Five vice-presidents completed presidential terms. Two presidents were
killed and twenty deposed. The other chief magistrates resigned more
or less voluntarily.
Of the 43 presidents 15 were chosen by popular election according to
constitutional forms, 5 were vice-presidents who succeeded to the
presidency, 4 were provisional presidents elected by Congress, 10
began as military presidents and then had themselves elected under
constitutional forms, and 9 were purely and simply military
provisional presidents.
A comparison of the list of presidents with the roster of executives
of Haiti reveals a disproportion, for though the black Republic has
been in existence since 1804, it has had but twenty-nine chiefs of
state, the average duration of whose rule was therefore much longer
than has been the case in Santo Domingo. It is to be observed,
however, that of the Haitian executives only one completed his term of
office and voluntarily retired; of the others, four remained in power
until their death from natural causes, eighteen were deposed by
revolutions, one of them, committing suicide, another being executed
on the steps of his burning palace, and still another being cut to
pieces by the mob; five were assassinated; and one is chief magistrate
at the present time.
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