Exiled Dominicans who were opposed to the French began returning to the island and organized small expeditionary forces in Puerto Rico under Juan Sánchez Ramírez, which received British naval aid.

The Dominican and Puerto Rican forces defeated the smaller but better-armed French army on 7 November 1808, at the Battle of Palo Hincado.

But while the growth of the sugar economy in Cuba created an economically and racially polarized society, in Santo Domingo the material gap among the social classes was not as marked.

Another conspiracy was headed by Manuel del Monte, a close relative of the royal commissioner sent by the Supreme Central and Governing Junta of the Kingdom, Francisco Javier Caro.

As the Spanish authorities showed little interest in their restored colony, the great ranching families such as the Santanas came to be the leaders in the south east, and the law of the "machete" ruled for a time.

[2] On 1 December 1821 a constitutive act was ordered to petition the union of Spanish Haiti with Simon Bolivar’s Gran Colombia.

At the same time another conspiracy in the capital, headed by José Núñez de Cáceres sought to free Santo Domingo and join it to Gran Colombia.

Realizing that the pro-Haiti movement was gaining ground, he and his followers deposed Governor Pascual Real on 30 November 1821, and established the Independent State of Spanish Haiti.

The new state had little support in the other regions of Santo Domingo and Núñez de Cáceres was unable to secure a commitment from Simón Bolívar that Gran Colombia would send aid.