In May 1844, after the defeat of Haitian president Charles Rivière-Hérard, political dissidence arose between the independent Trinitarios and the ruling conservative government led by Tomás Bobadilla.

While negotiations with France was still in motion, General Juan Pablo Duarte and a group of his followers began plotting a military coup to take power in the nascent Dominican Republic to confront the possible French invasion.

Dominican historian, Frank Moya Pons, in Manual de Historia Dominicana, maintains that the then president, Charles Rivière-Hérard, determined not to lose the resources necessary to pay France the remainder of the indemnity debt it had at the time with the division of the island, set the Haitian army in motion on March 10 in an incursion that advanced to Azua, in the south of the country.

On May 10, he would express to the board his desire to go to Santiago for the expedition that would cross the towns of Constanza and San Juan de la Maguana to attack Hérard from the rear.

[2] This military situation had a tense effect on the nascent Dominican Republic, preventing the Central Governing Board from focusing its efforts on the organic structuring of the State.

Juan Bosch recalls in his work The Petite Bourgeoisie in the History of the Dominican Republic, this board, which had emerged on the first day of March 1844, had been unjustifiably headed by the conservative sector represented by Tomás Bobadilla, despite the fact that the Trinitarios had been the ones who conceived and put into action the independence plan, whose leader was Francisco del Rosario Sánchez.

The Trinitarios believed that Bobadilla and the other members of the Central Governing Board were guilty of conspiring against national sovereignty by maintaining negotiations aimed at obtaining the protection of the French.

On May 28, 1844, the French monarchy's consul, Eustache Juchereau de Saint-Denys, sent the Junta another document with the terms in which the protection treaty was to be conceived, threatening to leave the country with his compatriots and ships.

The document also requests that Duarte be elevated to division general and that he be given the position of commander in chief of the Liberation Army:[3] “He is to be elevated to the rank of Major General, Commander in Chief of the Army, and we believe that this promotion is not unjust, since he has been the man who for many years has been constantly dedicated to the good of the country, and through societies, acquiring proselytes and publicly sowing the seeds of Separation, he has been the one who has contributed the most to forming that spirit of freedom and independence on our soil.

The Duartistas were in a position to carry out the coup because Brigadier General Ramón Santana, feared by Puello's supporters, was in critical health, and in addition, the French warship Naiade was absent.

Among other members of the Central Governing Board, other liberal leaders such as Pedro Alejandro Pina, Manuel María Valverde and Juan Isidro Pérez were appointed.

Interest is the only motive for all these dissidences.The Junta, now led by President Sánchez, acting on a letter from the commander-in-chief of the department of Santiago, Mella sent Duarte to the Cibao on June 18 to intervene in the internal discord and restore peace.

"[5] The Duartistas who had previously attacked General José María Imbert managed to attract him, and the cities of Moca and La Vega recognized Duarte as president of the nation.

Mella decided to name a commission composed of Colonel Domingo Mayol and Commander Juan Luis Franco Bidó, who would represent the Cibao and present to the Junta the needs and demands of the region, as well as the proclamation of Duarte as president.

A heroic act, certainly carried out without having the force capable of backing it up and making it viable, but undoubtedly permeated with the deepest nationalist feelings and the greatest repudiation of any attempt to alienate the national territory.This coup d'état, which perminantly ended the French threat to Dominican independence, was called by Saint-Denys as the 18 Dominican Brumaire, named after the 18 Brumaire, a bloodless coup d'état led by Napoleon Bonaparte on November 9, 1799, which concluded the French Revolution.