Juan Pablo Duarte
Juan Pablo Duarte y Díez was a Dominican military leader, writer, activist, and nationalist politician who was the foremost of the Founding Fathers of the Dominican Republic and bears the title of Father of the Nation. As one of the most celebrated figures in Dominican history, Duarte is considered a folk hero and revolutionary visionary in the modern Dominican Republic, who, along with military generals Matías Ramón Mella and Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, organized and promoted La Trinitaria, a secret society that eventually led to the Dominican revolt and independence from Haitian rule in 1844 and the start of the Dominican War of Independence.
Early years
Duarte was born on January 26, 1813 in Santo Domingo, Captaincy General of Santo Domingo during the period commonly called España Boba. In his memoirs, José María Serra de Castro described a middle aged Duarte as a man with a rosy complexion, sharp features, blue eyes, and a golden hair that contrasted with his thick, dark moustache. Duarte was born into a middle-class family that was dedicated to maritime trade and hardware in the port area of Santo Domingo. His father was Juan José Duarte Rodríguez, a Peninsular from Vejer de la Frontera, Kingdom of Seville, Spain, and his mother was Manuela Díez Jiménez from El Seibo, Captaincy General of Santo Domingo; three of Duarte's grandparents were Europeans. Duarte had 9 siblings: his eldest brother, Vicente Celestino Duarte, a tall, long-haired brunette man, was a store owner, woodcutter and cattle rancher who was born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico; one of Duarte's sisters was Rosa Protomártir Duarte, a performer who collaborated with him within the Independence movement.In 1801, the Duarte family migrated from Santo Domingo to Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. They were evading the unrest caused by the Haitian Revolution on the island. Many Dominican families left the island during this period. At the time, Puerto Rico was still a Spanish colony, and Mayagüez, being so close to Hispaniola, across the Mona Passage, had become a refuge for wealthy migrants from Santo Domingo. Migrants such as the Duartes and other natives born on the Spanish side who did not accept Haitian dictatorship, moved there.
Toussaint Louverture, governor of Saint-Domingue, a former colony of France located on the western third of Hispaniola, arrived to the capital of Santo Domingo the previous year and proclaimed the end of slavery. At the time, France and Saint-Domingue, were going through exhaustive social movements, namely, the French Revolution and the Haitian Revolution. In occupying the Spanish side of the island, Louverture was using the previous agreements between the governments of France and Spain in the Peace of Basel signed in 1795, which had given the Spanish area to France. Louverture wanted to convert the old Spanish institutions to French and re-establish the plantation economy on both sides of the island. Upon arrival in Santo Domingo Norte, Louverture immediately sought to abolish slavery in Dominican territory. Ultimately, slavery was abolished in 1822 during the Haitian occupation of Santo Domingo.
Most scholars assume that the Duartes' first son, Vicente Celestino, was born on the eastern side of the Mona Passage. The family returned to Santo Domingo in 1809, after the Spanish reconquest of Santo Domingo, led by governor-general Juan Sánchez Ramírez, that crushed French rule in Santo Domingo, returning it to Spanish rule. In 1819, Duarte enrolled in Manuel Aybar's school where he learned reading, writing, grammar and arithmetic. Due to the closure of the university by the Haitian authorities, he became a disciple of Juan Vicente Moscoso from whom he obtained his higher education in Latin, philosophy and law. After the Moscoso's exile to Cuba, he was succeeded by the priest Gaspar Hernández.
Ephemeral Independence
First Dominican independence, 1821
In December 1821, when Duarte was eight years old, members of a Creole elite of Santo Domingo's capital proclaimed its independence from Spanish rule, calling themselves Haití Español. Historians today call this elite's brief courtship with sovereignty the Ephemeral Independence. The most prominent leader of the coup against Spanish colonial government was one of its former supporters, José Núñez de Cáceres. These individuals were tired of being ignored by the Crown, and some were also concerned with the new liberal turn in Madrid.The 1820s was a time of profound political changes throughout the entire Spanish Atlantic World, which directly affected the lives of the middle-class like the Duartes. It began with the conflict period between Spanish royalists and liberals in the Iberian Peninsula, which is known today as Trienio Liberal. American patriots in arms, like Simón Bolívar in South America, immediately reaped the fruits of Spain's destabilization, and began pushing back colonial troops. Even conservative elites in New Spain, who had no intention of being ruled by Spanish anticlericals, moved to break ties with the Spanish crown.
Many others in Santo Domingo wanted independence from Spain. Inspired by the revolution and independence on the island, Dominicans mounted a number of movements and conspiracies against slavery and colonialism, from 1809 to 1821.
The Cáceres' provisional government requested support from Simón Bolivar's new government, but their petition was ignored due to the internal conflicts of the Gran Colombia.
Annexation by Haiti
Meanwhile, a plan for unification with Haiti grew stronger. Haitian politicians wanted to keep the island out of the hands of European imperial powers and sought to find a way to safeguard the Haitian Revolution. Haiti's President, Jean-Pierre Boyer, sent an army that took over the eastern portion of Hispaniola. The Spaniards residing in Santo Domingo, especially those of Catalan origin, welcomed the country's incorporation into the Republic of Haiti. Thus, when Boyer arrived in the city at the head of his troops, the Spanish traders sent him a letter in which they adhered to the new order that was implemented. Duarte's father was one of the Spanish merchants in the city who refused to sign the document and, according to several documents, chose to get involved in separatist conspiracies during the initial years of Haitian domination, though that movement never materialized.On January 6, 1823, Boyer decreed that all young men between the ages of 16 and 25 would be drafted into the Haitian army. This measure caused the University of Santo Domingo to lose its students close its doors. On November 14, 1824, Boyer established French as the official, sole and obligatory language in the acts of the Courts, the Civil Registry and public notaries throughout the island. Struggles between Boyer and the old colonial helped produce a migration of planters and elite. Following the bourgeoisie custom of sending promising sons abroad for education, the Duartes sent Juan Pablo to the United States and Europe in 1828.
Revolutionary origins
On the way to the United States and Europe, Duarte was accompanied by Pablo Pujols, a Catalan merchant who was also a family friend of the Duartes. Pujols had lived in the area for some time and agreed to be young Duarte's tutor. However, as Duarte boarded the ship, the captain reproached the two travelers because the Spanish part of the island was now living under Haitian domination. He even asserted that he would only board them if Duarte told him that he felt no shame in being "Haitian". Although Duarte responded that he was Dominican, the captain harshly boasted that the Dominicans were cowards for submitting to the Haitian yoke, and therefore, was undeserving of an identity, expressing: "You have no name, because neither you nor your parents deserve to have one, because, cowardly and servile, they bow their heads under the time of their slaves." This moment completely moved the still teenaged Duarte, who would readdress years later that these humiliating words led him at that very moment resolve to fight for Dominican Independence. He then assured the captain that he would not rest until his people were free.Era of Enlightenment
Duarte left the country for the first as a teenager. Before coming to Europe, where he would go to study, he spent a brief time in the United States. Although it is believed that he entered North America through New York, another version indicates that he did so through Providence, Rhode Island, on July 2, 1829, and that from there he went to New York. There, he studied English, a language Mr. Groot had introduced him to in Santo Domingo. In addition, as mentioned by Rosa Duarte in Notes, he began to study Universal Geography with Mr. W. Davis, who gave him classes at his home. According to historian Pedro Troncoso Sánchez, while in Southampton, England, Duarte would study philosophy, history, law, political science and geography. From Southampton, he continued on to France, where he arrived at Le Havre and then traveled to Paris. It was here that he perfected his French, a language first introduced to him by Monsieur Bruat in Sano Domingo. While attending a banquet in Hamburg through a lodge called Oriente, he was introduced to Freemasonry, absorbing the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity.In Europe, engulfed in the era of romanticism, liberalism, nationalism and utopian socialism, numerous political and social events had shook several European nations in the second and third decades of the 19th century. After Napoleon's invasion of Spain in 1808, Duarte was curious to learn of the events in Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Mexico, further influencing his liberal ideals towards his own country. Duarte presumably knew that the Spanish soldier and politician Rafael del Riego had fought against the French occupation of Spain in 1808. The Spanish events of 1808 and the circumstances around the death of General Riego in 1823 were presumably discussed upon his arrival in Spain in 1828.
Also upon Duarte's arrival in Spain, the events of the Liberal Triennium were still fresh. The fight for independence in America, the support of Ferdinand VII for the return to absolutism and the invasion of the Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis sponsored by the Holy Alliance, caused the collapse of the liberal government and the return to absolutism on October 1, 1823. When Duarte was in Spain, the events of the July Revolution of 1830 occurred in Paris. The figure of the Spanish liberal José de Espronceda was disseminated in the trenches. This allowed liberalism in France to achieve victory against the conservatives who advocated that the Bourbons will continue with the absolutist regime.
Having thrown himself into scenes of European radicalism, Duarte himself witnessed new regimes of liberty that had risen after the French Revolution. He was intrigued by new changes in Germany and France, but none caught his interest more than that of Spain, where reforms were introduced by Cortes of Cádiz. Duarte would remain in Barcelona for the rest of his travels, where it is believed that he studied law. According to military historian Rafael Percival Peña, Duarte also acquired military training during his time in Spain.
While in Europe, Duarte understood that the Dominican people had their own identity as well as the absolute right to bring about political independence. Since the beginning of the 16th century, the Dominicans, despite economic disadvantages, had a history of rebelling and winning battles against Dutch, British, French and Spanish forces. Duarte firmly believed that the Dominicans would now have to rebel against the Haitians. Upon the success of this goal, the newly independent nation would be organized on the basis of the institutionalization of representative democracy. Having formalized these ideals, Duarte returned to his homeland in 1833. From Barcelona, he arrived in Puerto Rico, then to Saint Thomas, and finally to his native country.
Duarte returned to his hometown of Santo Domingo and devoted himself to implementing his newly formed ideals while working in his father's business. According to historian Orlando Inoa, and backed by records from the Grand Oriente of Haiti chartered lodge Constante Union No. 8, Duarte became a free-mason at the legal age of 21. He was said to have been appointed as the Architect Decorator of this lodge. It is believed by some historians that some of his key collaborators were also members of this lodge. Duarte joined the Haitian National Guard and furthered his military training and studied the military tactics of occupying forces, where he reached the rank of colonel.
Duarte lead an intense social life that allowed him to come into contact with many important sectors of urban communities. He witnessed marriages, sponsors, baptisms and attended cultural meetings. His societal experiences helped him realize that the general population was increasingly patriotic to Dominican ideals and that there was a historic movement of reluctance towards the increasingly despotic Haitian rule.
Duarte's ideas were echoed within the middle class. For four consecutive years, from 1834 to 1838, he offered language and mathematics classes to a group of young people who went every afternoon to a warehouse on La Atarazana street. Duarte's popularity grew and many of his disciples began to feel a strong attachment to him. In a short time, the La Atarazana warehouse became the headquarters of a revolutionary movement. Duarte's teachings sought to separate the Dominican and Haitian parts of the island. These ideas were enthusiastically received by his students.