Michel Domingue was born in Les Cayes in 1813.^{[citation needed]} He graduated from military training and became commander of army units in Sud.^{[citation needed]}

From 8 May 1868 to December 1869, he was president of the autonomous states of the south of Haiti.^{[citation needed]} He was appointed Vice President of the provisional government of Nissage Saget in 1869.^[3] On 11 June 1874, General Domingue was elected for a term of eight years as president of Haiti.^[1]

Domingue, who was primarily a soldier, had neither the stature nor the tact of a statesman.^[1] He therefore issued a decree on 10 September 1874 appointing Septimus Rameau to manage public functions as the Vice-President of the Council of Secretaries of State.^[1] Septimus Rameau thus became the true ruler of Haiti.^[1] Rameau was dictatorial and domineering by nature, while Michel Domingue was more of a figurehead.^[1]

One of Domingue's first acts after his election to the presidency was the signing of an agreement with the Dominican Republic, which the Haitian congress refused to ratify.^[1] The agreement established the countries' mutual recognition and in particular an end to the long and bloody border war between them.^[1] Septimus Rameau also led negotiations with the President of the Dominican Republic Ignacio María González.^[1] The Chief of Staff of President Domingue, General N. Léger, was sent to Santo Domingo to prepare a new agreement.^[1] Upon his return to Port-au-Prince on 9 November 1874, he was accompanied by Dominican negotiators to seal a treaty of friendship and an accord on trade and navigation.^[1] Haiti recognized and accepted the full independence of the Dominican Republic, and on 20 January 1875 the treaty of friendship was signed between the two countries.^[1]

Despite this success in international politics, Haiti's domestic financial situation was devastating.^[1] Domingue tried to negotiate a loan with France, which would strain Haitian finances for years.^[1] Finally, corruption and fraud were so great that Domingue issued a decree, dated 15 May 1875, for the arrest of Generals Brice, Pierre Monplaisir Pierre, and Pierre Théoma Boisrond-Canal, his political opponent.^[1] Boisrond-Canal criticized this financial policy and the loan.^{[citation needed]} He took refuge at the embassy of the United States, causing a diplomatic crisis between Haiti and the United States.^[1] Brice and Pierre Monplaisir Pierre were killed^[1] while Boisrond-Canal and other opponents fled abroad.^{[citation needed]} Septimus Rameau was accused of being responsible for the deaths of the two generals, as well as the proposed loan with France.^[1] He was himself assassinated on a street in Port-au-Prince.^[1]

Domingue resigned on 15 April 1876 and went into exile in Kingston, Jamaica, where he died a year later.^{[citation needed]}