(Fuck the war update.)
A Black Massachusetts (1872-1877)
"The ideal of black self-governance is now forever dead. In lifting the yoke of governance from the Dominicans, we have placed a yoke of inferiority to replace it. And in time, all the lands that are blacks' by right of possession shall fall under this yoke."-Senator Charles Sumner
"What the honored Senator fails to recognize.... is that Santo Domingo shall be a black sister of Massachusetts. The administration of the island shall become an incontrovertible fact of racial ambiguity."- Frederick Douglass, 1st Territorial Governor of Santo Domingo
The annexation of Santo Domingo yielded immediate changes in the governance of the island and, for the Negro community at large.
It is estimated that in the first year (1873) more than 10000 Negroes took up the call to "the black Massachusetts". Most of the emigrants came from border states, where their numbers were smaller and where they could not exert political pressure upon the un-Reconstructed States. Texas contributed the most, with some estimates ranging as high as 3000 from the Lone Star State alone.[1] Many came also from the Northern states, skilled freedmen who would find new opportunities in Douglass' heralded "land of racial freedom". After the states were readmitted to the Union, Redeemer government would often bully freedmen out of close districts, and this yielded another wave in 1875.
Naturally, the transition of the government from the Santo Domingo government to US administration had its pitfalls. Many in the Parti Azul considered the annexation to be a corrupt plot by the President at the time, Buenaventura Baez. (Baez did get an appointment as the customs inspector of Santo Domingo, the city)
Gregorio Luperon, the man who had led the Restoration of the Republic following Spanish annexation in the 1860s, began openly talking of a coup to depose Baez and resist the annexation efforts. In the details of the plot which have been found, Baez was to be deposed and Ulises Francisco Espaillat, a personal friend of Luperon, was to be installed as President.
However, the plot dissolved after the landing of US Marines in December of 1872. No large scale military action was taken by either side until 1876. Only in the countryside was it dangerous to be an Anglo, whether white or black, a reputation the rural areas of the island would keep for decades.
Frederick Douglass, one of the most outspoken supporters of the annexation, was appointed territorial governor by outgoing President Wade [2] in February of 1873. He would serve until 1885.
Douglass' administration was criticized for its paucity of native Dominicans and especially, its focus on appointing freedmen from the States. Douglass found many enemies within the Catholic Church on the island, as he taxed many of the remaining Church estates, ended public funding of the parochial schools and encouraged missionary efforts by freedmen on the island.
However, Douglass did develop an almost idolatrous relationship with the native blacks of the country, who idolized him and the policies they felt favored them. He also encouraged the freedmen populace to learn Spanish and required the publication of all laws in both English and Spanish.
Douglass guided the territory through economic expansion during the 1870s. The early years saw heavy expansion of plantation style industry on the island, and attempts to transplant the southern practice of liens and sharecropping. He pioneered the ban on such contracts in 1875, a move that would later be followed by Republicans in the South.
In 1876, he personally went before Congress demanding that more of the territory's tariff funds go to the island. He used the tariff funds as well as the island's other taxes to fund a series of schools all across the island. Education became one of the paramount functions of the Santo Domingo government.
He endorsed Ulysses Grant, who had served in numerous Administration posts, in 1876 and campaigned for him in the South and North, leaving most governing duties to the Lieutenant Governor, Ulises Heaureaux of the Parti Azul.
During Frederick Douglass' absence, there was an attempted coup led by Ulises Heaureaux which led to the killing of US soldiers, freedmen and a retaliation into the countryside. Much of the territorial militia sided with Heaureaux. Numerous properties were seized over the coup, with many falling into the hands of white businessmen or corrupt freedmen. The insurgency sparked by Heaureaux would last into 1877 and would become an embarrassment for President Grant.
Heaureaux himself was executed in November of 1876, following Frederick Douglass's return. Douglass exercised few functions as governor while the island was under martial law. Mj. Gen. George Armstrong Custer authorized numerous brutal tactics during the insurgency, earning himself a damned name in the entire territory. [3] However, the insurgency was mostly over by 1877 and Custer was being praised in the states, by Republican and Democrat alike.
1877 seemed to Douglass to be an end to his bright dreams for the territory, but he would continue to faithfully serve for 8 more years. "[The territory] is a great weight upon my shoulders," he wrote in a letter to President Grant, "but as Jesus bore his, so shall I bear mine. It is not too heavy a burden for me..... I hope that it may yield a resurrection for this island."
[1] Texas is one of the last states to be Reconstructed as well, due to a partisan frenzy whipped up during the early 1870s.
[2] You read it right.
[3] Custer makes himself rather unpopular with the administrations (Wade, ?, Grant), and so gets stuck in Santo Domingo. "A puckered black asshole," he is recorded as calling the post.