Haiti has never occupied the Dominican Republic

Jeepito

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This is a subject that I'm extremely interested in, in an attempt familiarize myself with Haitian Dominican history. After a bit of reading I found this article and it made a lot of sense to me; your thoughts!




Haiti has never occupied the Dominican Republic, yet this myth continues to be part of school education on both sides of the island. The Dominican government propagates the myth to help present Haiti as a belligerent nation against which Dominicans must be wary. The image of a bellicose black nation next door helps the Dominican ruling class infuse into the Dominican population racial animosity for their neighbor. That animosity recently expressed itself in the 168-13 Court decision to exclude people of Haitian descent from Dominican citizenship.

On the Haitian side, the myth is maintained because it helps portray Haiti as having been a powerful country which conquered and ruled over another nation. The myth glorifies the country as a great empire much like the European, Central American, and African empires of the past which were more influential in their region then they are today. This grand delusion makes Haiti’s current poverty and minor role in global affairs more palatable.

The reality is that Haiti’s distinction is not from having been a conquering power, but rather from having been a small island nation that abolished slavery and miraculously survived amidst powerful slave-trading nations who opposed its existence. From its birth, Haiti has been pre-occupied with trying to exist. The country’s founders focused much of their diplomatic efforts on trying to convince France, Spain, England, and the United States that Haiti was no threat to them and that it sought only to preserve itself.

When France repeatedly threatened Haiti with invasion through the 1820’s, the Haitian government avoided a war by agreeing to pay France 150 million Francs, valued today at 21 billion dollars. Yet, some historians accuse Haiti of having invaded the Dominican Republic during that same era. What sense would it have made for Haiti to invade a territory supposedly belonging to Spain while simultaneously emptying its coffers to appease France?

The misconception that Haiti invaded the Dominican Republic distorts events that took place on the island between 1795 and 1844. Shortly after the start of the Haitian Revolution in 1791, Spain ceded its part of the island to France in the 1795 Treaty of Basel. This resulted in the entire island becoming one single French colony. It is that colony that became an independent state in January 1804. All Haitian Constitutions published since independence through 1867 have referred to the entire island as the nation of Haiti because it was the entire island that won its independence from France. This is stated in Article 1 of the Constitution of 1805 where the country of Haiti is defined as the island of Haiti. To say that Haiti invaded its eastern part is like saying that Haiti invaded itself.

Although all early Haitian constitutions stated emphatically that the island of Haiti was indivisible, the country could not deter enemies from inside and from outside the nation. Among the enemies of the Haitian State was the French General, Jean Louis Ferrand, who had been stationed by the French in Monte Cristi but refused to follow the orders of his superiors to surrender. After Dessalines declared the island’s independence in 1804, Ferrand took over the city of Santo Domingo and declared that young children living in the western part of the island would be kidnapped to serve as slaves in the area that he controlled. As a result, Dessalines blockaded Ferrand’s forces in the city of Santo Domingo. He was forced to abandon the blockade when news reached him that a French invasion on the western side was eminent. Dessalines then left Santo Domingo to address this greater threat.

Dessalines’ assassination in 1806 left the menace posed by Ferrand unresolved. Ferrand eventually killed himself when his partisans turned against him. During the next 16 years after Dessalines’ death, the island fragmented into various spheres of influence. King Christophe ruled from Cape Haitian. President Petion ruled from Port-au-Prince. Governors Ramirez, Urrutia, and Kindelan ruled in succession from Santo Domingo. However, none of these leaders declared the east a separate state from the island of Haiti. Finally, in 1822, Nunez de Caceres declared the independence of the eastern side of the island as “Spanish Haiti.” Concerned that Nunez de Caceres planned to re-establish slavery, other leaders on the eastern side asked Boyer to help establish order. Under Boyer’s leadership and with popular support, Nunez de Caceres and his partisans were forced to surrender. Boyer reunited the entire island as dictated by the country’s Constitution which called for the preservation of one indivisible island without slavery.

Boyer never colonized nor conquered nor invaded the eastern side of the island because that portion of the island was already a part of Haiti. Revisionist historians constantly accuse Boyer of having invaded the eastern part of the island which supposedly belonged to Spain. If this were true, it would have been tantamount to Boyer declaring war on Spain. What sense would it have made for Boyer to fear war and buy peace with France while declaring war against Spain? The truth of the matter is that Haiti never attacked any Spanish owned territory.

Boyer’s government became unpopular when it levied taxes on the island’s population to pay France, but it took a natural disaster to topple his government. In 1842, while the country was still under an American embargo, a powerful earthquake struck Haiti and crippled Boyer’s administration. The disarray empowered rebel groups throughout the island. An opposition group sprung in the south while in the east, a separatist movement led by Juan Pablo Duarte gained momentum and eventually led to the eastern side of the island declaring its independence in February 1844.

President Tyler of the United States responded by saying that the United States, France, and Spain must quickly recognize this new nation in order to limit the influence of Black people in the Caribbean. The United States quickly recognized Dominican independence but waited 20 years later to recognize that of Haiti. With the eastern separatists backed by world super-powers, Haiti could no longer maintain the integrity of the island as one nation despite several subsequent efforts to reunify the island.

Even years after the eastern side became the Dominican Republic, there was no defined border between the two countries. It was not until 1929, under US occupation that the border was created. The US occupation force was selected from the US south. The argument was that southern whites knew best how to control Negros. The border was drawn in a way that favored the lighter skinned Dominicans. Haiti was forced to overlook the 1795 Treaty of Basel that gave the entire island to France and return instead to the earlier 1697 Treaty of Ryswick which gave 2/3 of the island to Spain and 1/3 to France. That treaty predated and ignored the outcome of the Haitian Revolution.

The history of how the island went from being one country to being two independent nations is reflected in Haiti’s Constitutions. Toussaint’s 1801 Constitution defined the entire island as one colony. From 1805 to 1849, all Haitian Constitutions refer to the country as the island of Haiti. Between 1867 and 1957, all Haitian Constitutions avoided the term island so as not to seem threatening to their new neighbor and refer to the country as the territory of Haiti without defining its boundaries. The first Constitution that acknowledges the existence of two countries on the island is the Constitution of 1987 which states that the country is bordered to the east by the Dominican Republic.

The Dominican Republic is a country that sprung from Haiti. Today, Haitians and Dominicans who can trace their family’s history to the earliest days of the Dominican Republic will find that they have much in common. Indeed, the very founders of the Dominican Republic, among them, Duarte and Santana, were once Haitian citizens.



A Bookmanlit Publication. Edited October 24, 2013. This essay updates our previously published essay of April 2010.

References:

Archibold, Randal C. Dominicans of Haitian Descent Cast Into Legal Limbo by Court. New York Times. October 24, 2013

Baur, John E., Faustin Soulouque, Emperor of Haiti: His Character and His Reign, Academy of American Franciscan History ? 1949.

Constitutions of Haiti 1918-1987. Each individually published by the Haitian Government

Derby Lauren. Haitians, Magic, and Money: Raza and Society in the Haitian-Dominican Borderlands, 1900 to 1937. Comparative Studies in Society and History. Vol. 36, No. 3 (Jul. 1994) pp. 488-526. Cambridge University Press.

Gilles, Yvrose. Bicentennial: Haiti’s Gift to the World. Davie, Florida. Bookmanlit, 2004

Louis Joseph Janvier. Les Constitutions D’Haiti 1801-1885. C. Marpon et E. Flammarion. Paris, 1886

Pons, Frank Moya. The Dominican Republic: A National History. Third Edition. Princeton, New Jersey. Markus Wiener Publishers Princeton, 2010.
Price-Mars, Jean. La Republique D’Haiti e La Republique Dominicaine, Tome I. Port-au-Prince Haiti, 1953

Price-Mars, Jean. La Republique D’Haiti e La Republique Dominicaine, Tome II. Port-au-Prince Haiti, 1953
 
Last edited:

Ken

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Re Haitian Occupation Of 1821-44

If you search long enough, you can find articles that say almost anything. What you have to do is to pull together a lot of articles and see where the agreements and disagreements are.

My guess is that you will find more articles describing the Haitian occupation than you will claims that Haiti never occupied the Dominican Republic.

For example:

"The twenty-two-year Haitian occupation that followed is recalled by Dominicans as a period of brutal military rule, though the reality is more complex. It led to large-scale land expropriations and failed efforts to force production of export crops, impose military services, restrict the use of the Spanish language, and eliminate traditional customs such as cockfighting. It reinforced Dominicans' perceptions of themselves as different from Haitians in "language, race, religion and domestic customs."[6] Yet, this was also a period that definitively ended slavery as an institution in the eastern part of the island.

"Haiti's constitution forbade whites from owning land, and the major landowning families were forcibly deprived of their properties. Most emigrated to the Spanish colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico, or to independent Gran Colombia, usually with the encouragement of Haitian officials, who acquired their lands. The Haitians, who associated the Catholic Church with the French slave-masters who had exploited them before independence, confiscated all church property, deported all foreign clergy, and severed the ties of the remaining clergy to the Vatican. Santo Domingo?s university, the oldest in the Western Hemisphere, lacking students, teachers, and resources, closed down. In order to receive diplomatic recognition from France, Haiti was forced to pay an indemnity of 150 million francs to the former French colonists, which was subsequently lowered to 60 million francs, and Haiti imposed heavy taxes on the eastern part of the island. Since Haiti was unable to adequately provision its army, the occupying forces largely survived by commandeering or confiscating food and supplies at gunpoint.

"Attempts to redistribute land conflicted with the system of communal land tenure (terrenos comuneros), which had arisen with the ranching economy, and newly emancipated slaves resented being forced to grow cash crops under Boyer's Code Rural.[7] In rural areas, the Haitian administration was usually too inefficient to enforce its own laws. It was in the city of Santo Domingo that the effects of the occupation were most acutely felt, and it was there that the movement for independence originated."
 
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Nonetheless, there were Haitians running the Spanish part of Hispaniola, and the Hispanic population of Santo Domingo and other towns did not appreciate being ruled by Haiti, which has never been noted for fair or honest governance. You can say that Henri Christophe was an effective ruler, but essentially he turned his subjects into field hands.

Toussaint L'Overture founded the city of Barahona. You cannot dispute that Haiti ruled the whole island. The Republica Boba declared its independence from Spain before the Haitians arrived.
 

Jeepito

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In reference to the the "Treaty of Basel" If in fact the entire Island was french and that Haitians had ruled all of Hispaniola since 1800 and since there was no definitive border until the 20th century under Trujillo. In 1822, does anyone know, what, if any; was the eastern part of Hispaniola's share of the 90 million gold french francs idemnity that was agreed upon to be paid to france. And if it was at all spelled out in some document. And could it have been possible that the Haitian rulers at the time were under the impression that the debt was for the entire island, hence their supossed invasion to impose taxes in order to repay the debt.

Any thoughts?
 
Last edited:

Dark_Scorpion

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Aug 13, 2012
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This is a subject that I'm extremely interested in, in an attempt familiarize myself with Haitian Dominican history. After a bit of reading I found this article and it made a lot of sense to me; your thoughts!




Haiti has never occupied the Dominican Republic, yet this myth continues to be part of school education on both sides of the island. The Dominican government propagates the myth to help present Haiti as a belligerent nation against which Dominicans must be wary. The image of a bellicose black nation next door helps the Dominican ruling class infuse into the Dominican population racial animosity for their neighbor. That animosity recently expressed itself in the 168-13 Court decision to exclude people of Haitian descent from Dominican citizenship.

On the Haitian side, the myth is maintained because it helps portray Haiti as having been a powerful country which conquered and ruled over another nation. The myth glorifies the country as a great empire much like the European, Central American, and African empires of the past which were more influential in their region then they are today. This grand delusion makes Haiti?s current poverty and minor role in global affairs more palatable.

The reality is that Haiti?s distinction is not from having been a conquering power, but rather from having been a small island nation that abolished slavery and miraculously survived amidst powerful slave-trading nations who opposed its existence. From its birth, Haiti has been pre-occupied with trying to exist. The country?s founders focused much of their diplomatic efforts on trying to convince France, Spain, England, and the United States that Haiti was no threat to them and that it sought only to preserve itself.

When France repeatedly threatened Haiti with invasion through the 1820?s, the Haitian government avoided a war by agreeing to pay France 150 million Francs, valued today at 21 billion dollars. Yet, some historians accuse Haiti of having invaded the Dominican Republic during that same era. What sense would it have made for Haiti to invade a territory supposedly belonging to Spain while simultaneously emptying its coffers to appease France?

The misconception that Haiti invaded the Dominican Republic distorts events that took place on the island between 1795 and 1844. Shortly after the start of the Haitian Revolution in 1791, Spain ceded its part of the island to France in the 1795 Treaty of Basel. This resulted in the entire island becoming one single French colony. It is that colony that became an independent state in January 1804. All Haitian Constitutions published since independence through 1867 have referred to the entire island as the nation of Haiti because it was the entire island that won its independence from France. This is stated in Article 1 of the Constitution of 1805 where the country of Haiti is defined as the island of Haiti. To say that Haiti invaded its eastern part is like saying that Haiti invaded itself.

Although all early Haitian constitutions stated emphatically that the island of Haiti was indivisible, the country could not deter enemies from inside and from outside the nation. Among the enemies of the Haitian State was the French General, Jean Louis Ferrand, who had been stationed by the French in Monte Cristi but refused to follow the orders of his superiors to surrender. After Dessalines declared the island?s independence in 1804, Ferrand took over the city of Santo Domingo and declared that young children living in the western part of the island would be kidnapped to serve as slaves in the area that he controlled. As a result, Dessalines blockaded Ferrand?s forces in the city of Santo Domingo. He was forced to abandon the blockade when news reached him that a French invasion on the western side was eminent. Dessalines then left Santo Domingo to address this greater threat.

Dessalines? assassination in 1806 left the menace posed by Ferrand unresolved. Ferrand eventually killed himself when his partisans turned against him. During the next 16 years after Dessalines? death, the island fragmented into various spheres of influence. King Christophe ruled from Cape Haitian. President Petion ruled from Port-au-Prince. Governors Ramirez, Urrutia, and Kindelan ruled in succession from Santo Domingo. However, none of these leaders declared the east a separate state from the island of Haiti. Finally, in 1822, Nunez de Caceres declared the independence of the eastern side of the island as ?Spanish Haiti.? Concerned that Nunez de Caceres planned to re-establish slavery, other leaders on the eastern side asked Boyer to help establish order. Under Boyer?s leadership and with popular support, Nunez de Caceres and his partisans were forced to surrender. Boyer reunited the entire island as dictated by the country?s Constitution which called for the preservation of one indivisible island without slavery.

Boyer never colonized nor conquered nor invaded the eastern side of the island because that portion of the island was already a part of Haiti. Revisionist historians constantly accuse Boyer of having invaded the eastern part of the island which supposedly belonged to Spain. If this were true, it would have been tantamount to Boyer declaring war on Spain. What sense would it have made for Boyer to fear war and buy peace with France while declaring war against Spain? The truth of the matter is that Haiti never attacked any Spanish owned territory.

Boyer?s government became unpopular when it levied taxes on the island?s population to pay France, but it took a natural disaster to topple his government. In 1842, while the country was still under an American embargo, a powerful earthquake struck Haiti and crippled Boyer?s administration. The disarray empowered rebel groups throughout the island. An opposition group sprung in the south while in the east, a separatist movement led by Juan Pablo Duarte gained momentum and eventually led to the eastern side of the island declaring its independence in February 1844.

President Tyler of the United States responded by saying that the United States, France, and Spain must quickly recognize this new nation in order to limit the influence of Black people in the Caribbean. The United States quickly recognized Dominican independence but waited 20 years later to recognize that of Haiti. With the eastern separatists backed by world super-powers, Haiti could no longer maintain the integrity of the island as one nation despite several subsequent efforts to reunify the island.

Even years after the eastern side became the Dominican Republic, there was no defined border between the two countries. It was not until 1929, under US occupation that the border was created. The US occupation force was selected from the US south. The argument was that southern whites knew best how to control Negros. The border was drawn in a way that favored the lighter skinned Dominicans. Haiti was forced to overlook the 1795 Treaty of Basel that gave the entire island to France and return instead to the earlier 1697 Treaty of Ryswick which gave 2/3 of the island to Spain and 1/3 to France. That treaty predated and ignored the outcome of the Haitian Revolution.

The history of how the island went from being one country to being two independent nations is reflected in Haiti?s Constitutions. Toussaint?s 1801 Constitution defined the entire island as one colony. From 1805 to 1849, all Haitian Constitutions refer to the country as the island of Haiti. Between 1867 and 1957, all Haitian Constitutions avoided the term island so as not to seem threatening to their new neighbor and refer to the country as the territory of Haiti without defining its boundaries. The first Constitution that acknowledges the existence of two countries on the island is the Constitution of 1987 which states that the country is bordered to the east by the Dominican Republic.

The Dominican Republic is a country that sprung from Haiti. Today, Haitians and Dominicans who can trace their family?s history to the earliest days of the Dominican Republic will find that they have much in common. Indeed, the very founders of the Dominican Republic, among them, Duarte and Santana, were once Haitian citizens.



A Bookmanlit Publication. Edited October 24, 2013. This essay updates our previously published essay of April 2010.

References:

Archibold, Randal C. Dominicans of Haitian Descent Cast Into Legal Limbo by Court. New York Times. October 24, 2013

Baur, John E., Faustin Soulouque, Emperor of Haiti: His Character and His Reign, Academy of American Franciscan History ? 1949.

Constitutions of Haiti 1918-1987. Each individually published by the Haitian Government

Derby Lauren. Haitians, Magic, and Money: Raza and Society in the Haitian-Dominican Borderlands, 1900 to 1937. Comparative Studies in Society and History. Vol. 36, No. 3 (Jul. 1994) pp. 488-526. Cambridge University Press.

Gilles, Yvrose. Bicentennial: Haiti?s Gift to the World. Davie, Florida. Bookmanlit, 2004

Louis Joseph Janvier. Les Constitutions D?Haiti 1801-1885. C. Marpon et E. Flammarion. Paris, 1886

Pons, Frank Moya. The Dominican Republic: A National History. Third Edition. Princeton, New Jersey. Markus Wiener Publishers Princeton, 2010.
Price-Mars, Jean. La Republique D?Haiti e La Republique Dominicaine, Tome I. Port-au-Prince Haiti, 1953

Price-Mars, Jean. La Republique D?Haiti e La Republique Dominicaine, Tome II. Port-au-Prince Haiti, 1953

Haiti is occupying the DR right now, there are what, 1 million Haitians here? This whole Haitian/Dominican citizenship phenomenon is a joke. I would not even know about it if I didn't live here in the DR. The rest of the world could care less. Some of my neighbors are Haitian, I see them each day when I go out. There has to be about a million of them here, so Haiti has already invaded and occupied the DR, and there isn't a thing Dominicans can do about it.

The DR and Haiti are meant to be enemies. An ancient Chinese proverb says that two nations that border each other can never really be friends, one must dominate the other. The proverb goes furthers and says that a nation should attack the country that borders it while being friendly with far away nations.

The USA and Canada may seem like friends, but the truth is that the U.S. dominates Canada. Canadians who read this will get ****ed but its the truth. Canada only has like 40 million people with a weak military and is no match for their neighbor to the South which has 300 million+ people and a fearsome military. The USA and one point even tried to invade Canada and make it a part of the USA but the Canadians resisted successfully. This was back when both the USA and Canada where new countries. If the USA decided to conquer and incoporate Canada today the outcome would be different but there is no need for that. The USA likewise dominates and defeated Mexico. So Haiti and the DR can never be friends. One must rule or destroy the other.
 

bob saunders

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This is a subject that I'm extremely interested in, in an attempt familiarize myself with Haitian Dominican history. After a bit of reading I found this article and it made a lot of sense to me; your thoughts!

.


Haiti has never occupied the Dominican Republic, yet this myth continues to be part of school education on both sides of the island. The Dominican government propagates the myth to help present Haiti as a belligerent nation against which Dominicans must be wary. The image of a bellicose black nation next door helps the Dominican ruling class infuse into the Dominican population racial animosity for their neighbor. That animosity recently expressed itself in the 168-13 Court decision to exclude people of Haitian descent from Dominican citizenship.

On the Haitian side, the myth is maintained because it helps portray Haiti as having been a powerful country which conquered and ruled over another nation. The myth glorifies the country as a great empire much like the European, Central American, and African empires of the past which were more influential in their region then they are today. This grand delusion makes Haiti’s current poverty and minor role in global affairs more palatable.

The reality is that Haiti’s distinction is not from having been a conquering power, but rather from having been a small island nation that abolished slavery and miraculously survived amidst powerful slave-trading nations who opposed its existence. From its birth, Haiti has been pre-occupied with trying to exist. The country’s founders focused much of their diplomatic efforts on trying to convince France, Spain, England, and the United States that Haiti was no threat to them and that it sought only to preserve itself.

When France repeatedly threatened Haiti with invasion through the 1820’s, the Haitian government avoided a war by agreeing to pay France 150 million Francs, valued today at 21 billion dollars. Yet, some historians accuse Haiti of having invaded the Dominican Republic during that same era. What sense would it have made for Haiti to invade a territory supposedly belonging to Spain while simultaneously emptying its coffers to appease France?

The misconception that Haiti invaded the Dominican Republic distorts events that took place on the island between 1795 and 1844. Shortly after the start of the Haitian Revolution in 1791, Spain ceded its part of the island to France in the 1795 Treaty of Basel. This resulted in the entire island becoming one single French colony. It is that colony that became an independent state in January 1804. All Haitian Constitutions published since independence through 1867 have referred to the entire island as the nation of Haiti because it was the entire island that won its independence from France. This is stated in Article 1 of the Constitution of 1805 where the country of Haiti is defined as the island of Haiti. To say that Haiti invaded its eastern part is like saying that Haiti invaded itself.

Although all early Haitian constitutions stated emphatically that the island of Haiti was indivisible, the country could not deter enemies from inside and from outside the nation. Among the enemies of the Haitian State was the French General, Jean Louis Ferrand, who had been stationed by the French in Monte Cristi but refused to follow the orders of his superiors to surrender. After Dessalines declared the island’s independence in 1804, Ferrand took over the city of Santo Domingo and declared that young children living in the western part of the island would be kidnapped to serve as slaves in the area that he controlled. As a result, Dessalines blockaded Ferrand’s forces in the city of Santo Domingo. He was forced to abandon the blockade when news reached him that a French invasion on the western side was eminent. Dessalines then left Santo Domingo to address this greater threat.

Dessalines’ assassination in 1806 left the menace posed by Ferrand unresolved. Ferrand eventually killed himself when his partisans turned against him. During the next 16 years after Dessalines’ death, the island fragmented into various spheres of influence. King Christophe ruled from Cape Haitian. President Petion ruled from Port-au-Prince. Governors Ramirez, Urrutia, and Kindelan ruled in succession from Santo Domingo. However, none of these leaders declared the east a separate state from the island of Haiti. Finally, in 1822, Nunez de Caceres declared the independence of the eastern side of the island as “Spanish Haiti.” Concerned that Nunez de Caceres planned to re-establish slavery, other leaders on the eastern side asked Boyer to help establish order. Under Boyer’s leadership and with popular support, Nunez de Caceres and his partisans were forced to surrender. Boyer reunited the entire island as dictated by the country’s Constitution which called for the preservation of one indivisible island without slavery.

Boyer never colonized nor conquered nor invaded the eastern side of the island because that portion of the island was already a part of Haiti. Revisionist historians constantly accuse Boyer of having invaded the eastern part of the island which supposedly belonged to Spain. If this were true, it would have been tantamount to Boyer declaring war on Spain. What sense would it have made for Boyer to fear war and buy peace with France while declaring war against Spain? The truth of the matter is that Haiti never attacked any Spanish owned territory.

Boyer’s government became unpopular when it levied taxes on the island’s population to pay France, but it took a natural disaster to topple his government. In 1842, while the country was still under an American embargo, a powerful earthquake struck Haiti and crippled Boyer’s administration. The disarray empowered rebel groups throughout the island. An opposition group sprung in the south while in the east, a separatist movement led by Juan Pablo Duarte gained momentum and eventually led to the eastern side of the island declaring its independence in February 1844.

President Tyler of the United States responded by saying that the United States, France, and Spain must quickly recognize this new nation in order to limit the influence of Black people in the Caribbean. The United States quickly recognized Dominican independence but waited 20 years later to recognize that of Haiti. With the eastern separatists backed by world super-powers, Haiti could no longer maintain the integrity of the island as one nation despite several subsequent efforts to reunify the island.

Even years after the eastern side became the Dominican Republic, there was no defined border between the two countries. It was not until 1929, under US occupation that the border was created. The US occupation force was selected from the US south. The argument was that southern whites knew best how to control Negros. The border was drawn in a way that favored the lighter skinned Dominicans. Haiti was forced to overlook the 1795 Treaty of Basel that gave the entire island to France and return instead to the earlier 1697 Treaty of Ryswick which gave 2/3 of the island to Spain and 1/3 to France. That treaty predated and ignored the outcome of the Haitian Revolution.

The history of how the island went from being one country to being two independent nations is reflected in Haiti’s Constitutions. Toussaint’s 1801 Constitution defined the entire island as one colony. From 1805 to 1849, all Haitian Constitutions refer to the country as the island of Haiti. Between 1867 and 1957, all Haitian Constitutions avoided the term island so as not to seem threatening to their new neighbor and refer to the country as the territory of Haiti without defining its boundaries. The first Constitution that acknowledges the existence of two countries on the island is the Constitution of 1987 which states that the country is bordered to the east by the Dominican Republic.

The Dominican Republic is a country that sprung from Haiti. Today, Haitians and Dominicans who can trace their family’s history to the earliest days of the Dominican Republic will find that they have much in common. Indeed, the very founders of the Dominican Republic, among them, Duarte and Santana, were once Haitian citizens.



A Bookmanlit Publication. Edited October 24, 2013. This essay updates our previously published essay of April 2010.

References:

Archibold, Randal C. Dominicans of Haitian Descent Cast Into Legal Limbo by Court. New York Times. October 24, 2013

Baur, John E., Faustin Soulouque, Emperor of Haiti: His Character and His Reign, Academy of American Franciscan History ? 1949.

Constitutions of Haiti 1918-1987. Each individually published by the Haitian Government

Derby Lauren. Haitians, Magic, and Money: Raza and Society in the Haitian-Dominican Borderlands, 1900 to 1937. Comparative Studies in Society and History. Vol. 36, No. 3 (Jul. 1994) pp. 488-526. Cambridge University Press.

Gilles, Yvrose. Bicentennial: Haiti’s Gift to the World. Davie, Florida. Bookmanlit, 2004

Louis Joseph Janvier. Les Constitutions D’Haiti 1801-1885. C. Marpon et E. Flammarion. Paris, 1886

Pons, Frank Moya. The Dominican Republic: A National History. Third Edition. Princeton, New Jersey. Markus Wiener Publishers Princeton, 2010.
Price-Mars, Jean. La Republique D’Haiti e La Republique Dominicaine, Tome I. Port-au-Prince Haiti, 1953

Price-Mars, Jean. La Republique D’Haiti e La Republique Dominicaine, Tome II. Port-au-Prince Haiti, 1953

Convoluted logic indeed
 
May 29, 2006
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No point in pasting 1000 word quote in entirety with every post, esp on the first page. At least highlight the points you want to argue.
 

RG84

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May 21, 2010
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So the nation that expelled the enslavers had to pay reparations to the defeated country. LOL

Has that happen another time in history? I understand rebuilding or re-establishing trading agreements with conquered nations but...

I think that's one of the main reasons the eastern part didn't want to be a part of a One Nation Island. They knew the rest of the world would impose/ destroy them also. An economical powerful nation led my blacks, ex salves, nawwwwww
 

Gurabo444

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Nov 1, 2009
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Hahahaha, I love some parts of this article.

The misconception that Haiti invaded the Dominican Republic distorts events that took place on the island between 1795 and 1844. Shortly after the start of the Haitian Revolution in 1791, Spain ceded its part of the island to France in the 1795 Treaty of Basel. This resulted in the entire island becoming one single French colony. It is that colony that became an independent state in January 1804. All Haitian Constitutions published since independence through 1867 have referred to the entire island as the nation of Haiti because it was the entire island that won its independence from France. This is stated in Article 1 of the Constitution of 1805 where the country of Haiti is defined as the island of Haiti. To say that Haiti invaded its eastern part is like saying that Haiti invaded itself.

hahahaha I love this part of the article. Argentina's constitution has always stated that the Falkland Islands are part of Argentina, so in 1982 when Argentina's Army invaded these islands, it wasn't true, just a a western lie, because how could Argentina invade itself? I guess I should whrite an article on how Argentina naver invaded the Falkland Islands, like this example, there are many.

As a result, Dessalines blockaded Ferrand’s forces in the city of Santo Domingo. He was forced to abandon the blockade when news reached him that a French invasion on the western side was eminent. Dessalines then left Santo Domingo to address this greater threat.
I wonder why the article doesn't mention how Dessaline and his pawl Henri Christophe on their retreat towards Haiti burner every Dominican town on their way, and massacred everyone they found on these towns. I love some of these writers, they truly couldn't be any more biased, what's next? That Dominicans lived their best era under Haitian rule, sorry sorry Haiti never invaded DR so my statement is nonsense.

Ferrand eventually killed himself when his partisans turned against him.

Really? The person who caused Ferrand to kill himself was a Dominican exiled in Puerto Rico who never fought along side Ferrand, his name was Juan Sanchez Ramirez, since when did the definitian of "Parisians" changed? Juan Sanchez Ramirez with the support of Spanish troops won the decisive battle of palo Incao in such a way, that a humiliated Ferrand killed himeself.

I refused to read any further, OP if you like Dominican-Haitian history, then read some books about it! preferably first hand accounts. I know that you haven't read any books about these event, because anyone with a bit of knowledge on the subject, would dismiss this article right way as BS.
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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In reference to the the "Treaty of Basel" If in fact the entire Island was french and that Haitians had ruled all of Hispaniola since 1800 and since there was no definitive border until the 20th century under Trujillo. In 1822, does anyone know, what, if any; was the eastern part of Hispaniola's share of the 90 million gold french francs idemnity that was agreed upon to be paid to france. And if it was at all spelled out in some document. And could it have been possible that the Haitian rulers at the time were under the impression that the debt was for the entire island, hence their supossed invasion to impose taxes in order to repay the debt.

Any thoughts?
You should peek into: http://dr1.com/forums/polls/141253-look-into-dominican-past.html

Have fun!
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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3,150
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As for the article in the OP, the article simply shows the Haitian version of things, but they ignore a lot of details. I'm not going to list everything due to time, but there is no mention of:

1. The Treaty of Aranjuez of 1777 in which the official border between the Spanish and French parts (and later the Dominican and Haitian parts) was settled. The Haitians effectively stole more than 5,000 KM2 that was legitimately Dominican because we Dominicans took control of the Spanish part of the island and in our first Constitution clearly states that our territory was the former Spanish part of the island of Santo Domingo with the border being what was agreed in the Treaty of Aranjuez in 1777. In order to put an end to the constant fighting along the border region caused by Haitians coveting the Guava Valley and the Haitian government inspiring its rural population to move into Dominican territory so then the Haitian government could make a claim on those territories alleging they were filled with Haitian citizens; in 1929 a treaty was signed adjusting the border and in 1936 an amendment was made to the 1929 treaty effectively establishing the border as we know it today. This was done by the Dominicans in order to put an end to the constant fighting and belligerent mode that the Haitian violation of the original border had been causing since 1844.

2. That the Spanish town were under French rule at the time the Haitians declared the independence of Haiti in 1804. This is the reason the eastern part remained a French colony (a Spanish population ruled by French General Ferrand) until 1809, when the Dominicans revolted against French rule, wage war against them, and won.

3. They completely ignore the Treaty of Paris of 1814 when France formally returned the Spanish part of Santo Domingo to Spain, despite that in reality the Spanish part was already under Spanish rule since 1809. In fact, in the Spanish Constitution of 1812 it clearly states the entire territory of the Spanish Kingdom and among them is the Spanish part of the island of Santo Domingo. In fact, the Spanish part of the island of Santo Domingo was given special privileges that not even the Spanish provinces in the Iberian peninsula itself got, such as being able to have a diputado in the Cortes of C?diz (think of this as the Spanish congress of the time) regardless of its population size; while all other Spanish provinces on both sides of the Atlantic were conditioned on their population size.

4. The errors that are present in the suppose declaration of acceptance of the Dominicans to the Haitian rule of Jean Pierre Boyer. These errors were of the typographic nature, such as misspelling last names of various prominent Dominicans that supposedly signed the document as well as referring to some Dominican towns by their French spelling. In fact, the letter which was supposedly written in Spanish by the Dominicans has many errors that points towards French being the mother tongue of whomever truly wrote the document. The population of the Spanish part of the island has always had Spanish as the mother tongue, for this reason these errors are suspect, especially the misspelling of Spanish last names in a document supposedly written by native Spanish speakers.

5. The petition that the Spanish King made directly to Jean Pierre Boyer in the 1820's asking for Boyer to return to Spain its province of Santo Domingo which was rightfully Spanish territory as per the Treaty of Paris of 1814 when France officially return the Spanish territory to Spain, officially annulling the Treaty of Basel of 1795. In addition to this, the Treaty of Bassel of 1795 was effectively annulled by conquest during the War of Reconquest of 1808-1809 when the Dominicans revolted against the French rulers of the Spanish part of the island.

6. The treaty signed between the French government and the Haitian government during Jean Pierre Boyer's time, in which the former officially recognizes the independence of the latter under the acceptance of paying an indemnity to France. I posted a copy of this treaty or agreement (in French) in the thread I linked in my previous post here. It clearly states that the debt would be paid by the inhabitants of the French part of the island of Santo Domingo. That is the reason the Dominican population refused to pay the tax that meant to pay the debt to France, not to mention that it clearly leaves beyond a reasonable doubt that Haiti's independence was recognized only for the formerly French part of the island and the reason this was made like this was because Spain considered the Spanish part as its legitimate territory due to the Treaty of Paris of 1814 and considered its territory to be illegally occupied by Haitian forces. Also, Spain never recognized the Dominican independence of 1821 which meant that when Jean Pierre Boyer invaded the eastern part of the island with tens of thousands of soldiers, it was effectively invading Spanish territory without the consent of the Spanish Monarchy.

There's more, but I'll let you figure it out. Be forewarned that if you do a meticulous investigation, you will have to accept that the Haitian claims are completely illegitimate today as they were at the time of the Haitian invasion of 1822-1844, not to mention the previous invasions of 1801 and 1805, and the latter invasions of 1844, 1845, 1849, 1853, and 1856 (these are approximate years, I often confuse a couple when I cite from memory, but the DR suffered five military invasions perpetrated by the Haitians between 1844 and 1856, that's why that era is known as the Dominican-Haitian War).

Its also easy to understand why the Haitians ignore these and other points and that is because many Haitians, even those in prominent social positions in Haitian society, still covet the territory that rightfully belongs to the Dominican people.

Good night! :)
 
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ROLLOUT

Silver
Jan 30, 2012
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Haiti is occupying the DR right now, there are what, 1 million Haitians here? This whole Haitian/Dominican citizenship phenomenon is a joke. I would not even know about it if I didn't live here in the DR. The rest of the world could care less. Some of my neighbors are Haitian, I see them each day when I go out. There has to be about a million of them here, so Haiti has already invaded and occupied the DR, and there isn't a thing Dominicans can do about it.

The DR and Haiti are meant to be enemies. An ancient Chinese proverb says that two nations that border each other can never really be friends, one must dominate the other. The proverb goes furthers and says that a nation should attack the country that borders it while being friendly with far away nations.

The USA and Canada may seem like friends, but the truth is that the U.S. dominates Canada. Canadians who read this will get ****ed but its the truth. Canada only has like 40 million people with a weak military and is no match for their neighbor to the South which has 300 million+ people and a fearsome military. The USA and one point even tried to invade Canada and make it a part of the USA but the Canadians resisted successfully. This was back when both the USA and Canada where new countries. If the USA decided to conquer and incoporate Canada today the outcome would be different but there is no need for that. The USA likewise dominates and defeated Mexico. So Haiti and the DR can never be friends. One must rule or destroy the other.

St Maarten/St Martin