On 18 March 1861, Dominican president Pedro Santana proclaimed annexation to Spain. The return to colonial rule raised fears among abolitionists in the Atlantic world because Spain still maintained slavery in Cuba and Puerto Rico. Contemporary diplomatic correspondence records Spanish assurances that slavery would not be introduced in Santo Domingo; Quisqueya Lora’s historical study confirms that the annexation did not re-establish slavery. Dominican resistance later launched the Restoration War. The episode shows that formal abolition survived a renewed colonial takeover, even as sovereignty was lost.
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What did Spain’s 1861 annexation mean for slavery in Santo Domingo?
Diplomatic and historical sources indicate that slavery was not reintroduced.
Spain annexed the Dominican Republic on 18 March 1861.
The Dominican National Archive records the annexation proclamation on that date.