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: MASTER'S THESIS M-1474 PETRY, Marilyn Belle UNITED STATES RELATIONS WITH HAITI DURING THE OCCUPATION. The American University, M.A., 1968 Political Science, international law and relations University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan 1 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UNITED STATES RELATIONS WITH HAITI DURING THE OCCUPATION /" L. , Marilyn Petry Submitted to the Faculty of the School of International Service of The American University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS Signatures of pommittee; Chairmai Date : Dean of thy School D a te : May, 1968 The American University Washington, D. C, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY MAY 101968 WASHtNGTON. D. ft 3T-M Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited withoutpermission. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE 1= EARLY HISTORY OF H A I T I ......... 1 Haiti from 1492-1804 .o.......... 3 Haiti from 1804-1915 . » . 6 Haiti's Relations with the United States . 11 IIo CONDITIONS IN HAITI PRIOR TO THE OCCUPATION , , 14 Political and Social Conditions in Haiti . 14 Economic Conditions in Haiti . 17 Foreign Interests in Haiti . 21 III. CONTEMPORARY CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN INTERVENTION ................ 29 Chaotic Conditions in Haiti ......... 29 Financial Disorder in Haiti .......... 35 Threat of Foreign Intervention ....... 38 Strategic Importance of Haiti ........ 40 Access to Mole St. Nicholas ......... 41 IV. ESTABLISHMENT OF AMERICAN CONTROL IN HAITI „ „ 44- Election of a President ........... 45 Establishment of Customs Control ...... 47 Declaration of Martial Law ......... 49 Ratification of the Treaty ......... 50 The Treaty of 1915 51 The Haitian Constitution of 1918 ...... 54 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited withoutpermission. ill CHAPTER PAGE Vo HAITI DURING THE DARTIGUENAVE ADMINISTRATION . 60 Control over Finances ............ 62 Protocol of 1919 .............. 64 Legislative Control ............. 68 / Judicial Control .............. 70 Control of the Press ............ 72 Executive Control .............. 73 VI. THE AMERICAN MILITARY ADMINISTRATION IN HAITI . 76 Initial Pacification ............ 77 Corvée System ................ 79 Caco Rehellron ............... 82 Senate Hearings ............... 86 VII. HAITI DURING THE BORNO ADMINISTRATION ..... 89 The Functions of the High Commissioner . 89 The Election of President Borno ....... 92 Flotation of a Loan ............. 94 New Contract with the Bank ......... 96 Attempts to Improve Fiscal Policy ...... 97 A new Educational System .......... 100 Constitutional Amendments .. o ...... 101 Disenchantment with President Borno ..... 103 VIII. RELINQUISHMENT OF AMERICAN CONTROL IN HAITI . 108 The Forbes Commission ............ 108 A New Administration ............ 112 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. IV CHAPTER PAGE Haitianization Agreement of August 5, 1931 115 Further Negotiations ooeooeoeeeee 116 Treaty of 1932 eoeoooeoooo oooe 118 Executive Agreement'— 1933 120 Withdrawal of Military Forces from Haiti 123 IX. CONSEQUENCES OF THE INTERVENTION o o e e o e Q 125 Maintenance of Order OQOooeoe ooo 125 Roads and Public Works 127 Publ]_c Health . 130 Education oooooooo......o.. 133 Financial Progress eeeeoeeeoeoo 138 The Haitian Economy . oeee eooo 143 X. OBSERVATIONS ON THE OCCUPATION ooeeoooo 145 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......... oooooeooo 155 APPENDIX A. Presidents of Haiti eoeooeoooee 167 APPENDIX B. Revenues and Expenditures and Excess of Revenues or Expenditures Fiscal Years 1916-1917 to 1932-1933 168 APPENDIX C. Public Debt 0 0 0 0 * 0 0 169 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER I EARLY HISTORY OF HAITI Throughout its history, Haiti has been a nation in strife. Following its discovery by Columbus in 1492, the influx of foreigners brought violence to Haiti. After years of foreign domination and heavy slave importation, Haiti emerged, in the early 1800's, as an independent but unstable nation, populated, for the most part, by ignorant former slaves. Even with independence, conditions improved little; for, Haiti merely substituted native tyranny for alien rule. -- The years following independence were characterized by political and economic chaos. Grave financial errors were made in the flotation of bonds in foreign and domestic markets. The economy stagnated with the plantations, roads, and aqueducts built by the French in need of repair. The dearth of agricultural and industrial progress, coupled with the lack of cultural development of the population, led to political instability. In the urban centers of Haiti, an elite class emerged, educated in the French language and traditions. The rural areas, however, were populated by an uneducated peasantry which was exploited by the better class. The elite, who looked primarily to the government for employment, found Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited withoutpermission. 2 insufficient opportunities available. Thus, factions de veloped and revolutions occurred as those out of office mobilized peasant armies in an attempt to obtain political control. Between 1879 and 1915, the political situation in Haiti further deteriorated. Chronic revolutions were accom panied by financial disorder which brought threats of Euro pean intervention. In 1915, after the brutal murder of the Haitian President and the violation of foreign embassies, the situation became so unstable that the United States made the decision to intervene-jLn. Haiti. This intervention led to a twenty-year period of military occupation. The occupation of Haiti has been a subject of much controversy. American motives have been questioned by those who claim that dollar diplomacy provided the real impetus to this intervention. United States methods in governing Haiti have also been criticized, with charges of brutality and murder directed at the military who were responsible for the pacification of the interior. Even the material achievement of the occupation have been disparaged by those who were opposed to the American intervention. In order to understand the reasons for the occupation and to determine its effects on the development of Haiti, it is necessary to view the intervention in its proper perspective by first presenting, in some detail, the history of Haiti and then Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 3 by examining the political, social, financial, and economic conditions that precipitated the American action.. Haiti from 1492-1804 Haiti, or Santo Domingo, was first discovered by Columbus in 1492 and soon afterwards became a source of agriculture exploitation for the Spanish. The Indians occupying the island were not suited to a life of slavery and were soon replaced by the importation of Africans. As the Indian population continued to diminish and as the demand for plantation labor increased, Negroes were brought to Haiti in greater numbers, eventually becoming the domi nant force of the island. Meanwhile, the French had obtained a foothold on the western part of the island. However, it was not until after the War of the Grand Alliance in Europe that Spain recog nized France's right to this territory; and, in 1697, by the Treaty of Ryswick, Spain ceded France the western third of Hispanola, which she ruled under the name of Saint Domingue.^ The French did much to develop Saint Domingue. Large plantations, operated by slave labor, produced sub stantial amounts of sugar, tobacco, indigo, coffee, and ^Seldin Rodman, Haiti : The Black Republic (New York: Devin Adair Company, 1954), p. 6. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited withoutpermission. 4 cacaoo Along the plains' areas, roads were built and irri gation projects installed. The colony prospered and was considered a prized possession. Toward the end of the eighteenth century, in spite of the material prosperity of the island, antagonisms amongst the various elements became more apparent, and, fi nally culminated in the downfall of white supremacy. In this period, the population consisted of 32,000 whites, 2 24,000 freedmen, and 480,000 slaves. The whites were divided into three classes— the French-born officials and landowners, the Creole aristocracy, and the poorer French men. Jealousy and hatred existed between these classes, but their determination to maintain the color line became a 3 unifying force. Subservient to the white man were the free mulattoes and slaves, who were further divided into two distinct classes. While the free mulattoes were permitted to own property and possess wealth, they still faced social, political, and legal discrimination."^ The slaves, on the other hand, were an oppressed lot of people whose source of 2 H. P. Davis, Black Democracy (second edition ; New York; Dodge Publishing Company, 1936), pp. 24-25. ^Ibid., p. 28. '^Arthur C. Millspauqh, Haiti Under American Control (Boston: World Peace Foundation, 1931), p. 8. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 5 unity was derived from their hatred of the white man and their jealousy of the mulatto. At the time of the French revolution, when French control of the colony was weakened, this dissension came to a head. The unsuccessful mulatto revolt

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