Aged nautical chart of the West African Grain Coast and Cape Mesurado with a tall ship on the Atlantic horizon

Liberia

After 1822

◇Volume II of Liberia Before 1822◇

From the Cape Mesurado Agreement to the Formation of the Liberian Republic

By Mo Hakim Kamara, III

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The central question

How did an agreement concerning land at Cape Mesurado develop into a political claim over territories, communities and peoples who were not necessarily represented in the original transaction?

Beginning with the December 15, 1821 Cape Mesurado agreement and the establishment of the colonial settlement in 1822, this volume examines how a small coastal settlement administered by the American Colonization Society gradually expanded into a self-governing commonwealth and, ultimately, an independent republic in 1847.

Illustrations from the volume

A history you can see

Landfall at Cape Mesurado, 1821
American Colonization Society vessels off the headland as settlers are rowed ashore.

The palaver of December 15, 1821
Dey and Bassa leadership in council with Ayres and Stockton over the land agreement.

Declaration of Independence, 1847
The Monrovia convention signs the instrument that made the settlement a republic.

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A contested chronology

1821The Cape Mesurado agreement of December 15.
1822Permanent settlement established at Providence Island and the Cape.
1824First colonial constitution; the settlement is named Monrovia.
1839The Commonwealth of Liberia is formed.
1847Constitutional convention, declaration of independence and the Constitution of 1847.
1848Joseph Jenkins Roberts inaugurated as first president on January 3.
1862The United States formally recognizes Liberia.

Eight parts, fifty-two chapters

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Part I

The Cape Mesurado Agreement

7 chapters

Part II

Establishing the Settlement

6 chapters

Part III

The Expansion of Colonial Liberia

7 chapters

Part IV

The Rise of Settler Political Power

6 chapters

Part V

From Colony to Commonwealth

6 chapters

Part VI

The Creation of the Republic

7 chapters

Part VII

The Republic and the Indigenous Majority

7 chapters

Part VIII

Reassessing Liberia's Founding Narrative

6 chapters

Back cover

In December 1821, representatives of the American Colonization Society entered into an agreement for territory at Cape Mesurado. In 1822, African American emigrants established a permanent settlement there. Twenty-five years later, a new republic declared its independence.

But how did a coastal land agreement become the foundation of a sovereign country?

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