Rev. WILLIAM MCLAIN, _Sec. Am. Col. Soc., Washington City_.
_Opinions of Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Chief Justice Marshall, and
others, on the colonization of Africa._
The following extracts from an Address to the Legislators and People of
Virginia, published in the thirty-third Annual Report of the American
Colonization Society, Jan. 15, 1850, shows the progress of the question
in Virginia:
The Governor of the Commonwealth having in his late message recommended
the American Colonization Society to the particular attention of the
Legislature, and the subject having been referred to a select committee,
whose report is daily anticipated, it seems a fitting time to remind
the Legislators and citizens of Virginia of some fuels touching the
origin and history of an institution which is attracting the regards
and challenging the admiration of the civilized world. It must endear
this institution to Virginians, and strengthen their confidence in its
wisdom, to be reminded that it comes commended to the present generation
by the authority of our most patriotic and sagacious statesmen, and the
deliberate successive acts of our Legislature.
It claims for its authors Thos. Jefferson, author of the Declaration of
Independence, Edmund Pendleton and George Wythe, high in the first rank
of their country’s orators and jurists—the Mansfield and the Hale of
Virginia—George Mason, perhaps the wisest statesman to whom Virginia has
given birth, and Thomas Ludwell Lee, who was deemed by the Legislature of
1776 their fit associate. These gentlemen were appointed, by the first
Legislature after the Declaration of Independence, to revise the laws of
this State. This committee proposed a comprehensive plan of colonization.
The emancipation feature in this plan was probably the reason of its
failure. The seed of the Colonization Society had nevertheless been sown,
which springing up after the lapse of a few years, and pruned of its
excrescences, began to grow and bear fruit. Its first fruit was the plan
of Dr. Thornton, (a Virginian,) in 1787, to colonize the _free_ colored
people upon _the coast of Africa_. This being the suggestion of a private
individual had no visible results. A few years afterward the Colony of
Sierra Leone, consisting of slaves who had taken refuge in the British
army during the Revolutionary war, was established.
On the 31st December, 1800, the House of Delegates of Virginia passed
almost unanimously the following resolution:
“_Resolved_, That the Governor be requested to correspond with the
President of the United States on the subject of purchasing lands without
the limits of this State, whither persons obnoxious to the laws, or
dangerous to the peace of Society, may be removed.”
* * * * *
In compliance with this resolution, Mr. MONROE addressed a letter to
Mr. Jefferson, dated Richmond, 15th June, 1801, in which he says: “We
perceive an existing evil which commenced under our colonial system,
with which we are not properly chargeable, and we acknowledge the
extreme difficulty of remedying it. At this point the mind rests with
suspense, and surveys with anxiety obstacles which become more serous
as we approach them. To lead to a sound decision, and make the result
a happy one, it is necessary that the field of practicable expedients
be opened on the widest possible scale; under this view of the subject,
I shall beg leave to be advised whether a tract of land in the western
territory of the United States can be procured for this purpose, in what
quarter, and on what terms? You perceive that I invite your attention to
a subject of great importance, one which in a peculiar degree involves
the future peace and tranquility and happiness of the good people of this
commonwealth.”
* * * * *
On the 8th of November, 1801, Mr. JEFFERSON replied in a long letter,
in the course of which he goes on to discuss the practicability and
expediency of procuring territory on our western or southern frontier,
and concludes with asking, would we be willing to have such a colony
in contact with us? It is impossible, he adds, not to look forward to
distant times, when our rapid multiplication will expand beyond those
limits, and cover the whole northern if not the whole southern continent
with a people speaking the same language and governed with the same laws.
Nor can we contemplate with satisfaction either blot or mixture on that
surface.
He then gives the preference to the West Indies, and among these islands
to St. Domingo, in consideration of their being already inhabited by a
people of their own race and color, and having a climate congenial with
their constitution, and being insulated from other descriptions of men.
Africa, he concludes, would offer a last and undoubted resort, if all
others more desirable should fail us.
* * * * *
On the 16th June, 1802, the House of Delegates of Virginia passed the
following resolutions, which were agreed to by the Senate on the 23d:
“_Resolved_, That the Governor be requested to correspond with the
President of the United States for the purpose of obtaining a place
without the limits of the same, to which free negroes or mulattoes, and
such negroes or mulattoes may be emancipated, may be sent or choose
to remove as a place of asylum, and that it is not the wish of the
Legislature to obtain the sovereignty of such place.”
* * * * *
In December, 1804, Mr. JEFFERSON addressed a letter to Governor Page
of Virginia, in which he says, the island of St. Domingo, our nearest
and most convenient resource, is too unsettled to be looked to for any
permanent arrangements. He then suggests whether the inhabitants of our
late purchase beyond the Mississippi, and the National Legislature,
would consent that a portion of that country should be set apart for
the persons contemplated. And not yet seeming to despair of Africa, he
adds, my last information as to _Sierra Leone_ is that the company was
proposing to deliver up their colony to the Government. Should this take
place it might furnish an opportunity for an incorporation of ours into
it. This led to the following resolution of the House of Delegates on the
3d of December, 1804:
“_Resolved_, That the Senators of this State in the Congress of the
United States be instructed, and the Representatives be requested, to
exert their best efforts for the purpose of obtaining from the General
Government a competent portion of territory in the country of Louisiana,
to be appropriated to the residence of such people of color as have been
or may be emancipated in Virginia, or may hereafter become dangerous to
the public safety. _Provided_, That no contract or arrangement respecting
such territory shall be obligatory on this Commonwealth, until ratified
by the Legislature.”
This resolution was sent by Governor Page to the Representatives of
Virginia.
Our difficulties with France and England now supervened, and arrested
at this point these interesting proceedings. But there was at least one
eminent politician whose mind was not diverted from the contemplation of
this subject by the approaching war with England. In January, 1811, Mr.
Jefferson said, “I have long ago made up my mind upon this subject, and
have no hesitation in saying I have ever thought it the most desirable
measure for gradually drawing off this part of our population. Going
from a country possessing all the useful arts, they might be the means
of transporting them among the inhabitants of Africa, and would thus
carry back to the country of their origin the seed of civilization, which
might render their sojourning here a blessing in the end to that country.
NOTHING IS MORE TO BE WISHED THAN THAT THE UNITED STATES WOULD THEMSELVES
UNDERTAKE TO MAKE SUCH AN ESTABLISHMENT ON THE COAST OF AFRICA. Exclusive
of motives of humanity, the commercial advantages to be derived from it
might defray all its expenses.”
* * * * *
A treaty of peace having been concluded with Great Britain in 1815,
the public mind reverted with increased interest to the scheme of
colonization.
In the mean time Dr. Finley, Bishop Meade, Frank Key, &c., had been
anxiously pondering the subject of African colonization. These, with
other persons of like minds, assembled in the city of Washington on the
21st of December of the same year, and recommended the formation of the
American Colonization Society.
Mr. CLAY was chairman of the meeting, and stirring addresses were made by
him, and by Messrs. CALDWELL and RANDOLPH, of Roanoke. A committee was
appointed to present a memorial to Congress, asking their co-operation;
John Randolph was on that committee. The society held its first meeting
on the 17th of January, 1817, and elected its officers. Hon. BUSHROD
WASHINGTON was made president, and among the thirteen vice-presidents
were CLAY, CRAWFORD, JACKSON, and JOHN TAYLOR, of Virginia. The committee
of the society prepared a memorial to Congress, which was referred to
a committee of the House of Representatives, who made an able report,
concluding with resolutions recommending negotiations with the great
states of Europe for the abolition of the slave trade, and an application
to Great Britain to receive into the colony of Sierra Leone such of the
free people of color of the United States as should be carried thither.
And should this proposition not be accepted, then to obtain from Great
Britain a stipulation, guaranteeing a permanent neutrality to any colony
established under the auspices of the United States upon the coast of
Africa.
On the 3d of March, 1819, Congress passed an act, authorizing the
President of the United States to make such arrangements as he might deem
expedient, for the safe keeping and removal out of the United States of
such persons of color as might be brought into any of the States under
the act abolishing the slave trade, and to appoint agents upon the coast
of Africa for receiving such persons. Agents were accordingly appointed
by the Government, who, acting in co-operation with the agents of the
society, purchased territory, and established the colony. This purchase
was made in 1822, by an agent of the society, and Captain Stockton,
of the navy, on the part of the Government of the United States. From
that moment the course of the colony has been steadily onward, “through
evil and through good report,” until it has taken its place among the
independent nations of the earth, under the denomination of the “Republic
of Liberia.”
To return from this digression to Virginia. An auxiliary society was
formed in Richmond in November, 1823, at the head of which was placed
the Hon. JOHN MARSHALL, (clarum et venerabile nomen,) who continued to
preside over its deliberations, and to guide it by his wise counsels,
to the day of his lamented death. He was succeeded by the Hon. JOHN
TYLER, late President of the United States. The Richmond society, by
its able reports, its energetic agencies, and its stirring appeals, was
instrumental in diffusing information and procuring contributions, which
rendered very valuable aid in a time of need to the Parent Society at
Washington. It also obtained from the Legislature, in 1825 and 1828,
donations in clothing and implements of agriculture, which supplied
very opportunely pressing wants of the infant colony in Africa. The
Colonization Society, at this period, had a task of great delicacy to
perform. The questions growing out of the admission of Missouri into
the Union had fearfully agitated the whole country, and threatened to
overwhelm this benevolent enterprise in ruin; but by following the chart
of her original principles with the strictest fidelity, and steering
between the rock of indifferentism on the one hand, and the whirlpool
of abolitionism on the other, she was enabled, with the blessing of
Heaven, to weather the storm. At this critical juncture were heard above
the roaring of the tempest of fanaticism the voices of her gallant
commanders, Madison and Marshall, cheering her onward in her noble
mission.
* * * * *
Mr. MADISON, in a letter dated Jan. 16, 1832, said, “the Society had
always my best wishes, although with hopes of success less sanguine than
those entertained by others found to be better judges, and I feel the
greatest pleasure at the progress already made by the Society, and the
encouragement to encounter remaining difficulties afforded by the greater
and earlier difficulties already overcome. I cherish the hope that the
time will come when the dreadful calamity which has so long afflicted our
country, and filled so many with despair, will be gradually removed, and
by means consistent with justice, peace, and the general satisfaction;
thus giving to our country the full enjoyment of the blessings of
liberty, and to the world the full benefit of its great example.”
* * * * *
Judge MARSHALL, in the same year, said, the removal of our colored
population is a common object, by no means confined to the slave States,
although they are more immediately interested in it. The whole Union,
he adds, would be strengthened by it, and relieved from a danger whose
extent can be scarcely estimated. Here we have the authority of the
“father of the Constitution,” and its greatest expounder, both of whom
thought the object contemplated by the Colonization Society so important
that it demanded _the interposition of the General Government, and both
regarded the public lands as a proper resource of effecting it_.
* * * * *
General Brodnax, in the session of 1832 and 1833, reported a bill
devising ways and means for deporting free negroes, and such as may
become free in Virginia, to Liberia. The bill proposed an appropriation
of $35,000 for the present year, and $90,000 for the next, to be applied
to this purpose. It passed the House of Delegates, but was lost in the
Senate. Notwithstanding this discouragement, the subject was again
moved, and on the 4th of March, 1833, an act passed the Legislature,
appropriating $18,000, and constituting the Governor, Lieutenant
Governor, and 1st and 2d Auditors, a board of commissioners for carrying
its provisions into effect. This act, as was predicted at the time,
was rendered utterly inefficient by the restrictions with which it was
encumbered.
In 1837, the Board of Managers of the Virginia Society, seconded by
petitions from several auxiliary societies, presented a memorial to the
Legislature, asking for an act of incorporation, and an amendment of the
act of 1833, so as to make its provisions available; and on the 13th of
February, of the same year, the report of the select committee, declaring
these petitions reasonable, was agreed to by the House of Delegates, and
a bill ordered. For want of time, or some other cause not known, this
bill did not become a law. And now, in 1850, Mr. Dorman has reported a
bill to the same end, founded upon the recommendation in the message of
Governor Floyd.
Such is believed to be a just account of the _history of the idea of
colonizing our people of color_, from its first conception until its
full development in the American Colonization Society. It is not within
the scope of this address to write the history of that Society—its
unparalleled success is not now questioned by any unprejudiced man. Mr.
Gurley, who was commissioned by the General Government to visit Liberia
and investigate its condition, is just returned, and is now preparing
an elaborate report, illustrating the commercial and other interests of
that young Republic; his testimony to its present prosperity and the
greatness of its future prospects is most decisive and encouraging.
Neither is it a part of my plan to cite the authority or acts of the
several State Legislatures, fourteen of which have given the Society
their approbation; and one, Maryland, has made it a part of her permanent
policy, by establishing and cherishing with annual appropriations the
colony of Maryland in Liberia. Nor will I now insist upon the benefits,
social, political, and moral, that are conferred by this Society upon
the white race in America, and upon the black race upon both continents.
Let it suffice to say that we have in our midst, in the persons of our
free colored people, _an evil of enormous magnitude_. That this evil has
increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished, every body admits.
When Mr. Jefferson proposed his plan of colonization, there were only
about 10,000 free negroes in Virginia—now the number is estimated at
60,000, and is increasing.
JOINT RESOLUTION for abolishing the traffic in slaves, and for the
colonization of the free people of color of the United States—Proposed
February 11, 1817, by a committee of the House of Representatives.
_Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled._ That the President be, and he
is hereby, authorized to consult and negotiate with all the Governments
where ministers of the United States are or shall be accredited, on the
means of effecting an entire and immediate abolition of the traffic in
slaves. And, also, to enter into a convention with the Government of
Great Britain for receiving into the colony of Sierra Leone such of the
free people of color of the United States as, with their own consent,
shall be carried thither; stipulating such terms as shall be most
beneficial to the colonists, while it promotes the peaceful interests of
Great Britain and the United States. And should this proposition not be
accepted, then to obtain from Great Britain and the other maritime powers
a stipulation, or a formal declaration to the same effect, guarantying a
permanent neutrality for any colony of free people of color which, at the
expense and under the auspices of the United States, shall be established
on the African coast.
_Resolved_, That adequate provision shall hereafter be made to defray
any necessary expenses which may be incurred in carrying the preceding
resolution into effect.
NOTE.—No proceeding took place in the House on these resolutions at this
session.
The committee consisted of Mr. Pickering, Mr. Comstock, Mr. Condict, Mr.
Tucker, Mr. Taggart, Mr. Cilley, and Mr. Hooks, on colonizing the free
people of color of the United States.