CHAPTER IX 



THE FOUNDING OF LIBERIA 



THE experiments made at Sierra Leone between 1786 and 

 1794 by an association of British philanthropists (growing 

 as they did in 1807 into the establishment of a Crown 

 Colony) aroused some enthusiasm and much interest in America, 

 so that to no small extent Sierra Leone has been the elder 

 sister, the forerunner of Liberia. 



From the very beginning of American independence the 

 northern states of the American Union were opposed to the 

 idea of slavery. Vermont abolished slavery in 1777 ; most 

 of the northern states had followed suit by 1804. Only the 

 English-speaking south-east held out, and these states were 

 supported by the French and Spanish states (slave-holding), which 

 joined the Union between 1782 and 1845. ^^ ^794 Congress 

 forbade the participation of American subjects in the slave 

 trade. In 1 808 the importation of African slaves into the 

 states of the Union was prohibited. 



Meantime free black men were growing as an element 

 in the American polity. Washington had freed his slaves at 

 his death. Many followed his example. But the black citizen 

 did not live on easy terms of equality with the white. Some 

 philanthropists in the United States felt that giving freedom to 

 the slave was not enough as reparation : he should be restored 

 to the land of his fathers and resume an existence in Africa 

 as a Christian and an enlightened propagator of civilisation. 



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