Primary Sources: The 1910's: World Affairs

"In 1910, an international consortium of banks refinanced Haiti’s international debt and took control of the country’s treasury. In 1914, the bank refused to issue gold payments to the Haitian government and asked the U.S. military to protect the gold reserves. On December 17, 1914, U.S. marines landed in Haiti and moved the gold to the bank’s New York vaults. Eight months later, the marines again landed in Port au Prince, Haiti’s capital, this time claiming the need to protect foreign lives and property. They placed Port au Prince under martial law, ruthlessly subdued armed resistance in rural areas, and began training a new Haitian militia. Charlemagne Péralte led a resistance movement. In this “call to arms” and letter to the French minister, Péralte attacked President Wilson as a hypocrite for claiming to respect the sovereignty of small nations of Europe while occupying Haiti and urged Haitians to resist the Americans. (An English translation of the letter follows the French version.)" GMU History Matters