EARLY EFFORTS TO COLONIZE NEGROES. 277 CHAPTER XXXVII. 1816-1829. THE NEGRO AND INDIAN PROBLEMS. Nego Early attempts to colonize negroes Success of Robert Finley's efforts - The foundation of Liberia tiations with England to prohibit the slave trade- - Privileges of the free negroes - The question of slavery in Illinois Status of the negro in Massachusetts and New York Restrictions of the South Carolina laws -Aid for the Colonization Society Activities of Benjamin Lundy and William Lloyd Garrison The rendition of fugitive slaves Attempts to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia Georgia's dispute with the National Government over the Creek and Cherokee lands. The great increase in negro population presented a problem as troublesome in the North as in the South. According to the census of 1810, there were 1,377,808 colored people in the United States, the vast majority of them slaves. Some stated that the criminal statistics showed that a large percentage of the persons convicted. at the quarter sessions of the mayor's courts were negroes, while the prison statistics showed that the negroes constituted 16 per cent. of the convicts in Massachusetts, 25 per cent. in New York, 30 per cent. in New Jersey, 33 per cent. in Connecticut, and 35 per cent. in Pennsylvania. Hence it was said that the negroes were a burden to the community and a source of moral corruption no longer to be endured. Consequently, the moment a feasible plan of negro colonization was brought forward it met with hearty approval. As far back as 1777 a committee of the Virginia legislature appointed to revise the State laws reported a bill for the gradual abolition of slavery, but the ensuing war prevented any at tempt to carry out the idea. Ten years later William Thornton offered to lead a colony of blacks from Rhode Island and Massachusetts to the west coast of Africa, but, as funds were insufficient, the effort was abandoned, and the colonization scheme was forgotten for more than a decade.* In 1800 the Virginia legislature instructed the governor to correspond with the President regarding the purchase of lands beyond the limits of Virginia to which" persons obnoxious to the laws or dangerous to the peace of society may be removed." But this plan shared the fate of its predecessors, and nothing more was done until 1816. In December of that year Charles F. Mercer, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, secured the passage of a resolution by the terms of which the governor was to correspond with the President for the purpose of establishing an asylum for free negroes on the coast of Africa, on the shores of the northern Pacific, McMaster, vol. iv., pp. 556-557. Wilson, Rise and Fall of Slave Power, vol. i., p. 210. 278 ROBERT FINLEY AND THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. or some other place outside the United States and its territories.* The real originator of the colonization movement, however, was Dr. Robert Finley, of Baskingridge, New Jersey, who thought that, since the whites had brought the negroes to this country, they ought to repair the wrong in the best manner possible. In the autumn of 1816 he and a few friends prepared a memorial requesting the New Jersey legislature to use its influence with Congress in an effort to secure the adoption of some plan for the colonization of free negroes. As this movement was futile, Dr. Finley went to Washington to promote the formation of a National Colonizing Society and to enlist in the movement as many Senators and Congressmen as possible. On December 21, 1816, a meeting, at which Henry Clay presided, was held for that purpose. The chairman explained the object of the meeting and that abolition and emancipation were not to be considered, since the object of the Society was merely to relieve the condition of free negroes. After speeches by John Randolph and a few others, committees were appointed to frame a constitution and memorial. The constitution was adopted and the association named "The American Society for the Colonizing of the Free People of Color of the United States." On *Niles' Register, vol. xi., p. 275 and vol. xv., sup., p. 43; Wilson, Rise and Fall of Slave Power, vol. i., p. 211. † Wilson, Rise and Fall of Slave Power, vol. i., Pp. 211-212. January 1, 1817, Judge Bushrod Washington, of the Supreme Court, was chosen president, and several well known men consented to act as vicepresidents.* Though the negroes were greatly aroused at this action, the society continued upon its course and presented its petition to Congress on January 14, 1817.† The House Committee on Slave Trade approved the colonizing idea and introduced a resolution on February 11, 1817, authorizing the President to negotiate with the governments of the world for the total and immediate prohibition of the slave trade. The President was to request also that Great Britain permit the entry of free slaves from the United States into her colony at Sierra Leone, but if this were refused, he should obtain from the various maritime powers of Europe a stipulation guaranteeing the permanent neutrality of any free negro colony which might be established by the United States on the African coast. During this session of Congress, however, no action was taken by the House, but the society was so encouraged that in No McMaster, vol. iv., pp. 560-562. See also Niles' Register, vol. xi., pp. 296, 355; Wilson, Rise and Fall of Slave Power, vol. i., p. 212; John R. Spears, The American Slave Trade, pp. 163-164; Williams, The Negro Race in America, vol. ii., p. 52 et seq. The memorial is in Annals of Congress, 14th Congress, 2d session, pp. 481-483. The report of the committee is in Niles' Register, vol. xii., pp. 103–104; Annals, pp. 939–941; Benton, Abridgment, vol. v., pp. 711-712. Von Holst, Constitutional and Political History, vol. i., p. 330, GEORGIA AND THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 279 vember of 1817 Samuel J. Mills and Ebenezer Burgess were sent to Africa to ascertain the best location for such a colony. They first visited England, where the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Bathurst, gave them letters to the officials at Sierra Leone. Arriving at that place in March of 1818, they were civilly treated, but were informed that no negroes from America were desired, whereupon they went down the coast and selected Sherbro Island as the site for the American colony. In May of 1818 the two agents started home, but on the voyage Mills died. In October Burgess arrived home, and so glowing was his account that the Society determined to embark on its project at once. Two things were wanted, however money and emigrants neither of which the society commanded. As the negroes themselves were opposed to the plan, it was very doubtful if the society could secure the emigrants, but at this juncture the State of Georgia came to the rescue with the enactment of a law which supplied the society's needs. In 1807, when the importation of slaves into any State or territory had been forbidden, no provision was made for such slaves as might be captured from those who attempted to smuggle them into the country in defiance of the law. The States had been left to decide what disposition should be made of these, and up to that time Georgia had sold them into slavery for the benefit of the State. On December 19, 1817, how ever, an act was passed providing that, should the Colonization Society agree to export them to Africa and pay all the costs incurred by Georgia from the time they were captured and condemned until taken over by the society, such negroes would be turned over to them. Early in 1819 Georgia advertised for sale a batch of negroes previously seized,* and the society sent the Reverend William Mead to secure the release of the negroes and sent out requests for contributions to supply the sum necessary to reimburse Georgia. The governor of Georgia, therefore, postponed the sale so that the society might have sufficient time to raise the redemption money, but in the meantime the society called upon Monroe to exercise the power recently granted him by an act passed by Congress on March 3, 1819. In this act the President was empowered to take such measures as he deemed fit for the safe keeping, support, and removal beyond the territory of the United States of such negroes as might be seized under the "On Tuesday, the 4th of May next [1819], in the town of Milledgeville, will be exposed to public sale, to the highest bidder, between thirty and forty prime African slaves, which have been taken possession of by the state of Georgia, in consequence of their having been introduced contrary to the laws of the state and of the U. States. Indisputable titles will be made and prompt payment required. By order of the governor, Charles Williamson, agent."— Niles' Register, vol. xvi., p. 166. †See Governor Matthew Talbot's message of November 3, 1819, in Niles' Register, vol. xvii., p. 222. For the debate see Annals of Congress, 15th Congress, 2d session, pp. 1430-1431. 280 THE FOUNDING OF LIBERIA. An act suppressing the slave trade. other provision of the act authorized him to send an agent to Africa who should receive such negroes as were seized from slavers by commanders of American naval vessels. A third provision set aside $100,000 for carrying the act into effect. † Monroe thereupon selected Samuel Bacon, Samuel A. Crozer and John P. Bankson to act as agents of the United States in Africa; chartered the brig Elizabeth to carry away the negroes; set apart $33,000 to pay for tools, implements, and transportation charges; and ordered the United States ship Cyane to escort the Elizabeth to her destination.‡ On February 6, 1820, the Elizabeth started from New York with 86 men, women, and children, and after a voyage of five weeks reached Sierra Leone, and then sailed for Sherbro Island. Meanwhile the Africans had changed their minds with regard to selling land to the Colonization Society, disavowed the promises they had made, and refused to sell a single foot of land. While the agents were negotiating, the rainy season set in, and the 3 agents and 20 colonists were. stricken with fever and soon died. The command of the party then passed into the hands of one of the colonists, who conducted the expedition back to Sierra Leone. This misfortune, however, did not discourage the society, and early in 1821 another band was sent out and attempted to settle at Cape Montserado on the coast of Guinea. But as the agents insisted that the abolition of the slave trade be one of the conditions on which they would purchase land, negotiations suddenly ceased, since the slave trade was most valuable to the Africans. The party then returned to Sierra Leone and the agent returned to the United States. In the fall of 1821 Dr. Ayres and Lieutenant Robert F. Stockton, of the United States schooner Alligator, went to Cape Montserado and succeeded in purchasing a tract of land for the colony in consideration of goods and trinkets worth $300. When the colonists appeared, however, the chiefs changed their minds and refused to give up the territory, but finally Stockton and Ayres induced them to consent to the purchase, and on April 22, 1822, the colonists took possession and began the erection of a town. At this time a British ship with some recaptured Africans drifted ashore, and a French slaver in search of a cargo also appeared off the coast. In the hope of profiting by these two events, the natives attempted to capture the negroes from the British ship in order to sell them to the French, but the colonists coöperated with the British and repulsed the native attack. |