Table of Contents | Liberia After 1822

Table of contents

Chapters marked as open reading are free to all readers. The full text of the remaining chapters is available in the subscriber reading room.

Part I

The Cape Mesurado Agreement

01
West Africa at the Beginning of the Nineteenth Centuryopen reading
The political, economic and cultural landscape of the Grain Coast before the permanent American settlement.
02
From Sherbro Island to Cape Mesuradoopen reading
The failure of the first settlement effort, disease, deaths, relocation and the search for a permanent colonial site.
03
December 15, 1821open reading
A detailed examination of the Cape Mesurado agreement, its participants, witnesses, terms, goods exchanged and territorial descriptions.
04
Who Had the Authority to Transfer the Land?
African systems of land custody, collective ownership, chiefly authority and the power—or limitations—of individual signatories.
05
Agreement, Purchase, Lease or Political Alliance?
Competing African and American interpretations of the Cape Mesurado transaction.
06
Eli Ayres, Robert F. Stockton and King Peter
The principal negotiators, their backgrounds, motives and historical representations.
07
The Gun, the Contract and the Historical Record
An evidence-based examination of claims that force, intimidation or threatened violence influenced the negotiations.

Part II

08
Providence Island and the Move to the Cape
The arrival of settlers and the establishment of a permanent foothold in 1822.
09
The Battle for Cape Mesurado
Conflict between settlers and surrounding African communities and the struggle to maintain the settlement.
10
Survival, Disease and Food Insecurity
Mortality, environmental conditions, medical challenges and the vulnerability of the early colony.
11
From Christopolis to Monrovia
The naming and development of the settlement and its connection to United States political patronage.
12
The American Colonization Society Government
The power of ACS agents, colonial regulations and the absence of full settler self-government.
13
The Settlers and the Recaptives
Relations among African American emigrants, Caribbean settlers and Africans rescued from illegal slave ships.

Part III

14
Beyond Cape Mesurado
The expansion of colonial authority along the coast and into neighboring territories.
15
Grand Bassa, Sinoe, Maryland and Other Settlements
The creation of separate colonial jurisdictions and their eventual political integration.
16
Treaties with Indigenous Leaders
A comparative analysis of land agreements, commercial treaties and political alliances.
17
Commerce, Customs and Coastal Control
Trade in camwood, palm products, ivory and other commodities, and the importance of customs revenue.
18
The Campaign Against the Slave Trade
Liberia's role in anti-slavery operations and the political use of abolition as a claim to legitimacy.
19
Missionaries, Churches and Schools
Christian missions, education, cultural transformation and the emergence of a settler intellectual class.
20
Indigenous Resistance and Accommodation
The different ways African communities opposed, negotiated with or cooperated with the expanding colony.

Part IV

21
The Americo-Liberian Community
The development of settler identity, institutions, social classes and political influence.
22
Joseph Jenkins Roberts and the Roberts Family
Virginia origins, migration to Liberia, commercial advancement and emergence within the governing elite.
23
Merchants, Governors and Political Families
The commercial networks and family relationships that shaped colonial leadership.
24
Race, Color and Class in the Colony
Relations among light-skinned settlers, darker-skinned settlers, recaptives and Indigenous Africans.
25
Women in the Formation of Liberia
The roles of settler women, Indigenous women, traders, educators, missionaries and political families.
26
Land Ownership and Political Membership
Property, citizenship, settlement status and access to political power.

Part V

27
The Constitution of 1824
The first formal governmental structure of the colony and the authority retained by the American Colonization Society.
28
The Constitution of 1839
The creation of the Commonwealth of Liberia and the expansion of local political administration.
29
Governors and the Growth of Self-Government
The transition from white ACS agents to Black colonial leadership.
30
Joseph Jenkins Roberts as Governor
His administration, commercial interests, diplomacy and political strategy.
31
The Demand for Economic Independence
Trade restrictions, customs disputes and the financial pressures that encouraged independence.
32
Britain, France and the Sovereignty Question
Foreign challenges to Liberia's tariffs, borders and right to govern commerce.

Part VI

33
The 1847 Constitutional Convention
The delegates, debates, political interests and communities represented—or excluded.
34
The Declaration of Independence
Its language, American influences and claims of national sovereignty.
35
The Constitution of 1847
The structure of government, presidency, legislature, judiciary, citizenship and voting rights.
36
Who Belonged to the New Republic?
The constitutional treatment of settlers, Indigenous Africans, race, nationality and political inclusion.
37
The Election of Joseph Jenkins Roberts
The political circumstances that made Roberts the first president of the republic.
38
January 3, 1848
The inauguration of Liberia's first president and the formal beginning of republican government.
39
International Recognition
Recognition by Britain, France, other states and the delayed recognition of Liberia by the United States.

Part VII

40
A Republic Without Full National Integration
The limited territorial and administrative reach of the early government.
41
Indigenous Citizenship and Political Exclusion
The gap between constitutional sovereignty and the political status of Liberia's Indigenous majority.
42
Taxes, Trade and the Hinterland
Government efforts to extend economic and administrative authority beyond the coast.
43
Military Expeditions and Territorial Consolidation
The use of force, alliances and treaties in expanding the republic.
44
The Kru, Grebo, Gola, Vai and Other Political Communities
Case studies of relations between the republic and major Indigenous societies.
45
The Mandingo Commercial Networks
Islam, long-distance trade and Mandingo influence in the interior.
46
Land, Sovereignty and Historical Memory
How different communities remembered the agreements that expanded Liberia's territory.

Part VIII

47
Was Liberia Founded in 1822 or 1847?
The distinction between settlement, colony, commonwealth, statehood and national independence.
48
Colonization and Black Self-Determination
The contradiction between the racist origins of American colonization and the emergence of an independent Black republic.
49
Settlers, Returnees or Colonizers?
An examination of the competing terms used to describe African American emigrants.
50
The Myth of an Empty Land
Correcting narratives that ignore the people, governments and economies that existed before the settlement.
51
The Cape Mesurado Agreement in Modern Liberia
The agreement's continuing importance in debates over land, identity, citizenship and national history.
52
Building a Shared National History
Toward a historical interpretation that recognizes both African American migration and Indigenous African sovereignty.