Background
Francisco Carvajal was born on January 14, 1859 in the Dominican Republic to a distinguished family of lawyers and politicians, Henriquez y Carvajal was considered one of the leading intellectuals of his island during his lifetime.
Francisco Carvajal was born on January 14, 1859 in the Dominican Republic to a distinguished family of lawyers and politicians, Henriquez y Carvajal was considered one of the leading intellectuals of his island during his lifetime.
After studying extensively in his homeland, beginning in 1887, Henríquez moved to Paris for four years, earning a doctorate in Medicine the University of Paris. He returned to the Dominican Republic, where he practiced medicine and taught.
Henriquez y Carvajal was a noted intellectual who had a visible presence in the cultural life of his island. From 1870 to 1900 he was a key figure in political circles, and his voice was always present in Dominican newspapers and public life. He was a close friend and associate of Puerto Rican intellectual Eugenio Maria de Hostos. By 1902 he had become disillusioned by the political affairs of his island and went to Cuba, where he spent 14 years in exile practicing medicine and trying to escape the repression and the political instability of the Dominican Republic.
In 1916, immediately following the American invasion of the Dominican Republic, Henriquez y Carvajal was asked by the Dominican Congress to return to the island and become president of the republic as a compromise candidate between the Congress and the U.S. armed forces. He took office on July 31,1916. His mandate was characterized by his strong opposition to the American forces and by his resistance to their presence in the island. Even though he was a politically weak president, he tried his best to oppose the reactionary and fascist policies pushed by the Americans. During his administration, he tried to convey to the world that the government of the United States had violated the island's sovereignty. He was also a staunch opponent of what he perceived was the U.S. attempt to fuse Haiti and the Dominican Republic into a single government. His opposition to the Americans was so vigorous that Captain Harry S. Knapp, head of the U.S. forces occupying the island, deposed him in December 1916.
Henriquez y Carvajal was forced to leave the country and launched an international crusade to bring attention to the American occupation of his island. This crusade, however, failed; American forces occupied the island until 1924. By the time they left, Henriquez y Carvajal had lost his position of power in the island and had settled in Cuba with his family.
He married Salomé Ureña. He had 4 children, Pedro, Francisco, Max, and Camila.