Feb 27th, Independence from what?

[Criss Colon]

"God Bless BOB"!!!!!!!!!
To him, the DR's Glass is not "Half Empty:, OR even "Half Full", it's "OVERFLOWING"!!!!!!!!
No MATTER what!
Did someone have the audacity to just say,..."Ignorance Is BLISS"?????????
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[HUG]

It's "OK" Anna, most Dominicans have no idea either!
I asked a few.
I said ""What are we celebrating today"?????
"Duarte's birthday" was the BEST response! :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:
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My daughter was actually told that duarte was all about today (independance?, no relevance), she came home with a paper flag and telling us how JPD is her uncle, and soething about freedom from America or somesuch. I sent her to Higuey on a school trip today to celebrate this also being a religious day, lol (obviously a fee for this religious experience). Fuc/ing increadible, I love this dump!!!

Time to change schools, she has me confused!

The truth is I am now doubting my own intelligence and I seem to think differently or read facts that contradict Dominican stance or opinion. Or aybe that is jst how it is supposed to be. But soe things still make me wonder where y daughters life is heading when even her teachers are as blunt as a WHIte mans machete!

 

[Criss Colon]

There is an "Old Trick Question", that I must admit, even CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC "I" fell for the FIRST time.
"If February has only 28 days, have many of the other months have 28 days"??????
The answer is "They ALL DO"!!!!
Some just have 30, and some 31, but they ALL have at least 28"!!!
Ask a Dominican THAT question some day!!!!!!!
They will NOT UNDERSTAND!!!!!!
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[AtomicPhil]

hmm hmm. what independence ? many leave out per-colonial times, the tainos. if there were "TRUE & REAL" independence they would embrace more of the tainos by teaching who they were, there culture and language and the history. me born in miami,fl son of dominican parents most of my dominican family or friends know anything or much about the tainos. if there were real independence then spanish would be atleast a second language (if possible we can learn arawak) euro-religion christianity/catholicism wont be embraces publicly, embracing whites or being dependent still on europeans/americans/canadians of there companies or there basically rule most of the island economically. there is no independence

 

[zoomzx11]

Who cares, its an excuse for a partee. In my experience many Dominicans have no idea either. The schools seem to be closed event other day or so. I used to ask my wife's Dom kids, why are the skills on holiday? They never knew.

 

[Dan Spinnover]

Interesting read.

That was what I was wondering about. Because I first heard someone say that Feb 27th was a celebration from Spanish rule. I didn't know how the Haitian takeovers factored in.

 

[bob saunders]

Oh those rose colored glasses.

You are welcome to come for a visit and see for yourself. We have one Haitian teacher at the school, you can ask her. We also have several Haitian children. As far as independence day, lots of posters up for the last week, and lots of speeches today, and it was mandatory attendance for our Grade six thru eight. Parade first, then into the church at the park for speeches from Duarte foundation...etc. Lots of singing and dancing afterwards.

 

[bob saunders]

hmm hmm. what independence ? many leave out per-colonial times, the tainos. if there were "TRUE & REAL" independence they would embrace more of the tainos by teaching who they were, there culture and language and the history. me born in miami,fl son of dominican parents most of my dominican family or friends know anything or much about the tainos. if there were real independence then spanish would be atleast a second language (if possible we can learn arawak) euro-religion christianity/catholicism wont be embraces publicly, embracing whites or being dependent still on europeans/americans/canadians of there companies or there basically rule most of the island economically. there is no independence

You've got some serious identity issues. There isn't that much known about the Tainos, but what is know is taught in schools. Perhaps your friends and family did poorly in school. Dominicans are a mixture of cultures and races, why should they not embrace whatever they want to? You are an American.

 

[bob saunders]

"God Bless BOB"!!!!!!!!!
To him, the DR's Glass is not "Half Empty:, OR even "Half Full", it's "OVERFLOWING"!!!!!!!!
No MATTER what!
Did someone have the audacity to just say,..."Ignorance Is BLISS"?????????
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I am an optimist- easier on the stress level than being a pessimist. Jarabacoenses are a tolerant group.

 

[NALs]

The Ignored Aspects of Dominican Independence (I of II)

Dominicans Also Rejected French Rule

One of the more interesting aspect that is revealed in Gaspar Arredondo y Pichardo?s eyewitness account of the Haitian invasions of Toussaint Loverture (1801) and the beginning of the Era of France in Santo Domingo (1802-1809) is that the inhabitants of the eastern part of the island never fully accepted, at least not out of their own will, the rule of the French. There are other evidence of this even further back in time, especially in 1795 and in the late 1600s when anti-French sentiment was well entrenched in the population that never looked at the French as anything other than usurpers of legitimate Spanish land. Its also interesting to point out that it was the Dominicans who finish the job that was started by the Haitians, in other words expelling the French yoke from the island, with the very bloody war of Reconquest of 1808-1809, and the Spanish part of the island was subsequently returned to Spain, just as the population had yearn since the days the French/Haitian invasions ordeal started.

This rejection of the French would later become a rejection of the Haitians for similar reasons, basically incompatible cultural value systems that under an island wide communion would had necessitated the death of one of the two nations, and neither of the two nations wanted to disappear.

?That?s how in this unlucky day the ominous government [invasion in 1801 of Touissant Loverture in the name of France] that has produce so much bitterness, and so many tears have been shed by the unfortunate population of this country, was constituted; and all in the middle of their happiness due to the affection of love and blind obedience to the will of the [Spanish] monarchy.?

?...[The natives of Santiago] heeded to the [French] general Ferrand and resolved under oath to sacrifice and die for the good cause always aspiring that the island would return to the Spanish government and have the joy to proclaim as our leader Carlos IV, King of Spain.?

Juan Pablo Duarte Admiration for Haiti and the Haitians

Extract of Juan Pablo Duarte?s 1838 letter to Jos? Mar?a Serra:

?From the moment I studied the history of Haiti, I have admiration for the Haitian people, because I find them desperately fighting against greatly superior forces, and I see how they beat them and how they come out of the sad condition as slaves to constitute as a free and independent nation. I recognize that they have two eminent virtues, their love of liberty and their courage; but the Dominicans, which so many times have gloriously spilled their blood, have they done it to seal the insult that in their sacrifices their dominators demand a kiss to their hand? No more humiliation! No more shame! If the Spaniards have their Spanish Monarchy, and France her French Monarchy; if even the Haitians have constituted their own Haitian Republic, why must the Dominicans remain subjugated, first to France, then to Spain, then to the Haitians themselves, without thinking of constituting like the others? A thousand times NO! No more domination! Long live the Dominican Republic!?

The French Consul in Haiti (1838-1848) Witness the Event Unfold

Andrew M. Levasseur was the French Consul in Haiti from 1838 to 1848. During his term as French Consul in Haiti, he witnessed how Haiti almost disappears as the north, which is mostly black, and the more mulatto-dominated south split ways due to racial tensions and divergent commercial interests, and the east slips away because it never felt fully part or at ease with Haitian rule and cultural values.

The following extracts are of his 27th of June of 1843 letter written in Port-au-Prince:

?Its evident that the unity of the [Haitian] Republic is currently threatened by the separation of the south, whose sympathies and commercial interests are with the English, and by the separation of the east where the habits, language, religion, and memory continue to be Spanish...?

?I know the spirit of Haiti: win time and avoid its compromises. That?s the basis of the political men of this country.?

?You are aware, Mr. Minister, the condition that the spirit of the inhabitants of the former Spanish part are in. I think I have sufficiently shown you the desire of all of them to separate from the French part and constitute into an independent republic or to return to Spain.?

?Santo Domingo, that dethroned queen, in another time had a bishop, a seminary and a theological university. The [Haitian] Republic has taken everything away from her, and has destroyed everything, and the Spaniards still lament the loss of their sacred monuments...?

Extracts of Andrew Levasseur?s 31st of December of 1843 letter in Port-au-Prince:

?I occupied, since less than a year, the position that in 1838 the [French] king confided in me, and by that time I was already convinced that the population of the eastern part of Haiti was fully upset with everything that had to do with president Boyer?s administration, and also that the most eminent and lucid men of that population caressed the dream to return the Spanish nationality to their province as its forced union with the former French part of Haiti became less consistent...?

?From the first months of 1842, the inhabitants of the eastern part were fatigued by the brutality of their black chiefs or magistrates, who were imposed on them by force, and indignant due to the audacity and imprudence that Boyer?s administration hurt their most intimate sentiments and most valuable interests, attacking their properties, their organization and the dignity of their clergy; that they were seriously contemplating putting an end to a yoke that had become intolerable.?

?There?s a priest in Santo Domingo that has a lot of influence... it will suffice to have him say a few words so that the men with arms to line up in defense of our [French] flag, and without a doubt he will pronounce those words not with the hopes of satisfying his ambition or greed, because he doesn?t know those sentiments, but rather because of his love for his religion, that the Haitian government under Boyer?s administration has mistreated, and that the revolutionary government has threatened by supporting the rise of the English Methodists.?

Dominican Declaration of War against Haiti

The official declaration of war against Haiti was done in April of 1844, two months after the declaration of independence took place. This war lasted until 1856 (12 years), which is probably the longest lasting war of independence in America. is the official declaration of war and the reason why the independence movement took a violent turn.

God, Country, and Liberty

Dominican Republic

The Central Governing Board, representative and protective of the rights of the people.​

Considering that the Haitian Republic has feigned ignorance on the principles of sovereignty that resides in the people and the supreme right that they have to safeguard and provide for its wellbeing and its happiness, which is the end of all associations.

Considering that, despite the officially submitted manifestation of the 16th of January, the Haitian government has also ignored the justified motives that the peoples of the former Spanish part have for separating en mass from them.

Considering that despite the frank and generous treatment that we have given to the Haitians, limiting our pronouncement to the act of Separation and to the means of natural defense, opening the door to honorable events, treating them with the most philanthropy, making sure respect was guaranteed to them as individuals and to their properties; they and their government have responded with outrages and vexations, neglecting the official communications and the capitulations that have been made in this city and in Puerto Plata, and since the 9th of March they have violated our territory and initiated the hostilities without warning, not even the customary preliminaries between civilized countries and nations.

Considering that the Haitian people, in other words their leaders, initiated an unjustifiable and scandalous war against us, have trodden all principles and ignore our rights, imprisoning and treating with the most cruelty our northern ministers, our priests, and some of our civilian men, women, and children; maintaining them in prison without giving them the necessary food to sustain their lives, in that manner adding new injustices to the many that gave rise to our separation.

Considering that by nature, the rights of the invaded are the same as those of the invader, and when a people or nation denies another what belongs to them, for the offended party there is no other recourse than to support its manifestation by force; and since we can?t expect any justices from the Haitians than that which we will gain with our arms on hand, due to its previous unfair conduct towards us, due to its current aggression against us, due to its perfidious dealings, due to the devastation, fires, looting, and assassinations that has been imposed on our countryside and towns where they have passed, against innocent and defenseless people; all of this gives us a double right to resist or die rather than subjugate ourselves to the Haitian government.

Due to all of these motives we decree what continues.

Article 1. We solemnly and in all forms declare open war, by sea and by land, to the harmful and our enemy Haitian nation.

We authorize our citizens, and to those who unite to our cause, to harass the Haitians; and as unjust aggressors, the Haitians will be responsible before God and the world for the ills and horrors that war brings forth, the bloodshed, the destruction of families, the rapine, the violence, the destruction, the fires; everything will be its own creation and as a consequence of its criminal conduct.

Article 2. There will be no peace, nor any transaction from our part, while the enemy occupies our territory, demarcated by its old limits; and while they refuse to recognize our rights, the separation that we have declared, and that the Dominican Republic is an independent and sovereign state.

Article 3. The war will be in the same manner as it is done to us, regular or irregular, with everyone determined to die rather than to support once again the heavy yoke of a cruel government; and we will not omit the retaliations that the circumstances demand.

Article 4. The Dominican Spaniards that remain with loyal to the Haitian cause, and that are discovered with arms in hand, will be treated as if they were Haitians and our enemies.

This decree will be printed, published, and executed in the entire territory of the Dominican Republic.

Santo Domingo, 19 of April of 1844 and 1st of the Nation

Bobadilla, presidente of the Board; Manuel Jimenes, vicepresident; Caminero, Echevarr?a, Carlos Moreno, Del Orbe, Valverde, J. Tom?s Medrano, Juan Pablo Duarte

Silvano Pujol, secretary of the Board​

 

[NALs]

Ignored Aspects of Dominican Independence (II of II)

The Haitian Initiated Slavery Rumor

Typical of the Haitian modus operandi in its attempt to influence the Dominican people, Haiti?s government initiated a rumor that claimed slavery was going to be re-imposed. This lie was also spread by the Haitians during the re-annexation to Spain in 1861-65. In order to put an end to this lie, the Dominican government enacted the following law in June of 1844. This law also had an effect in neighboring Puerto Rico, where slavery was an established institution even though most of the population there were not slaves, but it did caused many runaway slaves to take yolas and attempt to reach Dominican shores. The number of Puerto Rican ex-slaves that reached Dominican shores is unknown, but I think they were an important minority because during the re-annexation to Spain, the Puerto Rican ex-slaves were among the most scared groups once the false rumors were spread.

God, Country, and Liberty

Dominican Republic

Central Governing Board​

Considering: 1st. That despite in the manifestation of the people on the ten and six of January of this year, has been established that slavery has cease to exist among us forever, some badly intentioned spirits and that want to create division and destroy our faith are spreading false and dishonorably that to the unfortunates that in other times were slaves, would be subjected once again to such unworthy yoke.

2nd. That slavery goes against the natural liberty, the eternal principals of our religion, reason, and good policy.

3rd. That it?s necessary that the government should secure from whatever means possible the state of the people, the union, and the tranquility of its inhabitants.

Having all of this in mind, what the cultured and civilized nations have done and are doing to abolish and destroy slavery, and protect the civilization everywhere:

Decree:​

Article 1. The introduction of slaves to the territory of the Republic, regardless if its directly from Africa or from any other place, is absolutely prohibited; and the slaves that step foot on the territory of the Dominican Republic, will be considered and treated immediately as freemen.

Article 2. Any citizen in the Republic, without distinction of class or person, that does anything to send ships to Africa to extract slaves or that lend himself and takes part in that shameful and inhuman trade, buying or selling them, will be considered a pirate, judged and punished with THE DEATH PENALTY.

This decree will be printed, published, circulated, and executed in the entire territory of the Republic.

Given in Santo Domingo on the 17th of June of 1844 and 1st of the Nation.
Pedro Santana, president of the Board; Felix Mercenario; Francisco [del Rosario] S?nchez; Del Orbe; C. Moren; [Manuel] Jimenes; Toribio Ma?on; Bobadilla; Santamar?a, secretary ad-hoc.​

The French Consul in Haiti Description of Events in Haiti after Dominican Independence

Extract from Andrew Levasseur?s 7th of July of 1845 (a year and five months after independence) letter in Port-au-Prince:

?...Public opinion and the very Port-au-Prince cabinet invited us [the French] to make the Spanish part [of the island] an asylum for Haitian mulattoes, because they were threatened by the anger of the blacks...?

?...The Haitian government felt impotent to make the Spaniards return to obedience, and became convinced that any new tentative in that respect will only cause calamities for the entire island...?

Dominican-Haitian Hostile Attitude Remained through out the XIX Century

Samuel Hazard, the author of ?Santo Domingo Past and Present with a Glance at Haiti,? was an American commissioner sent in 1871 by the government of the United States to the Dominican Republic and Haiti in order to gather the opinion of the Dominican people about the possibility of being annexed to the United States, and also describe the condition of the country. These were some of his impressions regarding Dominicans and Haitians during his visit in 1871, 27 years after the independence and 6 years after the restoration of the Republic.

?[Dominicans] gave me some amusing accounts of their fights with the Haitians, and seem to hold them in great contempt, as the Dominicans did not hesitate to attack with the odds against them of sometimes five to one. At the time I considered this as braggadocio, but I was credibly informed by the Haitian generals this was absolutely the fact...?

?...Although no open war is declared between Dominican Republic and Haiti, yet such are the relations existing between them, that no vessel is cleared from the ports of one to those of the other...?

?...[The Haitians] dreaded the machete of Dominican soldiers, a sort of sword with which all Dominicans of the lower ranks are armed, whether they are soldiers or civilians.?

Dominicans exhibited the machetes in public well into the 20th Century, as is seen in this photograph of December 1959. This tradition is no longer in use (at least I?m not aware of it), but it initiated during the quarrels with the Haitians.


Dominican-Haitian Hostilities Continued into the XX Century

NYT 1912: Santo Domingo Wants Loan to Fight Haiti ? We May Dissuade Them (click here to see article)

One of Our Most Sacred National Symbols

The Dominican flag is one of our most sacred national symbols, because it embodies the basic values on which the Dominican nation was founded on.

Red = Honors the brave men that gave their lives for the values that the Dominican flag represents.

Blue = To live in liberty.

White Cross = The union of all the races in a civilization based on Christian values.

Bonus

Here is an excerpt from a 1894 article published in The New York Times about Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) based on the experience of American Smith M. Weed, the then President of the Nicaragua Canal Company. Keep in mind this is 50 years since the end of the Haitian Domination (or the beginning of Dominican independence) and 29 years after the Restoration of the Republic. Rafael Leonidas Trujillo was 3 years old at the time and Joaquin Balaguer would be born 12 years later.

Yes, I have just returned from a very enjoyable visit to San Domingo, and am filled with pleasant impressions of its beauty, productiveness, and the kind politeness of its people. It has a population of something more than 500,000, two-thirds of whom, I should say, are straight-haired people, while the other third have more or less of the curly hair which is a characteristic of the negro race. All are dark, for the hot climate soon bronzes the residents of Dominica, and the natives, even those with a pure Spanish ancestry, have become very dark-complexioned, while those with Indian blood in their veins are naturally so.

The men one meets in business, as well as in official or other positions, are gentlemanly in their manners, not to say elegant in appearance, deportment, and dress, and are uniformly very polite and considerate. In a stay of six weeks among these people, I did not see a fight or a broil of any king; in fact, as a nation, they are naturally courteous and amiable, especially considerate toward foreigners, in which respect they differ very much from the Haitian at the other end of the same island.

The Charm of San Domingo

Here is another excerpt from an article published in The New York Times on July 27, 1899:

San Domingo is the eastern part of the Island of Haiti, and has 18,000 English square miles of territory, and 610,000 inhabitants by the census of 1888. It is divided into six provinces and five maritime districts. San Domingo, the largest city, contains 14,500 persons. The inhabitants are much mixed in race, including a good proportion of pure Spaniards, some pure negroes, and innumerable combinations of Spanish, negro, and other races.

On Feb. 27, 1844, the people of San Domingo seceded from the negro Republic of Haiti, and set up a separate Government under Pedro Santana. The Haitians invaded the country with an army of 20,000 men, but were disastrously defeated.

It was in the later term of Baez that the people, after nearly thirty years of troubled independence, voted almost unanimously for annexation to the United States. President Grant sent a commission to examine into the conditions, and the report strongly favored annexation. No action was taken, however, and in the recent war between this country and Spain the sympathies of the Dominicans were said to be strongly with Spain.

Article published on the day dictator Ulises Hereaux was killed in Moca (need to scroll down to see the beginning of the article on the left side)

 

[Criss Colon]

So MUCH "BULL$HIT", So Little Time!
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I bet that even the "OP" didn't read THAT!