[234] For an extended account of the plans proposed before 1816, for
removing the colored population, see H. N. Sherwood, "Early Negro
Deportation Projects," in the _Mississippi Valley Historical Review_,
II, 485 ff.
[235] _Niles' Register_, XVII, 30. Some of the slaves of James Smith,
a Methodist preacher of Virginia, had accompanied their quondam master
to Ohio in 1798. Ohio Archæological and Historical Society,
Publications, XVI, 348-352.
[236] Documentary History of American Industrial Society, II, 161,
162.
[237] This story has been told by the writer, "Paul Cuffe and his
Contribution to the American Colonization Society," in Mississippi
Valley Historical Society, _Proceedings_, VI, 370-402.
[238] Thomas Jefferson, Writings (Ford ed., New York, 1892-1899).
[239] American Colonization Society, First Annual Report (Washington,
1817), 6, 7.
[240] "The Life of Benjamin Lundy" (Philadelphia, 1847), 16. The
manuscript record is in the archives of the Ohio Historical and
Philosophical Society.
[241] American State Papers, Miscellaneous, II, 278, 279. The Petition
reached Congress January 18, 1816. It was referred to the Committee on
the Public Lands and reported on adversely. Annals of Congress, 14th
Cong., 1st session, 691.
[242] These resolutions are printed in American State Papers,
Miscellaneous, I, 464.
[243] Archibald Alexander, "A History of Colonization on the West
Coast of Africa" (Philadelphia, 1846), 75-76; _Niles' Register_, XI,
275, 296; James Mercer Garnett, "Biographical Sketch of Charles Fenton
Mercer" (Richmond, Va., 1911), 15.
[244] Mercer's resolutions were passed by the House of Delegates,
December 14, 1816, passed with amendment by the Senate, December 20,
and concurred in by the House, December 21. Annals of Congress, 15th
Congress, 1st session, II, 1774. Indiana, Georgia and Tennessee, all a
little later, passed similar resolutions. _American Quarterly_, IV,
397.
[245] American Colonization Society, First Annual Report, 8.
[246] Isaac V. Brown, "Biography of the Reverend Robert Finley, of
Basking Ridge, N. J." (Philadelphia, 1857), 60.
[247] Printed in Brown, _Finley_, 60, 61. See also _African
Repository_, II, 2, 3, and Matthew Carey, "Letters on Colonization and
its Probable Results addressed to C. F. Mercer," Philadelphia, 1834,
7.
[248] _Niles' Register_, XI, 260. Colonel Ercuries Beatty president at
the meeting. The committee appointed to secure signatures to the
memorial consisted of the following names: Elisha Clark, John G.
Schenck, Dr. E. Stockton, Dr. J. Van Cleve, and Robert Voorhees. Byron
Sunderland in his "Liberian Colonization," _Liberian Bulletin_, No.
16, 18, says this meeting was virtually a failure. The memorial may be
found in the Cuffe manuscripts. It was sent to Paul Cuffe by Robert
Finley when the latter was in Washington seeking to bring about some
general deportation movement.
[249] Gardiner Spring, "Memoir of Samuel John Mills" (Boston and New
York, 1829), 10.
[250] Sunderland, "Liberian Colonization," _Liberian Bulletin_, No.
16, 18.
[251] Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, Second Series,
II, 1.
[252] Report of a missionary tour through that part of the United
States which lies west of the Allegheny Mountains (Andover, 1815).
[253] Thomas C. Richards, "Samuel J. Mills, Missionary, Pathfinder,
Pioneer and Promoter" (Boston, 1906), 190, 191; Spring, "Memoir of
Mills," 129.
[254] Spring, "Memoir of Mills," 125, 126; _African Repository_, I,
276. A school based on these principles was established in New York
also, in October, 1816. While the above quotation was written by Mills
in July, 1817, it is a fair representation of his idea for several
years previous.
[255] An editorial in the _North American Review_, XXXV, 126.
[256] _Niles' Register_, XIV, 321. Thomas Doan, Aaron Coppock, James
Boyd, Joseph Coin, and Elihu Embree signed such a statement.
[257] Jesse Torrey, Jr., "A Portraiture of Domestic Slavery, in the
United States: with Reflections on the Practicability of Restoring the
Moral Rights of the Slave, without Impairing the Legal Privileges of
the Possessor; and a Project of a Colonial Asylum for Free Persons of
Colour: including Memoirs of Facts on the Interior Traffic in Slaves,
and on Kidnapping" (Philadelphia, 1817), 27-30.
[258] _Niles' Register_, XIII, 180.
[259] "Documentary History of American Industrial Society," II, 157,
158.
[260] _African Repository_, I, 23.
[261] See the Western Courier (Louisville, Kentucky), for October 26,
1815.
[262] Paul Cuffe manuscripts in the Public Library, New Bedford, Mass.
Paul Cuffe to Samuel C. Aiken, August 7, 1816; Paul Cuffe to Jedekiah
Morse, August 10, 1816.
[263] _Ibid._, Robert Finley to Paul Cuffe, December 5, 1816, Finley
asked that the reply if mailed to him at Washington be sent in care of
his brother-in-law, Elias B. Caldwell.
[264] _Ibid._, Paul Cuffe to Robert Finley, January 8, 1817.
[265] Printed in Brown, _Finley_, 66 ff. The pamphlet was written
before he came to Washington.
[266] Spring, "Memoir of Mills," 131.
[267] Massachusetts Historical Society, _Proceedings_, First Series,
XIX, 20.
[268] _African Repository_, I, 2, 3. Referring to Caldwell in an
address at an annual meeting of the Society, January 20, 1827, Clay
said: "It is now a little upwards of ten years since a religious,
amiable and benevolent resident of this city, first conceived the idea
of planting a colony, from the United States, of free people of color,
on the western shores of Africa. He is no more, and the noblest eulogy
that could be pronounced on him would be to inscribe upon his tomb,
the merited epitaph, 'Here lies the projector of the American
Colonization Society.'" Clay was historically mistaken. Similar things
were said of Mills and Finley. This speech may be found in pamphlet
form in the Library of the Ohio Historical and Philosophical Society.
[269] Spring, "Memoir of Mills," 131, 139, 140.
[270] Brown, _Finley_, 65, 66.
[271] _Ibid._, "A Respectable Resident of the District of Columbia to
Brown," 64, 65.
[272] Sunderland, "Liberian Colonization," _Liberian Bulletin_, No.
16, 19.
[273] Virginia Historical Society, Collections, VI, 26; _Niles'
Register_, XI, 296.
[274] _Niles' Register_, XI, 296.
[275] Manuscript Record of the Meeting, Library of Congress. Copy
furnished by the American Colonization Society.
[276] The _National Intelligencer_ reported the meeting. The substance
of Clay's remarks is printed in Archibald Alexander, "A History of
Colonization on the Western Coast of Africa" (Philadelphia, 1849),
77-82; in J. Tracy, "A View of Exertions Lately Made for the Purpose
of Colonizing the Free People of Color in the United States, in
Africa, or Elsewhere" (Washington, 1817), 4 ff.
[277] Alexander, "A History of Colonization," 82-87; Tracy, "A View of
Exertions," 4-11. For a criticism of all the speeches before this
meeting see David Walker, "An Appeal" (Boston, 1830), 50 ff.
[278] Torrey, "A Portraiture of Domestic Slavery," 69.
[279] Torrey, "A View of Exertions," 9, 10; Walker, "Appeal," 57.
[280] Spring, "Memoir of Mills, Samuel J. Mills to Ebenezer Burgess,"
July 30, 1817, 136.
[281] _Ibid._, 136.
[282] American Colonization Society, Eighty-second report, 7.
[283] See the _American Museum_, December, 1790, 285-286, for his
plan.
[284] Thorton's activities have been related by H. N. Sherwood, "Early
Negro Deportation Projects," in _Mississippi Valley Historical
Review_, March, 1916, 502-505.
[285] The committee for the memorial consisted of: E. B. Caldwell,
John Randolph, Richard Rush, Walter Jones, Francis S. Key, Robert
Wright, James H. Blake and John Peter. The committee for the
Constitution: Francis S. Key, Bushrod Washington, E. B. Caldwell,
James Breckenridge, Walter Jones, Richard Rush, and W. G. D.
Worthington.
[286] Mills wrote Cuffe, December 26, 1816, informing him of the
activities in Washington and asked for information about Africa. He
added a postscript: "If the general government were to request you to
go out for the purpose of exploring in your own vessel would you
engage in this service if offered proper support?" Cuffe Manuscripts,
Samuel J. Mills to Paul Cuffe, December 26, 1916.
[287] The signers of this Constitution are given by Sunderland,
"Liberian Colonization," _Liberian Bulletin_, No. 16, 20, as follows:
_Signers of American Colonization Society, December 28, 1816._
H. Clay Jno. Loockerman John Taylor
E. B. Caldwell Jno. Woodside Overton Carr
Thos. Dougherty Wm. Dudley Diggs P. H. Wendover
Stephen B. Balch Thos. Carberry F. S. Key
Jno. Chambers, Jr. Samuel J. Mills Charles Marsh
Thos. Patterson Geo. A. Carroll David M. Forest
John Randolph of Roanoke W. G. D. Worthington John Wiley
Rob't H. Goldsborough John Lee Nathan Lufborough
Wm. Thornton Richard Bland Lee William Meade
George Clark D. Murray William H. Wilmer
James Laurie Robert Finley Geo. Travers
J. T. Stull B. Allison Edm. I. Lee
Dan'l Webster B. L. Lear John P. Todd
J. C. Herbert W. Jones Bushrod Washington
Wm. Simmons J. Mason
E. Forman Mord. Booth
Ferdinand Fairfax J. S. Shaaf
V. Maxsy Geo. Peter
[288] The other officers were as follows:
William H. Crawford of Georgia
Henry Clay of Kentucky
William Phillips of Massachusetts
Col. Henry Rutgers of New York
John E. Howard }
Samuel Smith } of Maryland
John C. Herbert }
John Taylor of Caroline, of Virginia
Andrew Jackson of Tennessee
Robert Ralston }
Richard Rush } of Pennsylvania
John Mason of the District of Columbia
Robert Finley of New Jersey
These were the thirteen vice presidents.
Elias B. Caldwell, Secretary
William G. D. Worthington, Recorder
David English, Treasurer
Francis S. Key
Walter Jones
John Laird
Rev. Dr. James Laurie
Rev. Stephen B. Balch
Rev. Obadiah B. Brown
James H. Blake
John Peter
Edmund I. Lee
William Thorton
Jacob Hoffman
Henry Carroll
These composed the Board of Managers.
[289] Manuscript Records of the Meeting.
[290] Brown, _Finley_, 65, 66.