African American Influence On The Settlement Of Monrovia

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Black slavery in America was one of the most horrific and unacceptable events in history, and since the outset of American enslavement of Africans many attempts had been made at escaping it. In 1816, a group called the American Colonization Society (ACS) was created. Chiefly composed of Quakers and slave owners, the ACS fought for the repatriation of Black Americans to Africa. They believed that “freeborn Blacks and former slaves would face better chances for freedom in Africa than in the United States.” Although Quakers and slave owners at the time had obviously different opinions regarding slavery, their stance on the issue of African repatriation was the same. The settlement of Monrovia at first was rather challenging; many people endured malaria and yellow fever coupled with attacks of native tribes who were unhappy with the new …show more content…

The colony of Liberia was at governed for many years by white agents of the ACS, and it wasn’t until they gained independence in 1847 that they switched to a black leader. The Liberia experiment to repatriate slaves from America was not a success, because although African-Americans successfully created a free, independent state of their own, they did not fully know how to govern themselves, and pending the withdrawal of the ACS, newly established Liberia spun out of control economically, politically, and socially. Without the aid of the ACS, the government of Liberia became corrupted. Their third president William V.S. Tubman “changed the constitution,” to allow himself to continue to be reelected. This style of authoritarian rule killed the country from the inside out before any of its other issues even came

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