Funding from the Library of Congress/Ameritech National Digital Library Competition supported the electronic publication of this title.
Text scanned (OCR) by
Richard Musselwhite
Images scanned by
Richard Musselwhite
Text encoded by
Sarah Reuning and Jill Kuhn
First edition, 2000
ca. 60K
Academic Affairs Library, UNC-CH
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
2000.
Source Description:
The electronic edition is a part of the UNC-CH
digitization project, Documenting the American South.
This electronic edition has been created by Optical
Character Recognition (OCR). OCR-ed text has been compared against the
original document and corrected. The text has been encoded using the
recommendations for Level 4 of the TEI in Libraries Guidelines.
Original grammar, punctuation, and spelling have been preserved. Encountered
typographical errors have been preserved, and appear in red type.
All footnotes are inserted at the point of reference within paragraphs.
Any hyphens occurring in line breaks have been removed, and the trailing part of a word has been joined to the preceding line.
All quotation marks, em dashes and ampersand have been transcribed as
entity references.
All double right and left quotation marks are encoded as " and "
respectively.
All single right and left quotation marks are encoded as ' and ' respectively.
All em dashes are encoded as --
Indentation in lines has not been preserved.
Running titles have not been preserved.
Spell-check and verification made against printed text using Author/Editor (SoftQuad) and Microsoft Word spell check programs.
Languages Used:
LC Subject Headings:
Revision History:
What to do with the Negro population has almost always
been a question before the American people. Since the early
date of 1714 its removal to some territory beyond the limits
of the United States or to an unsettled area of our public
lands has been advocated. During the century which followed
the earliest mention of deportation, its advocates published
their plans as individual propaganda, sought the approbation
of religious and humanitarian organizations, and
in one or two instances tried to secure favorable State or
national action on them. But throughout this long period of
one hundred years no concerted action was taken: the period
is characterized by sporadic origins and isolated efforts;
and these early projectors of plans to remove the Negro were
the trail makers in a pioneering movement which culminated
in a national organization.1
1 For an extended account of the plans proposed before 1816, for removing
the colored population, see H. N. Sherwood, "Early Negro Deportation
Projects," in the Mississippi Valley Historical Review, II, 485 ff.
Obviously private enterprise alone could make little headway in the actual colonization of the Negroes in a territory sufficiently distant to be beyond the pale of the white population. The one item of expense was too serious a handicap for individual initiative to overcome. Besides the case of Captain Izard Bacon of Virginia, who temporarily
removed his fifty two freedmen to Pennsylvania to await a
favorable time for sending them over sea,2
2 Niles' Register, XVII, 30. Some of the slaves of James Smith, a Methodist
preacher of Virginia, had accompanied their quondam master to Ohio in
1798. Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society, Publications, XVI, 348-352. 3 Documentary History of American Industrial Society, II, 161, 162. 4 This story has been told by the writer, "Paul Cuffe and his Contribution
to the American Colonization Society," in Mississippi Valley Historical Society,
Proceedings, VI, 370-402.
and of Mary
Matthews of king George's County, Virginia, who by will
emancipated her slaves and provided for their removal to a
place where they could enjoy their liberty,3
there is but one
significant example of actual colonization under individual
auspices. This occurred in 1815 when Paul Cuffe took
thirty-eight Negroes to the western coast of Africa.4
This
dramatic event in Negro deportation, owing to the wide publicity
given to it, stimulated activity anew in colonization
ventures.
We shall now review these new schemes and show how representatives of the transportation movement assembled in Washington city, and having enlisted in their cause men most distinguished in the councils of the nation, formed the American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Color of the United States, an organization still in existence but now known as the American Colonization Society and having as a monument to its checkered career, the free Negro republic, Liberia, on the western coast of Africa.
To begin with, it is well to point out that Thomas Jefferson,
whose advocacy of Negro colonization dates from
1773, replied in 1811, to a request for his opinion on Ann
Mifflin's proposition to make a settlement of colored people
on the west coast of Africa under the auspices of the different
States, that he considered it "the most desirable
measure which could be adopted for gradually drawing off"
the black population; and he added: "nothing is more to be
wished than that the United States should themselves undertake
to make such an establishment on the coast of Africa."5
5 Thomas Jefferson, Writings (Ford ed., New York, 1892-1899).
It requires little effort to appreciate the weight of this Ex-President's
opinion, and colonizationists later gave wide
publicity to it in order to strengthen their cause.6
6 American Colonization Society, First Annual Report (Washington, 1817),
6,7.
Additional deportation sentiment is found in the recommendations
of the Union Humane Society, an antislavery
organization founded in 1815, in Ohio, by Benjamin Lundy.
Two planks in the program of the Society are noteworthy:
first, it emphasized the necessity of common action by all
forces interested in the amelioration of the Negro race; and,
second, it recommended as a basis for common action the
removal of the Negroes beyond the pale of the white man.7
7. "The Life of Benjamin Lundy" (Philadelphia, 1847), 16. The manuscript
record is in the archives of the Ohio Historical and Philosophical
Society.
While the Union Humane Society was silent on national
aid, the Kentucky Colonization Society came out in strong
terms for it. Taking advantage of the close of the War of
1812 and of the existence of vast tracts of unappropriated
lands in the United States, and realizing that the number of
free blacks daily increased, and that the territory open to
them for residence was greatly restricted owing to the prohibitory
legislation existing in many States, this Society, at
its annual meeting, held in Frankfort, October 18 and 19,
1815, petitioned Congress that a suitable territory "be laid
off as an asylum for all those negroes and mulattoes who
have been, and those who may hereafter be, emancipated
within the United States; and that such donations, allowances,
encouragements, and assistance be afforded them as
may be necessary for carrying them thither and settling
them therein; and that they be under such regulations and
government in all respects as your wisdom shall direct."8
8 American State Papers, Miscellaneous, II, 278, 279. The Petition reached
Congress January 18, 1816. It was referred to the Committee on the Public
Lands and reported on adversely. Annals of Congress, 14th Cong., 1st session,
691.
Another manifestation of sentiment for removing the Negroes to a distant territory is found in a series of resolutions passed by the Virginia Assembly on December 21, 1816. These resolutions were introduced and sponsored by
Charles Fenton Mercer, a slaveholder. In the spring of
1816, he accidentally discovered the secret action of the Assembly,
taken in 1800, just after the Negro insurrection of
that year, the upshot of which was two resolutions directing
the Governor to correspond with the President of the United
States for the purpose of securing somewhere a suitable territory
for the colonization of emancipated slaves and free
Negroes.9
9 These resolutions are printed in American State Papers, Miscellaneous,
I, 464. 10 Archibald Alexander, A History of Colonization on the West Coast of
Africa (Philadelphia, 1846), 75-76; Niles' Register, XI, 275, 296; James
Mercer Garnett, "Biographical Sketch of Charles Fenton Mercer" (Richmond,
Va., 1911), 15.
It was too near the end of the session when
Mercer found these resolutions for him to present a program
to the Assembly. In the interim, however, Mercer
broke the bar of secrecy, interviewed Francis S. Key,
of Georgetown, and Elias B. Caldwell, of Washington
city, and with their advice drew up some resolutions to
introduce in the Assembly at its next session. Moreover,
while in the North that summer for the purpose of the recuperation
of his health, having made known his plan, he
received "promises of pecuniary aid, and of active cooperation."10
At the next session of the Virginia Assembly, Mercer
introduced his resolutions, the purport of which asked
the national government to find a territory on the North
Pacific on which to settle free blacks and those afterwards
emancipated in Virginia. These resolutions having been
amended by the Senate to read on the North Pacific or the
African Coast were passed by the Assembly on December
21, 1816, the very day on which the first public meeting of
deportationists was held in Washington and out of which
grew the American Colonization Society.
A year later, speaking before this organization, Mercer stated his reasons for supporting deportation. "Many thousand individuals in our native State, you well know Mr. President, are restrained from manumitting their slaves, as you and I are, by the melancholy conviction that they can not yield to the suggestions of humanity without manifest
injury to their country." He held that the rapidly increasing
free black population endangered the peace of the State
and impaired in a large section the value of slave property.
11 "Mercer's resolutions were passed by the House of Delegates, December 14, 1816, passed with amendment by the Senate, December 20, and concurred in by the House, December 21. Annals of Congress, 15th Congress, 1st session, II, 1774. Indiana, Georgia and Tennessee, all a little later, passed similar resolutions. American Quarterly, IV, 397.
12 American Colonization Society, First Annual Report, 8.
A concurrent expression on Negro deportation, but apparently
an independent one, is connected with the name of
Robert Finley, of Basking Ridge, New Jersey. A graduate
of Princeton, a teacher, a Presbyterian pastor, Finley was
in 1816 made president of the University of Georgia, at
Athens, where he died the following year at the age of forty-five.
As early as 1814 he wrote "a very particular friend
in Philadelphia" his ideas on Negro colonization.13
13 Isaac V. Brown, "Biography of the Reverend Robert Finley, of Basking
Ridge, N. J." (Philadelphia, 1857), 60.
On
February 15, 1815, he wrote a letter to John 0. Mumford, of
New York City, in which he argued for the removal of the
free blacks. He said in part: "Everything connected with
their condition, including their color, is against them; nor
is there much prospect that their state can ever be greatly
ameliorated, while they shall continue among us. Could not
the rich and benevolent devise means to form a colony on
some part of the Coast of Africa, similar to the one at Sierra
Leone, which might gradually induce many free blacks to go
there and settle, devising for them the means of getting
there, and of protection and support till they were established?
Ought not Congress to be petitioned to grant them
a district in a good climate, say on the shores of the Pacific
Ocean? Our fathers brought them here, and we are bound if
possible to repair the injuries inflicted by our fathers. Could
they be sent to Africa, a threefold benefit would arise. We
should be cleared of them; we should send to Africa a population
partially civilized and christianized for its benefits;
our blacks themselves would be put in better condition.
Think much on this subject, then please write me again when
you have leisure."14
14 Printed in Brown, Finley, 60, 61. See also African Repository, II, 2, 3,
and Matthew Carey, "Letters on Colonization and its Probable Results addressed
to C. F. Mercer," Philadelphia, 1834, 7.
Reverend Mr. Finley participated in a colonization meeting
held in Princeton, New Jersey, November 6, 1816, which
drew up a memorial urging the legislature to use its influence
in securing the adoption of some deportation scheme
by Congress. The memorialists recognized that many slaves
had been emancipated; that the same principles that
prompted past manumissions would gradually effect the freedom
of all others; that freedmen should be able "to rise to
that condition to which they are entitled by the laws of God
and nature"; therefore, they should be separated from the
whites and placed in a favorable situation, possibly Africa.15
15 Niles' Register, XI 260. Colonel Ercuries Beatty president at the
meeting. The committee appointed to secure signatures to the memorial consisted
of the following names: Elisha Clark, John G. Schenck, Dr. E. Stockton,
Dr. J. Van Cleve, and Robert Voorhees. Byron Sunderland in his "Liberian
Colonization," Liberian Bulletin, No. 16, 18, says this meeting was
virtually a failure. The memorial may be found in the Cuffe manuscripts. It
was sent to Paul Cuffe by Robert Finley when the latter was in Washington
seeking to bring about some general deportation movement.
A third concurrent manifestation of colonization activity is connected with the name of Samuel J. Mills, whose indefatigable energy and unselfish devotion to all causes missionary are scarcely paralleled in history. Whether as an undergraduate at Williams College or as a graduate student at Yale or Andover Theological Seminary, he was feverishly
active in projecting plans for Christian missionary work.
His mother said: "I have consecrated this child to the service
of God as a missionary,"16
16 Gardiner Spring, "Memoir of Samuel John Mills" (Boston and New
York, 1829), 10. 17 Sunderland, "Liberian Colonization," Liberian Bulletin, No. 16, 18. 18 Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, Second Series, II, 1. 19 Report of a missionary tour through that part of the United States
which lies west of the Allegheny Mountains (Andover, 1815).
and surely he was faithful
to death to this dedication. He was the leader of the Society
of Inquiry Respecting Missions, founded in 1810, an
organization which favored African colonization.17
As soon
as his college work was over he made a missionary tour
through the Middle West and South, under the auspices of
the Society for Propagating the Gospel,18
and in 1814-15 he
made a second tour.19
He is credited with having originated
the American Bible Society, the United Foreign Missionary
Society, and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions. He took a deep interest in the movement
which about this time sent men to India, Ceylon, the Sandwich
Islands, and to the various tribes of the American Indians.
He had a hand in the formation of the Foreign
Mission school at Cornwall, Connecticut, and the establishment
of the African School at Parsippany, New Jersey, is
directly attributed to him.
When Mills made his tour through the West and South
he not only preached the Gospel and distributed Bibles, he
studied the condition of the Negro as well. "We must save
the Negroes or the Negroes will ruin us," he concluded. He
was convinced that if some disposition could be made of the
free Negroes, many slaveholders would gladly emancipate
their slaves. With this in view, he sought to procure a district
in Ohio, Indiana, or Illinois where the blacks might be
colonized. In this way he could test his principle and develop
leaders for a more extended settlement in the far West
or in Africa.20
20 Thomas C. Richards, "Samuel J. Mills, Missionary, Pathfinder, Pioneer
and Promoter" (Boston, 1906), 190, 191; Spring, "Memoir of Mills," 129.
This plan did not mature, but he continued
to recommend emigration both to the blacks and whites and
to provide for the training of Negro teachers and preachers.
The young missionary established a school under the care of
the synod of New York and New Jersey at Parsippany in
the latter state, which was to "qualify young men of color
for teachers of schools and preachers of the gospel, in hope
of exerting an influence in correcting morals and manners
of their brethren in cities and large towns; and also to raise
up teachers for these people, should an effort be made to
settle them by themselves, either in this country or abroad."
Some gave to aid the school as an auxiliary to the colonization
effort, who would not have given, had not that view been
presented. "I am confident," Mills wrote (in 1817), "that the
people of color now in this country, that is, many of them,
will be settled by themselves, either in this country or
abroad. The teachers who may be raised up will promote
this object. Whether they remain in this country or not,
much must be done to qualify them for living in society by
themselves."21
21 Spring, "Memoir of Mills," 125, 126; African Repository, I, 276. A
school based on these principles was established in New York also, in October,
1816. While the above quotation was written by Mills in July, 1817, it is a
fair representation of his idea for several years previous.
One of the earliest movements in which an effort was
made to adopt some particular plan of operation was at
Georgetown, District of Columbia, in March, 1816. The
meeting was called by a resident of Georgetown, then a little
village, and several citizens of the neighboring States were
present and took part in the discussion.22
22 An editorial in the North American Review, XXXV, 126.
Other expressions favorable to the deportation of Negroes
were made about this time. At a meeting in Greene
County, Tennessee, composed of delegates of the Manumission
Society, emancipation was recommended "and if
thought best, that a colony be laid off for their reception as
they become free."23
23 Niles' Register, XIV, 321. Thomas Doan, Aaron Coppock, James Boyd,
Joseph Coin, and Elihu Embree signed such a statement.
Dr. Jesse Torrey, Jr., a physician,
writing a few days before the passage of the Virginia resolutions,
advocated the transfer of the Negroes to some distant
American Territory. He thought, since Congress had
done nothing toward such a movement, public subscriptions
from beneficent societies and individuals should be solicited
with which to purchase a suitable site for a colony and meet
the expense of transportation.24
24 Jesse Torrey, Jr., "A Portraiture of Domestic Slavery, in the United
States: with Reflections on the Practicability of Restoring the Moral Rights
of the Slave, without Impairing the Legal Privileges of the Possessor; and a
Project of a Colonial Asylum for Free Persons of Colour: including Memoirs
of Facts on the Interior Traffic in Slaves, and on Kidnapping" (Philadelphia,
1817), 27-30. 25 Niles' Register, XIII, 180. 26 "Documentary History of American Industrial Society," II, 157, 158.
Hezekiah Niles, the great
compiler, said he had thought on colonization from his youth
up.25
An editorial in a Georgia newspaper dated January
1, 1817, said deportation was seriously agitated in different
parts of the country. The Georgia editor believed that free
blacks were dangerous to the welfare of society and that the
gradual reduction of the number of slaves was imperative
to the public good. "We must choose between our own destruction
and general emancipation," said the Georgian.
"If the government will find means of conveying out of the
country such slaves as may be emancipated and would likewise
purchase annually a certain number, particularly
females for transportation, it is believed our black population
would soon become harmless if not extinct. To the importance
of such an object, the expense will bear no comparison;
and a more favorable period than at present for
its accomplishment can scarcely be expected."26
The Georgia editor was right. On the very day that his editorial went to press, a representative body of men were in conference on this subject at Washington city; and as a result of their deliberation the American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Color of the United States (later known as the American Colonization Society) was organized. The leading advocates of Negro deportation looked to the city of Washington as the strategic place to advance their cause. The earliest arrival was Robert Finley, who reached the capital about the beginning of the month of December,
1816. He had spent the greater part of the fall maturing
plans for bringing the cause before the people. It is highly
probable that he knew nothing about the plans of other advocates
nor of the action of the Virginia Assembly. Upon
his arrival at Washington he immediately began to call on
Congressmen, the Cabinet officials, the President, and, in
fact, on any one whom he could interest.27
27 African Repository, I, 23.
Finley was in communication with Paul Cuffe, the only
practical colonizationist in America. His expeditions to
Africa and England, and especially the transportation of
Negroes to Sierra Leone, in 1815, were noted in the press as
far west as Louisville, Kentucky,28
28 See the Western Courier (Louisville, Kentucky), for October 26, 1815. 29 Paul Cuffe manuscripts in the Public Library, New Bedford, Mass.
Paul Cuffe to Samuel C. Aiken, August 7, 1816; Paul Cuffe to Jedekiah Morse,
August 10, 1816. 30 Ibid., Robert Finley to Paul Cuffe, December 5, 1816, Finley asked that
the reply if mailed to him at Washington be sent in care of his brother-in-law,
Elias B. Caldwell. 31 Ibid., Paul Cuffe to Robert Finley, January 8, 1817.
and those interested in
further efforts along this line were in touch with him.
Samuel C. Aiken, of Andover, had written him on July 23,
1816, and Jedekiah Morse four days later.29
Finley wrote
Cuffe, December 5, on the back of the printed memorial to
the New Jersey Legislature, undoubtedly the work of the
Princeton meeting of the previous November, for information
about Sierra Leone, information to be used by him
and others interested in the free people of color. He
also asked if Cuffe thought some other part of Africa
more desirable for a settlement than Sierra Leone and
stated that "the great desire of those whose minds are
impressed with this subject is to give an opportunity to the
free people of color to rise to their proper level and at the
same time to provide a powerful means of putting an end to
the slave trade and sending civilization and Christianity to
Africa."30
Cuffe was unable to reply to this letter before
January 8. He gave Finley the information he desired and
recommended in the event of a general deportation the Cape
of Good Hope as a location for a settlement.31
In a printed pamphlet, "Thoughts on the Colonization
of Free Blacks."32
32 Printed in Brown, Finley, 66 ff. The pamphlet was written before he
came to Washington.
which Finley wrote about this time and
which he was distributing in Washington, is contained the
line of argument he was using. He said: "At present, as if
by divine impulse, men of virtue, piety and reflection, are
turning their thoughts to this subject, and seem to see the
wished-for plan unfolding, in the gradual separation of the
black from the white population, by providing for the
former, some suitable situation, where men may enjoy the
advantages to which they are entitled by nature and their
Creator's will." He argued for the practicability of establishing
a colony either in the "Wild Lands" of America or
in Africa, but he thought Africa the more desirable as this
location would prevent conflicts with the remaining slave
population, and avoid foreign intrigues. He held that
Africa had the advantage of being the real home of the
Negro, of having the existing settlements in Sierra Leone
formed by English philanthropists and by Paul Cuffe. On
the other hand, requiring explorations, diplomatic negotiations
and great expense, it offered greater obstacles than
a location within America. But Finley was not disheartened,
believing, as he did, in the justice of the cause and in
the wisdom of Congress to devise some means to lighten,
perhaps to repay, the cost. He continued by saying: "Many
of the free people of color have property sufficient to transport,
and afterward to establish themselves. The ships of
war might be employed occasionally in this service, while
many Negroes themselves could be induced to procure a
passage to the land of their independence. The crews of
the national ships which might be from time to time at the
colony, would furnish at least a part of that protection which
would be necessary for the settlers; and in a little time the
trade which the colony would open with the interior, would
more than compensate for every expense, if the colony were
wisely formed." The Negroes, Finley thought, would gladly
go, for they long after happiness and have the common pride
and feelings of men. Already, he pointed out, an association of free blacks existed in Philadelphia whose purpose was to correspond with Sierra Leone and investigate the possibilities of an immigration. Finley held that colonization would gradually reduce slavery, because provision being made for the emancipated slaves, masters would manumit them.
Samuel J. Mills, "having been providentially made acquainted"33
33 Spring, "Memoir of Mills," 131. 34 Massachusetts Historical Society, Proceedings, First Series, XIX, 20.
with this movement, about the close of November
left New York, where he was working among the poor,
immediately for Washington. What he, as well as the other
workers, did there, is pretty well indicated by Congressman
Elijah J. Mills of Massachusetts in a letter to his wife,
under date of December 25: "Among the great and important
objects to which our attention is called, a project is
lately started for settling, with free blacks which abound in
the South and West, a colony, either on the coast of Africa,
or in some remote region in our own country. It has excited
great interest, and I am inclined to think that in the course
of a few years it will be carried into effect. I enclose you an
address which is in circulation here upon the subject.
Agents are attending from different parts of the United
States, soliciting Congress to take the subject up immediately,
and I was this morning called upon by a Mr. Mills
(a young clergyman who was at New Orleans with Smith),
who is very zealously engaged in the work. He is an intelligent
young man, and appears completely devoted to the
great work of diffusing the blessings of Christianity to those
who are ignorant of it."34
The first general conference that the colonization workers
had in Washington was in the nature of a "prayer
meeting"35
35 African Repository, I, 2, 3. Referring to Caldwell in an address at
an annual meeting of the Society, January 20, 1827, Clay said: "It is now a
little upwards of ten years since a religious, amiable and benevolent resident
of this city, first conceived the idea of planting a colony, from the United
States, of free people of color, on the western shores of Africa. He is no
more, and the noblest eulogy that could be pronounced on him would be to
inscribe upon his tomb, the merited epitaph, 'Here lies the projector of the
American Colonization Society.'" Clay was historically mistaken. Similar
things were said of Mills and Finley. This speech may be found in pamphlet
form in the Library of the Ohio Historical and Philosophical Society.
held in the home of Elias B. Caldwell, a brother-in-law
of Finley, clerk of the United States Supreme Court,
and afterward secretary of the American Colonization Society.
This meeting, which both Mills and Finley attended,
was "for the purpose of imploring the divine direction, on
the evening of the following day, when the expediency of
forming a Colonization Society was to be publicly discussed."36
36 Spring, "Memoir of Mills," 131, 139, 140. 37 Brown, Finley, 65, 66. 38 Ibid., "A Respectable Resident of the District of Columbia to Brown,"
64, 65.
The enthusiasm of Finley at this time was
almost boundless; he would give five hundred dollars of his
own scanty means to insure its success; when some, thinking
the project foolhardy, laughed at it, he declared, "I
know the scheme is from God."37
The efficacy of prayer
bore the traditional fruit, for whereas persons "were
brought there from curiosity, or by the solicitation of their
friends, viewing the scheme as too chimerical for any
national being to undertake [nevertheless] a great change"38
was produced on them.
According to their plans, Congressman Charles Marsh,
of Vermont, having made the necessary arrangements,39
39 Sunderland, "Liberian Colonization," Liberian Bulletin, No. 16, 19. 40 Virginia Historical Society, Collections, VI, 26; Niles' Register, XI,
296. 41 Niles' Register, XI, 296.
the colonizationists held on the next evening, December 21,
1816, in the Davis Hotel, a public meeting, attended by citizens
of Washington, Georgetown, Alexandria, and other
parts of the country. Among the men of note present, not
heretofore mentioned, were Henry Clay, Francis S. Key,
Bishop William Meade, John Randolph, and Judge Bushrod
Washington.40
Niles reports the attendance "numerous
and respectable, and its proceedings fraught with interest."41
The avowed object of the meeting was for the
"purpose of considering the expediency and practicability
of ameliorating the condition of the Free People of Color
now in the United States, by providing a Colonial Retreat,
either on this continent or that of Africa."42
42 Manuscript Record of the Meeting, Library of Congress. Copy furnished
by the American Colonization Society.
Henry Clay, the chairman of the meeting, pointed out in
his remarks that no attempt was being made "to touch or
agitate in the slightest degree, a delicate question, connected
with another portion of the colored population of this country.
It was not proposed to deliberate upon or consider at
all, any question of emancipation, or that which was connected
with the abolition of slavery. It was upon that condition
alone he was sure, that many gentlemen from the
South and West, whom he saw present, had attended, or
could be expected to cooperate. It was upon that condition
only that he himself had attended."43
43 The National Intelligencer reported the meeting. The substance of
Clay's remarks is printed in Archibald Alexander, "A History of Colonization
on the Western Coast of Africa" (Philadelphia, 1849), 77-82; in J. Tracy,
"A View of Exertions Lately Made for the Purpose of Colonizing the Free
People of Color in the United States, in Africa, or Elsewhere" (Washington,
1817), 4 ff.
The principal address was delivered by Elias B. Caldwell, the Princeton schoolmate of Charles Fenton Mercer. He argued for the expediency and practicability of African colonization. It was expedient because the free blacks have a demoralizing influence on our civil institutions; they can never enjoy equality among the whites in America; only in a district by themselves will they ever be happy. To colonize them in America would invite the possibility of their making common cause with the Indians and border nations, and furnish an asylum for fugitives and runaway slaves. Africa seemed the best place to send them: there was a settlement already in Sierra Leone, the climate was agreeable to the colored man's constitution, they could live cheaply there, and above all other reasons, they could carry civilization and Christianity to the Africans. While the expense would be greater than that connected with a settlement on the American
Continent yet, in order to make atonement for the
wrongs done Africa, America should contribute to this object
both from the treasury of the national government and
from the purse of private individuals. With the promise of
equality, a homestead, and a free passage, no black would
refuse to go. In concluding his speech he said: "It is for us
to make the experiment and the offers; we shall then, and
not till then, have discharged our duty. It is a plan in
which all interests, all classes, and descriptions of people
may unite, in which all discordant feelings may be lost in
those of humanity, in promoting 'peace on earth and good
will to man.'"44
44 Alexander, "A History of Colonization," 82-87; Tracy, "A View of
Exertions," 4-11. For a criticism of all the speeches before this meeting see
David Walker, "An Appeal" (Boston, 1830), 50 ff.
Robert Wright of Maryland, having pointed out some
difficulties, gave colonization his approbation with the hope
that there would arise for gradual emancipation some plan
in which slaves would be prepared for freedom, and slave-holders
would be remunerated out of the funds of the
nation.45
45 Torrey, "A Portraiture of Domestic Slavery," 69.
It appeared to John Randolph of Roanoke that "it had
not been sufficiently insisted on with a view to obtain the
cooperation of all the citizens of the United States, not
only that this meeting does not in any wise affect the question
of Negro Slavery, but, as far as it goes, must materially
tend to secure the property of every master in the
United States over his slaves." He considered the free
black "a great evil," "a nuisance," and "a bugbear to
every man who feels an inclination to emancipate his
slaves." "If a place could be provided for their reception,"
said Randolph, "and a mode of sending them hence,
there were [sic] hundreds, nay thousands of citizens" who
would manumit their slaves.46
46 Torrey, "A View of Exertions," 9, 10; Walker, "Appeal," 57.
Randolph's characterization
of the free black was generally approved by the leaders in
this movement. Caldwell used "degraded" and "ignorant"
in describing this class of people. Mills said: "It
will transfer to the coast of Africa the blessings of religion
and civilization;, and Ethiopia will soon stretch out her
hands to God."47
47 Spring, "Memoir of Mills, Samuel J. Mills to Ebenezer Burgess," July
30, 1817,136.
One finds it difficult to explain how the colonizationists could argue that one of their objects was to remove a dangerous element from our population and at the same time take civilization and Christianity to Africa. No doubt it was expected that the Negroes who attended the schools, established principally by Mills, would become efficient leaders of their fellows. It is highly probable also that the arguments were designed for different sections of the country and different classes of people--to remove the dangerous element would make a strong appeal to the slave-holder and the South, for it was believed that the free black contaminated and ruined the slave; to civilize and Christianize Africa would appeal to churchmen and religious bodies, and this argument could be used in the North. To return to Africa people who could contribute to her betterment; indeed, to return to Africa the descendants of her enslaved sons and daughters improved by contact with the civilization of the whites would be a recompense to that continent for the wrongs perpetrated, during a period of two hundred years, on her population. It was only America's moral obligation, said the colonizationists, to return the black population to Africa.
Another object the deportationists had in mind was to stop the slave trade. They believed that the existence of a settlement in Africa would deter the slaveholder from securing his cargo in human beings. It would also furnish the opportunity needed to develop a commerce in legitimate articles of trade between Africa and America and other parts of the world. It was also hoped by the leaders of this deportation movement to remove the great obstacle to the abolition of slavery. Now that provision was made for the freedmen the slaveholder felt at liberty to manumit his slaves. To quote Mills again: "It is confidently believed
by many of our best and wisest men, that, if the plan
proposed succeeds, it will ultimately be the means of exterminating
slavery in our country."48
48 Ibid., 136.
The charge was made later, especially by the Abolitionists,
that the movement was a deeply laid device for making
slavery more secure than ever. They took great delight in
referring to Randolph's, remark, made at the first public
meeting of the deportationists, that colonization would tend
"to secure the property of every master in the United
States over his slaves." Subsequently the management of
the Society itself recognized the force of this remark as a
quotation from the eighty-second report will show: "It was
this ill-omened utterance of a solitary member of the Society,
who appears to have taken very little if any part in
its subsequent proceedings, that afterward gave the impracticable
abolitionists a text for the most vituperative
and persistent assaults upon the Society and its purpose."49
49 American Colonization Society, Eighty-second report, 7.
Randolph's remark is not only qualified by the fact that he
took "very little if any part in its subsequent proceedings"
but also by his prediction that thousands of slaveholders,
when assured of a place to send the Negroes, would emancipate
their slaves because they would then be relieved from
their care. With all this, however, Randolph claimed the
colonization movement had nothing to do with abolition.
And it must also be remembered that the eccentric Randolph
was only one man among a large group of men who
were interested in the deportation movement. In this large
group two, Mills and Finley, religious patriots, stand head
and shoulders above all the others, both of whom, Mills,
particularly, hoped to provide a method for the abolition
of slavery. Moreover, the Abolitionists should have observed
that the name of Daniel Webster appeared among
the signers of the constitution as well as the name of Ferdinando
Fairfax50
50 See the American Museum, December, 1790, 285-286, for his plan. 51 Thorton's activities have been related by H. N. Sherwood, "Early Negro
Deportation Projects," in Mississippi Valley Historical Review, March, 1916,
502-505.
and especially that of William Thorton.51
Fairfax and Thorton were excellent representatives of deportation schemes, proposed in the eighteenth century and deliberately designed to remove from our country all Negroes both free and slave. It seems, therefore, safe to conclude that the colonization movement of 1816-17 was at that time sincere in its purpose and straightforward in its aims.
Therefore with humanitarian aims the colonizationists
at their first public meeting, December 21, 1816, passed resolutions
favorable to the formation of an association for the
purpose of deporting the free blacks to Africa or elsewhere,
and appointed a committee to draw up and present a
memorial to Congress requesting measures for securing a
suitable territory for a settlement, and another committee
to prepare a constitution and rules to govern the association
when formed.52
52 The committee for the memorial consisted of: E. B. Caldwell, John
Randolph, Richard Rush, Walter Jones, Francis S. Key, Robert Wright, James
H. Blake and John Peter. The committee for the Constitution: Francis S.
Key, Bushrod Washington, E. B. Caldwell, James Breckenridge, Walter Jones,
Richard Rush, and W. G. D. Worthington.
Having taken this action, they decided
to adjourn until the following Saturday, December 28, at
six o'clock.
According to this arrangement "citizens of Washington,
Georgetown, and Alexandria, and many others" met
in the Hall of the House of Representatives of the United
States and adopted a Constitution.53
53 Mills wrote Cuffe, December 26, 1816, informing him of the activities in
Washington and asked for information about Africa. He added a postscript:
"If the general government were to request you to go out for the purpose of
exploring in your own vessel would you engage in this service if offered proper
support?" Cuffe Manuscripts, Samuel J. Mills to Paul Cuffe, December 26,
1916.
By provision of the
Constitution the Association was "The American Society
for Colonizing the Free People of Color of the United
States" and its exclusive object "to promote and execute a
plan for colonizing (with their consent) the Free People of
Color residing in our Country, in Africa, or such other
place as Congress shall deem most expedient." Every
citizen of the United States was eligible to membership
upon the payment of one dollar, the annual dues, or as
amended a few days later, thirty dollars for life membership.
Provision was made for the usual officers and for
the formation of auxiliary societies to this parent organization.54
54 The signers of this Constitution are given by Sunderland, "Liberian
Colonization," Liberian Bulletin, No. 16, 20, as follows: Signers of American Colonization Society, December 28, 1816.
The first annual meeting was fixed for Wednesday,
January 1, 1817.
On this date the colonizationists met in Davis's Hotel,
Henry Clay again presiding. Bushrod Washington was
elected President of the Society, equally noted men were
chosen for the other officers,55
55 The other officers were as follows: These were the thirteen vice presidents. These composed the Board of Managers.
and on motion of the Honorable
John C. Herbert of Maryland, Reverend Robert
Finley was "requested to close the meeting with an address
to the Throne of Grace"56
56 Manuscript Records of the Meeting. 57 Brown, Finley, 65, 66.
which he did, it being "his
last public act in the last public meeting"57
for the organization
and success of the American Colonization Society.
HENRY NOBLE SHERWOOD, PH.D.
Return to Menu Page for The Formation of the American Colonization Society... by Henry Noble Sherwood
Return to The Church in the Southern Black Community Home Page
Return to Documenting the American South Home Page