Soon It Will Be Mexico’s Turn: Caribbean Empire and Dominican Annexation
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Published:November 2016
This chapter explores Spanish foreign and colonial policy at midcentury. By 1861, moderate governments had held power in Spain for the previous eighteen years, and economic growth, internal tranquility, and stable alliances benefited the empire. Liberal reforms on the peninsula did not reflect the zeitgeist of government in Puerto Rico and Cuba, however. Imperial authorities felt threatened by colonial disaffection, antislavery resistance, and U.S. incursion. Into a strange mix of imperial energy and disaffection, the Cuban governor and the Dominican caudillo president orchestrated an event heretofore unprecedented in Spanish imperialism: the reannexation of an independent territory. Together, the pro-annexation collaborators emphasized Dominican loyalism and Spanishness, redrafting the history of the island itself. Spanish officials hoped that the project represented a potential wedge for legislative reform on all three islands and a potential postslavery future for Spanish empire.
Bibliography
Archivo Nacional de Cuba (ANC)
Asuntos Políticos (AP)
Diario de la Habana
Gaceta de la Habana
El Redactor de Santiago
Biblioteca Nacional José Martí (BNJM)
Archivo General de la Nación–República Dominicana (AGN-RD)
Archivo Real de Bayaguana
Archivo Real de Higüey
Ayuntamiento de Santiago
Colección Garcia
Colección Herrera (CH)
Fondo Anexión (Anexión)
Memoria de Guerra y Marina
Relaciones Exteriores (RREE)
La Acusación
Boletín del Archivo General de la Nación (BAGN)
El Dominicano
El Eco del Pueblo
Gaceta de Santo Domingo
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El Oasis
El Orden
El Porvenir
El Progreso
La Razón
La Regeneración
La Républica
Revista Clío, Órgano de la Academia Dominicana de la Historia (CLÍO)
El Tiempo
Some of the AGN-RD collections were being reorganized during this research period; Fondo Anexión’s legajo numbers changed from 2006 to 2008 to 2010, for example. The bulk of the numbers cited here refer to the most recent 2008 and 2010 numerations; wherever possible, changes are recorded in the corresponding citation.
Simityè Jakmèl (Cimitière de Jacmel)
La Feuille de Commerce
Le Moniteur Haïtien
L’Opinion Nationale
La République
Archivo Histórico Nacional, Madrid (AHN)
Ultramar
Gaceta de Madrid
Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid (BNE)
Servicio Histórico Militar, Madrid (SHM)
Ultramar
Archivo del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Madrid (AMAE)
Política Exterior, Haití
Política Exterior, Santo Domingo
Tratados
Archivo General de Indias (AGI)
Audiencia de Santo Domingo
Papeles de Cuba (CUBA)
The National Archives, Kew (TNA)
Colonial Office (CO)
301 Turks and Caicos
Foreign Office (FO)
23 Dominican Republic
35 Haiti
National Archives (NARA)
Schomburg Library