deputy, Báez led a faction of Dominicans that tried to remove the anti-white bias in the Haitian Constitution, but failed. Báez was, at first, completely and totally against any move to leave the union with Haiti. Then, on 15 December 1843 Báez, as leader of the Dominican legislative faction, proposed to French consul Auguste Levasseur to establish a French protectorate in the Spanish-speaking side of the island with a governor appointed by Paris, in exchange for guns and warships to compel or fight Port-au-Prince for a retreat. Consul Levasseur was very well disposed and constantly exchanged correspondence between Paris and the conspirators. When the independence revolution started, he opposed the Trinitarians and imprisoned some of them, tried futilely to prevent the publication of a copy of the Act of Independence in January 1844 in Azua, and in February did not allow the flag of the newly Dominican state to be raised in the city plaza; in part, he was very pessimistic due to the numerical superiority of Haitians and thought that a rebellion against Port-au-Prince with no foreign support was futile. He changed his mind once he saw the popular fervor and decided that the time had come to part ways with Port-au-Prince. In 1844, Báez helped to lead a successful rebellion against Haiti, which established the independence of the Dominican Republic. He went to Europe in 1846 to convince France to establish a protectorate over the Dominican Republic, but the French refused. As president for the first time, from 1849 until 1853, he attempted to convince the United States to take over the country. He was president again from 1856 until 1857, when he was deposed in a coup. Báez next supported the idea of having the Dominican Republic be taken over by Spain. He went into exile in Spain and led a luxurious life there. The Spanish agreed to occupy the Dominican Republic in 1861, but by 1865 they had abandoned it (see Dominican Restoration War). Báez then returned to the Dominican Republic and became president again until he was deposed in another coup in May 1866. He then served his longest term as president, from 1868 until 1874, during which time he again attempted to have the United States annex the Dominican Republic. This time he was almost successful, as he convinced American President Ulysses S. Grant to send warships to the Dominican Republic, and drew up