Posted 03/10/2020 10:35 am
I think history is at the heart of coin collecting and history is a huge part of this piece.
In late December 1816 the American Society for the Colonization of Free Persons of Color was officially formed. A constitution was drafted and a president elected by the first week of January, and on January 14 1817 presented their first memorial to Congress. The aim of the society was to provide colonization to any free Black willing to go and any slave freed, by consent of his owner, for that purpose. The constitution drawn up by the society was very carefully crafted to be agreeable to both sides of the slavery issue and, by maintaining that emigration was voluntary, agreeable to free Blacks too. By remaining neutral it was believed that slavery could be ended over time with the full co-operation of all concerned. Abolitionists working hand in hand with slave owners, allowing for the freeing of slaves and their return to their ancestral home. It was a brilliant scheme, so they thought, to reverse the course of the inhuman trade and turn back the hands of time. They believed that this was the safest way to solve the problem of slavery without causing a much feared national upheaval. They believed that Africa would be Christianized, Africa would be opened to trade, and that an American colony would cut the slave trade off at the source. And, they all believed that only by returning Africa's scattered children would they be truly free and the sins of our fathers absolved.
The first officers of the society were: Bushrod Washington as president and 13 vice presidents: William H. Crawford, Henry Clay, William Phillips, Col. Henry Rutgers, John E. Howard, Samuel Smith, John C. Herbert, John Taylor, Gen. Andrew Jackson, Robert Ralston, Richard Rush, Gen. John Mason and Robert Finley. Among the board of managers were Francis Scott Key, Gen. Walter Jones, and the Rev. O.B. Brown. First contributors to the society included John Randolph of Roanoke, Daniel Webster, William Thornton and others. The name of the society was soon to be shortened to the American Colonization Society (ACS) and was the parent organization bringing together most all of the various colonization, humane and abolitionist groups that had been forming throughout the nation. With the hope of operating with and within the government, offices were set up on Pennsylvania Avenue, later occupying what was called "The Colonization Building" at 450 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Neither Robert Finley nor Paul Cuffe lived to see the results of their effort, both passing away in 1817. But the seed was planted. By 1819, the ACS received $100,000 from President Monroe to establish a land base on the west coast of Africa for the return of slave cargo taken on the high seas and as the site of the colony. By functioning both as a government agency and as a charity, the organization was able to establish an American foothold on the African continent with the full protection of the United States, and raise funds privately for the transportation and support of willing emigrants. The charity fund raising was done by selling memberships at $1 a year or $30 for a life membership and passing the hat for private donations. Also profit from subscriptions to the ACS's publication The African Repository was used to support emigration. Churches opened their doors to colonization speakers and patriotic fundraising drives were a 4th of July mainstay throughout the 1820s and early '30s. They were constantly promoting and pushing for funding. Colonization was, in fact, politically correct mainstream thinking throughout the upper south and northern states until radical Garrisonian abolition gained popularity in the mid '30s, shifting public opinion and furthering the divisions between North and South.
The first emigrants arrived at Sherbo Island in 1820 but were thrown back to Sierra Leone by disease and the deaths of the white agents. The following year, another ship with reinforcements arrived and land on the West African coast was acquired. The American foothold in Africa was finally established and by 1824 was to be called Liberia, meaning land of liberty, with its first settlement named Monrovia, in honor of President Monroe's support.
News of the near disaster of the venture caused apprehension among potential emigrants, but once the colony was firmly established in the mid 1820s, emigration and funding slowly picked up. By the beginning of 1831, 1,430 had made the journey back to Africa. That number was doubled by 1833 on the heels of the Nat Turner rebellion, when a surge of renewed interest in colonization resulted from widespread public outrage over the murder of 58 whites at the hands of Turner and his cohorts. To the colonizationists it was beginning to look as though the colonization scheme was working. News of progress in Liberia was frequently found in the newspapers, along with reports of emigrant ships leaving for Africa. State legislatures were funding the ACS directly or funding the removal of free Blacks within their respective states. Some slave owners were offering freedom to their slaves on contingency that they immigrate as an alternative to being sold. The colonization effort's high water mark of 1832-3 was, however, to be short lived, not to be seen again until the close of the Civil War. Many of the new emigrants brought up by the Turner backlash were slaves that were freed on condition of removal and were ill prepared to be self sufficient in the new land. Many slave owners who responded as part of the Turner backlash were likely using the ACS as a means of disposing their unwanted liabilities.
The idea of leaving racially repressive America did capture the attention of many free Blacks in the North. In 1824, in Philadelphia, the Haitian Emigration Society was founded. This was a Black-operated organization that settled 6,000 emigrants in its first two years, and, by the end of the decade, by one account, 13,000, far more than the ACS. The popularity of Haiti over Africa was mostly due to the desire of free blacks themselves to leave white society. Although the ACS plan did find favor with a few of the northern freemen, Haiti was viewed as a safer journey to an already established land and was operated by a more trustworthy lot. Another point in favor of Haitian emigration was that it was far easier to return to America should it prove desirable and many of the Haitian emigrants did just that.
With the establishment of the American Abolitionist Society in December of 1833, with a constitution specifically against colonization as a remedy to the issue of slavery and specifically against slavery within our nation's capitol, Washington, DC, the war of ideals was really heating up. The moderate, middle state idea of colonization was looked upon with suspicion in the deep South as a plot to take away the slaves and eventually override state rights. By walking the tightrope of not officially taking a stand for or against slavery, the ACS was attacked by both extremes. However well intentioned, the effect of the colonization scheme was to galvanize radical abolitionist sentiment. By not taking a stand on the issue of slavery, by not speaking out against unfair laws aimed at free Blacks, and by taking no action to elevate potential emigrants to self sufficiency, the American Colonization Society actually provided the radical abolitionists a righteous advantage in the war of public opinion. It was in the early 1830s that radical abolitionism began to gain great popularity in the northern states. There had always been those who believed that the institution of slavery must be ended immediately but it was at that time that strong and persistent voices were added to the cause.
William Lloyd Garrison, who had spoken in favor of the colonization scheme at an ACS meeting in 1828, published his book Thoughts on African Colonization in 1832, essentially declaring war on the ACS and all slave owners. In recanting his involvement, he employed one of his most famous quotes: "...whereas I was then blind, I now see." Gerrit Smith, a long time ACS officer, denounced the ACS plan and joined the ranks of the radical abolitionists in 1834. In 1835, Jay's Inquiry was published, reaching its 10th edition by 1840. This popular little book compared colonization vs. emancipation with such profound reasoning that a great deal of doubt was cast upon the colonization scheme. Abolitionist newspapers sprang up throughout the North, prompting the Jackson administration to attempt to have them stricken from the mail. Northern abolitionist groups were quick to point out that the free Negro was the greatest threat to the institution of slavery while the ACS was only removing that threat. Between 1820 and 1830, 1,430 emigrated to Africa, but during that same period, the slave population of the United States increased by 473,568. By 1835, some of the colonizationists were admitting that ending slavery by emigration could take a hundred years, giving the radical abolitionists yet another opportunity to use reams of paper to point out the obvious. The cost of sending an emigrant was about $20 but it was costing the ACS $70 to sustain each for the first year, so the society was always short of funds. The ACS had spent $221,000 (in early 19th century dollars) in addition to the Federal money and sent less than 3,000 people to Africa over its first 13 years of operations. Often accused of wasting funds, the ACS did keep extensive records. The waste they were often accused of, was that they were sending cash to the colony to buy supplies that were imported from America at a premium. That the ACS was operated by American government officials shows that some things never change. Although repeatedly asking Congress for funding, deep divisions between the various political factions prevented any such bill from passing. For better or worse, the result was to leave many willing emigrants stranded.
If the success of the ACS is measured by completion of its stated mission, then it can only be viewed as a failure. But its effect on the slave trade in Africa did keep countless thousands from being taken into slavery. By the late 1830's, the ACS reorganized, the Maryland Colonization Society separated itself from the parent organization and pursued its own colonization effort. The American Colonization Society's experiment became the African nation of Liberia in 1847.
In late December 1816 the American Society for the Colonization of Free Persons of Color was officially formed. A constitution was drafted and a president elected by the first week of January, and on January 14 1817 presented their first memorial to Congress. The aim of the society was to provide colonization to any free Black willing to go and any slave freed, by consent of his owner, for that purpose. The constitution drawn up by the society was very carefully crafted to be agreeable to both sides of the slavery issue and, by maintaining that emigration was voluntary, agreeable to free Blacks too. By remaining neutral it was believed that slavery could be ended over time with the full co-operation of all concerned. Abolitionists working hand in hand with slave owners, allowing for the freeing of slaves and their return to their ancestral home. It was a brilliant scheme, so they thought, to reverse the course of the inhuman trade and turn back the hands of time. They believed that this was the safest way to solve the problem of slavery without causing a much feared national upheaval. They believed that Africa would be Christianized, Africa would be opened to trade, and that an American colony would cut the slave trade off at the source. And, they all believed that only by returning Africa's scattered children would they be truly free and the sins of our fathers absolved.
The first officers of the society were: Bushrod Washington as president and 13 vice presidents: William H. Crawford, Henry Clay, William Phillips, Col. Henry Rutgers, John E. Howard, Samuel Smith, John C. Herbert, John Taylor, Gen. Andrew Jackson, Robert Ralston, Richard Rush, Gen. John Mason and Robert Finley. Among the board of managers were Francis Scott Key, Gen. Walter Jones, and the Rev. O.B. Brown. First contributors to the society included John Randolph of Roanoke, Daniel Webster, William Thornton and others. The name of the society was soon to be shortened to the American Colonization Society (ACS) and was the parent organization bringing together most all of the various colonization, humane and abolitionist groups that had been forming throughout the nation. With the hope of operating with and within the government, offices were set up on Pennsylvania Avenue, later occupying what was called "The Colonization Building" at 450 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Neither Robert Finley nor Paul Cuffe lived to see the results of their effort, both passing away in 1817. But the seed was planted. By 1819, the ACS received $100,000 from President Monroe to establish a land base on the west coast of Africa for the return of slave cargo taken on the high seas and as the site of the colony. By functioning both as a government agency and as a charity, the organization was able to establish an American foothold on the African continent with the full protection of the United States, and raise funds privately for the transportation and support of willing emigrants. The charity fund raising was done by selling memberships at $1 a year or $30 for a life membership and passing the hat for private donations. Also profit from subscriptions to the ACS's publication The African Repository was used to support emigration. Churches opened their doors to colonization speakers and patriotic fundraising drives were a 4th of July mainstay throughout the 1820s and early '30s. They were constantly promoting and pushing for funding. Colonization was, in fact, politically correct mainstream thinking throughout the upper south and northern states until radical Garrisonian abolition gained popularity in the mid '30s, shifting public opinion and furthering the divisions between North and South.
The first emigrants arrived at Sherbo Island in 1820 but were thrown back to Sierra Leone by disease and the deaths of the white agents. The following year, another ship with reinforcements arrived and land on the West African coast was acquired. The American foothold in Africa was finally established and by 1824 was to be called Liberia, meaning land of liberty, with its first settlement named Monrovia, in honor of President Monroe's support.
News of the near disaster of the venture caused apprehension among potential emigrants, but once the colony was firmly established in the mid 1820s, emigration and funding slowly picked up. By the beginning of 1831, 1,430 had made the journey back to Africa. That number was doubled by 1833 on the heels of the Nat Turner rebellion, when a surge of renewed interest in colonization resulted from widespread public outrage over the murder of 58 whites at the hands of Turner and his cohorts. To the colonizationists it was beginning to look as though the colonization scheme was working. News of progress in Liberia was frequently found in the newspapers, along with reports of emigrant ships leaving for Africa. State legislatures were funding the ACS directly or funding the removal of free Blacks within their respective states. Some slave owners were offering freedom to their slaves on contingency that they immigrate as an alternative to being sold. The colonization effort's high water mark of 1832-3 was, however, to be short lived, not to be seen again until the close of the Civil War. Many of the new emigrants brought up by the Turner backlash were slaves that were freed on condition of removal and were ill prepared to be self sufficient in the new land. Many slave owners who responded as part of the Turner backlash were likely using the ACS as a means of disposing their unwanted liabilities.
The idea of leaving racially repressive America did capture the attention of many free Blacks in the North. In 1824, in Philadelphia, the Haitian Emigration Society was founded. This was a Black-operated organization that settled 6,000 emigrants in its first two years, and, by the end of the decade, by one account, 13,000, far more than the ACS. The popularity of Haiti over Africa was mostly due to the desire of free blacks themselves to leave white society. Although the ACS plan did find favor with a few of the northern freemen, Haiti was viewed as a safer journey to an already established land and was operated by a more trustworthy lot. Another point in favor of Haitian emigration was that it was far easier to return to America should it prove desirable and many of the Haitian emigrants did just that.
With the establishment of the American Abolitionist Society in December of 1833, with a constitution specifically against colonization as a remedy to the issue of slavery and specifically against slavery within our nation's capitol, Washington, DC, the war of ideals was really heating up. The moderate, middle state idea of colonization was looked upon with suspicion in the deep South as a plot to take away the slaves and eventually override state rights. By walking the tightrope of not officially taking a stand for or against slavery, the ACS was attacked by both extremes. However well intentioned, the effect of the colonization scheme was to galvanize radical abolitionist sentiment. By not taking a stand on the issue of slavery, by not speaking out against unfair laws aimed at free Blacks, and by taking no action to elevate potential emigrants to self sufficiency, the American Colonization Society actually provided the radical abolitionists a righteous advantage in the war of public opinion. It was in the early 1830s that radical abolitionism began to gain great popularity in the northern states. There had always been those who believed that the institution of slavery must be ended immediately but it was at that time that strong and persistent voices were added to the cause.
William Lloyd Garrison, who had spoken in favor of the colonization scheme at an ACS meeting in 1828, published his book Thoughts on African Colonization in 1832, essentially declaring war on the ACS and all slave owners. In recanting his involvement, he employed one of his most famous quotes: "...whereas I was then blind, I now see." Gerrit Smith, a long time ACS officer, denounced the ACS plan and joined the ranks of the radical abolitionists in 1834. In 1835, Jay's Inquiry was published, reaching its 10th edition by 1840. This popular little book compared colonization vs. emancipation with such profound reasoning that a great deal of doubt was cast upon the colonization scheme. Abolitionist newspapers sprang up throughout the North, prompting the Jackson administration to attempt to have them stricken from the mail. Northern abolitionist groups were quick to point out that the free Negro was the greatest threat to the institution of slavery while the ACS was only removing that threat. Between 1820 and 1830, 1,430 emigrated to Africa, but during that same period, the slave population of the United States increased by 473,568. By 1835, some of the colonizationists were admitting that ending slavery by emigration could take a hundred years, giving the radical abolitionists yet another opportunity to use reams of paper to point out the obvious. The cost of sending an emigrant was about $20 but it was costing the ACS $70 to sustain each for the first year, so the society was always short of funds. The ACS had spent $221,000 (in early 19th century dollars) in addition to the Federal money and sent less than 3,000 people to Africa over its first 13 years of operations. Often accused of wasting funds, the ACS did keep extensive records. The waste they were often accused of, was that they were sending cash to the colony to buy supplies that were imported from America at a premium. That the ACS was operated by American government officials shows that some things never change. Although repeatedly asking Congress for funding, deep divisions between the various political factions prevented any such bill from passing. For better or worse, the result was to leave many willing emigrants stranded.
If the success of the ACS is measured by completion of its stated mission, then it can only be viewed as a failure. But its effect on the slave trade in Africa did keep countless thousands from being taken into slavery. By the late 1830's, the ACS reorganized, the Maryland Colonization Society separated itself from the parent organization and pursued its own colonization effort. The American Colonization Society's experiment became the African nation of Liberia in 1847.
Edited by yellow88
03/10/2020 10:35 am
03/10/2020 10:35 am
