeyro
- Ramón Alonso
- Hipólito Billini, E.
References
- ↑ Garrido, Vcitor (1971). Espigas Históricas (en español). p. 108.<7355
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Dominican Republic — History and Culture". www.iexplore.com. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
- ↑ Dominican Republic (1821). Declaratoria de independencia del pueblo dominicano. John Carter Brown Library. Santo Domingo : Imprenta de la Presidencia del Estado independiente de la parte española de Hayti. José Maria Gonzalez. Search this book on
- ↑ Diario, Listin (2018-05-09). "¿Fue Mella imprudente?". listindiario.com (in español). Retrieved 2023-04-21.
- ↑ "Manifiesto Enero de 1844". mipais.jmarcano.com. 2020-10-07. Retrieved 2023-04-21.
- ↑ Madiou, Thomas. Histoire d'Haïti, Années 1843-1846. Port-au-Prince. 1904
- ↑ Rodríguez Demorizi, Emilio. The Dominican Separation Act and the United States of America Independence Act.. Cuadernos Dominicanos de Cultura. Santo Domingo. 1943
- ↑ P, Manuel Otilio Pérez (2016-01-16). "Tomás Bobadilla Briones, autor del Manifiesto del 16 de enero de 1844 - Periódico El Caribe". www.elcaribe.com.do (in español). Retrieved 2022-12-29.
- ↑ Garcia, Jose Gabriel. Compendium of the history of Santo Domingo. Santo Domingo. 1894
- ↑ "Manifiesto del 16 de enero, el cimiento de la soberanía nacional". Diario Libre (in español). 21 February 2023. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
- ↑ "Manifesto del 16 de enero 1844". Academia Dominicana de la Historia. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
External links
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