The occupation government dissolves the Senate and locks the legislative palace

5 April 1916 was the constitutional day for the two chambers to open the parliamentary session. Instead an executive decree dissolved the Senate, pushed the convocation of the deputies to some later date, and closed the doors of the legislative palace. American marines had occupied the country since July 1915. Most deputies stood with their Senate colleagues and refused to answer the government’s summons of 23 April. That killed the 28th legislature, and Haiti governed on without a parliament.