Posted on 07/05/2003 12:27:52 PM PDT by Aurelius
In Tuesday's Washington Post, an editorial urging President Bush to send peacekeepers to civil war-wracked Liberia noted that the country was "founded by freed U.S. slaves." Is that true?
Not quite. Although some freed American slaves did settle there, Liberia was actually founded by the American Colonization Society, a group of white Americans—including some slaveholders—that had what certainly can be described as mixed motives. In 1817, in Washington, D.C., the ACS established the new colony (on a tract of land in West Africa purchased from local tribes) in hopes that slaves, once emancipated, would move there. The society preferred this option to the alternative: a growing number of free black Americans demanding rights, jobs, and resources at home.
Notable supporters of transporting freed blacks to Liberia included Henry Clay, Francis Scott Key, Bushrod Washington, and the architect of the U.S. Capitol, William Thornton—all slave owners. These "moderates" thought slavery was unsustainable and should eventually end but did not consider integrating slaves into society a viable option. So, the ACS encouraged slaveholders to offer freedom on the condition that those accepting it would move to Liberia at the society's expense. A number of slave owners did just that.
When the first settlers were relocated to Liberia in 1822, the plan drew immediate criticism on several fronts. Many leaders in the black community publicly attacked it, asking why free blacks should have to emigrate from the country where they, their parents, and even their grandparents were born. Meanwhile, slave owners in the South vigorously denounced the plan as an assault on their slave economy.
Abolitionist resistance to colonization grew steadily. In 1832, as the ACS began to send agents to England to raise funds for what they touted as a benevolent plan, William Lloyd Garrison revved up the opposition with a 236-page book on the evils of colonization and sent abolitionists to England to track down and counter ACS supporters.
But the scheme had some fans. Slave states like Maryland and Virginia were already home to a significant number of free blacks, and whites there—still reeling from Nat Turner's 1831 rebellion, which emancipated slaves had a hand in—formed local colonization societies. Thus encouraged, Maryland legislators passed a law in 1832 that required any slave freed after that date to leave the state and specifically offered passage to a part of Liberia administered by the Maryland State Colonization Society. However, enforcement provisions lacked teeth, and many Marylanders forgot their antipathy to free blacks when they needed extra hands at harvest time. There is no evidence that any freed African-American was forcibly sent to Liberia from Maryland or anywhere else.
By the 1840s, the American Colonization Society was largely bankrupt, and the transported Liberians were demoralized by hostile local tribes, bad management, and deadly diseases. The U.S. government would not claim sovereignty over the colony, so in 1846 the ACS demanded that Liberians declare their independence. In the end, around 13,000 emigrants had sailed to Liberia. Today, vestiges of the emigration can be seen in Liberia's Maryland County, in the American-sounding names we read in the papers, and, as reported on National Public Radio, in one Liberian restaurant's offer of Maryland-style fried chicken.
The 16 ethnic groups may be classified into three linguistic groups: the Mande , Kwa, and Mel (West Atlantic). The Mande are located in the northwest and central regions of Liberia and also in Senegal, Mali, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. Prominent among them are the Vai , who invented their own alphabet and who, in addition, use Arabic and English; the Kpelle, the largest Mande group, who are also found in Guinea; Loma (also found in Guinea); Gbandi; Gio (Dan); Mano; Mende; and Malinke. The Kwa include the Bassa, the largest group in this category and the largest ethnic group in Monrovia; the Kru and Grebo, who were among the earliest converts to Christianity; the De; Belle (Belleh); and Krahn. The Kwa-speaking group occupies the southern half of the country. The Mel group includes the Gola and Kissi, who are also found in Sierra Leone and are known to be the oldest inhabitants of Liberia. These people live in the north and in the coastal region of the northwest.
I believe English is the official language or language of government but other languages are spoken by more people- mainly indigenous people/languages.
How does this lead to credibility. There is nothing intrinsically credible in doing something you will gain no benefit from. Indeed, it should be looked on as sign of madness.
That's what I said. Are we talking about individuals or nations?
Jesus was on his own mission. He wasn't a nation state.
It is madness for a nation to sacrifice lives and get intricately involved in a problem where it has absolutely no interest.
Third, having the French think we are good guys actually lowers our credibility. Our purpose and goals as a nation should not be predicated upon what Kofi Annan and Belgium think about us.
I guess that's kind of like "compassion," which always involves spending other people's money.
This thread is about Liberia. Please stay on topic.
If you're already warm and dry and secure and have a full belly why do you begrudge the same to someone less fortunate?
My wealth has nothing to do with being lucky.
The freedom of the Iraqi people is an incidental reason. Our long range strategic interests were reason number one, make no mistake about it.
That's right and I'm terribly proud of it. I'm selfish every time I eat a meal. Every time I have sex. Every time I make a buck. Every time I go to sleep. Every time I buy something in the store. Thanks for the compliment.
why intervene when there is no obvious,
Exactly. Why? We are as credible as we will ever get right at this moment (although intervening for "credibility" is stupid on the face of it). So there is no more credibility to be gained by going in somewhere where we have no interests. (for the record, and what's funny is- you don't even know if I favor going into Liberia or not).
If you don't think you're luckier to live in the US
Hmmm. So let me break this down. I'm lucky because I live in the US? How's that? I don't live in the US. D'oh! See, when we assume... You know how the rest of that saying goes.
If you're already warm and dry and secure and have a full belly why do you begrudge the same to someone less fortunate?
I don't. I didn't come by my wealth via UN intervention. It came through hard work. It gets harder too as the thing evolves because liberals and democrats work all the harder to confiscate my property from me to fund their idiotic social schemes.
So you're saying President Bush said that?
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