Jun 05, 2008 - Sale 2148

Sale 2148 - Lot 414

Price Realized: $ 1,560
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
FOR SALE: ONE ISLAND REPUBLIC. MOTIVATED SELLER. (DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.) Báez, Buenaventura. Autograph Letter Signed as president to Joseph W. Fabens. 4to, 1 leaf, attached cleanly to sheet along left margin, mounted with 1869 1-peso note from Banco Nacional de Santo Domingo. with--typed English translation. Santo Domingo, 17 May 1870
Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

Buenaventura Báez (1812-1884) served five terms as president of the Dominican Republic between 1849 and 1878, a period marked by great financial instability. In November 1869, he and President U.S. Grant signed a treaty annexing his country to the United States, in exchange for a payment of 1.5 million dollars to help offset his nation's debts. This treaty, however, faced a difficult ratification struggle in the U.S. Congress.

In this letter, Báez writes to his minister in Washington about the annexation. He expresses his satisfaction that Fabens was received cordially by President Grant and Senator Charles Sumner, and emphasizes the urgency of securing ratification of the annexation plan. He adds that if the annexation falls through, the financial situation would become desperate: "el Gobierno se hallaria en absoluta imposibilidad de mantener la situacion, á ménos que para ellos se le facilitaran los medios necesarios." He then discusses Plan B, the infamous Hartmont loan from England, which was then being offered under extortionate terms.

As it turned out, the U.S. Senate rejected the Dominican annexation by one vote on June 30, Báez went ahead with the Hartmont loan, and the Dominican Republic was plunged into several decades of crushing debt. This unpublished letter offers new insights into this critical turning point in the history of the Dominican Republic, and reminds us of a path not taken in America's history of expansion.