The Dominican Republic military leader and president Pedro Santana (1801-1864) inflicted several decisive defeats on Haitian forces, at one time or another quarreled with all sectors of his country's society, and finally led the Dominican Republic into annexation by Spain.

Born in Hincha, Pedro Santana appears, from his portraits, to have been of mixed Caucasian, African, and Indian ancestry. Unlike his contemporary Buenaventura Baez, he was uneducated, rough, and uncouth; but like Baez, he did not lack for personal courage.

Fresh from military triumphs over the Haitians, on July 12, 1844, only 5 months after the Dominican declaration of independence, Santana and his troops deposed his country's provisional government. He called a convention which drafted the Dominican Republic's first constitution. It was promulgated on Nov. 6, 1844, and according to one of its provisions, that the convention select the president for the first two terms, Santana became his country's first constitutional president.

Baez...