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[[File:Us_marines_and_guide_in_search_of_bandits_haiti_circa_1919_1927_-_1981_-_nara_-_532584_edit.jpg|thumbnail|left|300px|United States Marines search for Haitian Bandits during Occupation]]__NOTOC__Following the assassination of the Haitian President in July of 1915, President Woodrow Wilson sent used that incident as a pretext to send the United States Marines into Haiti to restore order and maintain political and economic stability in the Caribbean. This unofficial occupation continued until for 19 years and ended in 1934.
====United States had wanted to take over Haiti====
The invasion ended with the Haitian-American Treaty of 1915. The articles of this agreement created the Haitian Gendarmerie, essentially a military force made up of U.S. citizens and Haitians and controlled by the U.S. Marines. The United States gained complete control over Haitian finances, and the right to intervene in Haiti whenever the U.S. Government deemed necessary. The U.S. Government also forced the election of a new pro-American President, Philippe Sudré Dartiguenave, by the Haitian legislature in August 1915. The selection of a President that did not represent the choice of the Haitian populace increased unrest in Haiti.
====Wilson forces adoption of new Constitution for Haiti====[[File:President_Woodrow_Wilson_by_Harris_&_Ewing,_1914.jpg|left|thumbnail|250px|President Woodrow Wilson, 1914
Following the successful manipulation of the 1915 elections, the Wilson administration attempted to strong-arm the Haitian legislature into adopting a new constitution in 1917. This constitution allowed foreign land ownership, which had been outlawed since the Haitian Revolution as a way to prevent foreign control of the country. Extremely reluctant to change the long-standing law, the legislature rejected the new constitution. Law-makers began drafting a new anti-American constitution, but the United States forced President Dartiguenave dissolve the legislature, which did not meet again until 1929.