The Dominican Constitution of 1844 foresaw the existence of two chambers in the national congress: the Conservative Council and the Tribune[1], upper and lower chambers which in other Dominican constitutions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries received the name of Senate and Chamber of Deputies or Representatives; With that it was intended to conform a system according to the model of the United States Congress, which would correspond to the Conservative Council a similar function to the Senate in the United States.
During the amendments made in February 1854 the Tribunate changed its name to the House of Representatives and the Conservative Council to the Senate.
The appointment of the councilors was by indirect census suffrage at the rate of 1 for each of the 5 provinces that formed the newly created nation on two levels (Santo Domingo, Santiago or Cibao, Azua, La Vega and El Seibo).
Naturalized aliens could be members of this body fifteen years after their naturalization.Article 67 of the Constitution of San Cristóbal established the exclusive powers of the Conservative Council.
In 1847 the President of this body, Mr. Juan Nepomuceno Tejera defended the position of Tomas Bobadilla y Briones Tribune when he demanded from outside the right to rejoin his legislative functions.