The Dominican Republic would be annexed for $1.5 million and Samaná Bay would be lease-purchased for $2 million. General D.B. Sackett and General Rufus Ingalls accompanied Babcock.[423] On November 29, President Báez signed the treaties. On December 21, the treaties were placed before Grant and his cabinet.[424]
Grant's grand plan to annex Santo Domingo, a black and mixed-race nation, into the United States, however, would be hostilely obstructed by Senator Charles Sumner.[425] On December 31, Grant met with Sumner, unannounced, at Sumner's Washington D.C. home to gain his support for annexation. Grant left confident Sumner approved, but what Sumner actually said was controversially disputed, by various witnesses. Without appealing to the American public, to his detriment, Grant submitted the treaties on January 10, 1870, to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by the stubborn and imperious Sumner, for ratification, but Sumner purposefully shelved the bills.[426] Prompted by Grant to stop stalling the treaties, Sumner's committee took action but rejected the bills by a 5-to-2 vote. Sumner opposed annexation and reportedly said the Dominicans were "a turbulent, treacherous race" in a closed session of the Senate.