395

HISTORICAL ANNOTATION 1023

United States not to recognize the legitimacy of the blockade against ports controlled
by Louis M. F. Hyppolite. At this time, Gherardi held many discussions with
Hyppolite and his principal advisers and came to believe that, out of gratitude for the
U.S. policy toward the blockade, important concessions would be granted. In January
1891 the Harrison administration appointed Gherardi special commissioner to coop-
erate with Douglass in negotiating a treaty for the lease of the Mole St. Nicholas as a
naval coaling station. The State Department's failure to provide Gherardi with the
proper credentials, however, allowed the Haitians to drag out the negotiations. Heinl
and Heinl, Written in Blood, 309-10, 312-20; Logan, Diplomatic Relations of the
United States with Haiti, 413-14, 423-23, 439-52; EAAH, 2:106-07; ACAB, 2:
633-34; DAB, 7:232.

444.14-15 The policy of obtaining such a station is not new] Long before
Douglass's diplomatic involvement with Haiti, the United States attempted to annex
the small Caribbean island. Its rich supply of resources and its geographic location
had long made it desirable to the United States and to European powers. The first
attempt began in 1854. The chief forces behind these efforts were southern leaders
who wanted more slave territory and the desire for a U.S. naval station at Samana Bay.
However, five presidential administrations had declined to annex Samana Bay over
fear of arousing French and British opposition, and prominent antislavery leaders
opposed annexation. The second attempt began in January 1866, when Secretary of
State William H. Seward set his sights on obtaining St. Thomas and Samana Bay as
U.S. naval bases. Along with Seward, Massachusetts land speculators William L.
Cazneau and Warren Fabens attempted to persuade President Grant to annex the
island. Grant believed that territorial expansion would increase U.S. prestige and
provide a place of refuge for American blacks. Grant's chief opposition was Senator
Charles Sumner. Sumner accused the executive branch of governmental overreach
and believed that annexation would obliterate Haitian independence. As debate on the
annexation treaty began on 29 June 1870, pro-administration Republicans removed
Sumner from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. This action made the breach
between Grant and Sumner irreconcilable, and Grant yielded to his opposition in the
spring of 1871. Sumner was further vindicated when the president of Haiti honored
him with a medal in appreciation of his bold defense of Haitian independence. Harold
T. Pinkett, "Efforts to Annex Santo Domingo to the United States, 1866-1871," JNH,
26:12-45 (January 1941); Jeannette P. Nichols, "The United States Congress and
Imperialism, 1861-1897," Journal of Economic History, 21:526-38 (December
1961); James A. Padgett, "Diplomats to Haiti and Their Diplomacy," JNH, 25:265-
330 (July 1940).

444.23 Samana] Samana Bay is located on the northeastern edge of the
Dominican Republic near the Mona Passage, which joins the Atlantic Ocean and
Caribbean Sea. Its deep harbor made it attractive as a potential naval base. Cohen,
Columbia Gazetteer, 3:2731.

445.8 On the 26th of January, 1891] Admiral Gherardi arrived in Port-au-Prince