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Baez fled from the country and answered with a fiery counter-appeal, justifying himself and accusing Santana of despotism, whereupon the breach between the two strong men was complete. Santana also quarrelled with Congress and banished or shot his principal adversaries. In 1854 a constitutional convention assembled to draft a constitution more to Santana's taste than the existing one.
Santana ordered the prisoners shot and twenty were executed on July 4, 1861, notwithstanding the protests of General Pelaez, the Spanish officer second in command. The act provoked bitterness against Spain and made the men so killed martyrs in the eyes of their countrymen. It also marked the beginning of strained relations between Santana and Pelaez, made worse by Santana's arrogance.
The friction resulted in Santana's resignation on January 7, 1862. He evidently hoped the queen would ask him to reconsider and give him carte blanche in Dominican affairs, but the resignation was accepted, though sweetened by the grant to him of the title of Marques de las Carreras and a life pension of $12,000 per annum. His successors in the governorship were high officers of the Spanish army.
It was not compatible with Santana's character to be subordinate to anyone else, and by the end of July he had with the government at Santiago and set up a government of his own "in order that the lovers of liberty be not disquieted, in order that peace prevail, and in order that the nation be saved," as he said in his proclamation.
On the same day or within a few days afterward the flag of the new republic was raised in every town of the old Spanish colony of Santo Domingo, except certain towns in the west which are still in possession of the Haitians, and the country entered upon the period of independence. Constitution of the government. Santana's first administration. Wars with the Haitians. Administration of Jimenez.
Duarte was proclaimed president of the republic by the people of the north, but Santana's soldiers refusing to recognize any other leader, marched on the capital, which they entered on July 12, 1844, and deposed the central council of government, declaring Santana chief of state with dictatorial powers.
Neither he nor the constitution lasted long. The constitution being too liberal, he had it abrogated on April 19, 1866, and Santana's constitution of December 16, 1854, was adopted in its stead.
Conspiracies against Santana's government were immediately set on foot by the liberals, but were discovered and three ringleaders were executed on the first anniversary of the Republic's independence. In the spring of 1845 the first Congress met and proceeded to organize the government.
Victory of Las Carreras. Baez' first administration. Santana's second administration. Repulse of Soulouque. Baez' second administration. Period of the two governments. Santana's third administration. Annexation negotiations. Annexation to Spain. War of the Restoration.
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