Juan Pablo Duarte y Díez was a Dominican military leader, writer, activist, and nationalist politician who was the foremost of the founding fathers of the Dominican Republic and bears the title of Father of the Nation. As one of the most celebrated figures in Dominican history, Duarte is considered a folk hero and revolutionary visionary in the modern Dominican Republic, who along with military generals Ramón Matías Mella and Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, organized and promoted La Trinitaria, a secret society that eventually led to the Dominican revolt and independence from Haitian rule in 1844 and the start of the Dominican War of Independence.

The First Dominican Republic, was a predecessor of the currently existing Dominican Republic, and began on 27 February 1844 with the proclamation of the Dominican Republic, and culminated on 18 March 1861 with the annexation of the country to Spain. During these 17 years the nation was economically and politically unstable due to prior war against Haiti and internal conflicts. There were 8 governments.