ABSTRACT
The US military government in the Dominican Republic completed the groundwork for a modern state that served US interests in the Caribbean Basin. Dollar diplomacy was promoted as a way of fostering democracy and political stability, but in reality it established financial protectorates over several republics in the Caribbean and Central America. In place of the Dominican government the US. Marines installed a new administration and military. The stated objective of the public works program was to bolster the basic infrastructure of Dominican society. The projects also had significant implications for state formation. In a detailed account presented in early 1917, the military government proposed to construct bridges and roads, repair railroads, and conduct an audit in response to Dominican complaints about the payment of high salaries to incompetent US officials. The constabulary bolstered the unity of the Dominican state and provided the institutional means to exercise a monopoly of power over society.
