History The American Colonization Society was founded in the United States in 1817 as a joint project by abolitionists and slaveholders to establish a colony for free American blacks in West Africa. Slaveholders wanted to relocate free people of color out of the South, as they believed that free blacks threatened the stability of their slave societies. Some who supported eventual abolition of slavery believed that transporting freed slaves to Africa would give them a better opportunity to make their own communities. Disheartened by the discrimination faced by free blacks in the North, some abolitionists also supported the ACS, because they thought free blacks might be able to create a better society for themselves in Africa. In June 1831, major planters and slaveholders Stephen Duncan, Isaac Ross (1760-1838), Edward McGehee (1786-1880), John Ker (1789-1850), and educator Jemeriah Chamberlain (1794-1851), president of Oakland College, co-founded the Mississippi Colonization Society. Their goal was to relocate (repatriate) free blacks and newly freed slaves from their state to the developing colony of Liberia on the African continent.Mary Carol Miller, Lost Mansions of Mississippi, Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2010, Volume II, pp. 53-54. This Society bought a portion of land for the colony, which was known as Mississippi-in-Africa. They believed that free blacks threatened the stability of slave societies, and Mississippi's population had a majority of slaves, outnumbering whites by a three-to-one ratio. Josiah Finley—the brother of Robert Finley, who was one of the founders of the American Colonization Society—was governor of Mississippi-in-Africa from June 1837 to 10 September 1838, when he was murdered by local fishermen.Sullivan, Jo. M. "Mississippi in Africa: Settlers Among the Kru," Liberian Studies Journal Vol. VIII, No. 2 (1978–1979). Timeline June 1831 — Mississippi Colonization Society founded 1835 — Mississippi and Louisiana State Colonization societies found Mississippi-in-Africa colony June 1837 — Josiah Finley named Governor 10 September 1838 — Finley murdered 1841 — Thomas Buchanan (Governor of Liberia) named Acting Agent (but not in residence) 1842 — Incorporation into the Commonwealth of Liberia 1844 — Richard E. Murray named Governor
History The American Colonization Society was founded in the United States in 1816 as a joint project by proslavery and antislavery advocates to establish a colony for free American blacks in West Africa. Slaveholders wanted to relocate free people of color out of the South, as they believed that free blacks threatened the stability of their slave societies. Some who supported eventual abolition of slavery believed that transporting freed slaves to Africa would give them a better opportunity to make their own communities. Disheartened by the discrimination faced by free blacks in the North, some abolitionists also supported the ACS, because they thought free blacks might be able to create a better society for themselves in Africa. In June 1831, major planters and slaveholders Stephen Duncan, Isaac Ross (1760-1838), Edward McGehee (1786-1880), John Ker (1789-1850), and educator Jemeriah Chamberlain (1794-1851), president of Oakland College, co-founded the Mississippi Colonization Society. Their goal was to remove free people of color and freed slaves from their state to the developing colony of Liberia on the African continent.Mary Carol Miller, Lost Mansions of Mississippi, Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2010, Volume II, pp. 53-54. This Society bought a portion of land for the colony, which was known as Mississippi-in-Africa. They believed that free blacks threatened the stability of slave societies, and Mississippi's population had a majority of slaves, outnumbering whites by a three-to-one ratio. Josiah Finley—the brother of Robert Finley, who was one of the founders of the American Colonization Society—was governor of Mississippi-in-Africa from June 1837 to September 10, 1838, when he was murdered by local fishermen.Sullivan, Jo. M. "Mississippi in Africa: Settlers Among the Kru," Liberian Studies Journal Vol. VIII, No. 2 (1978–1979). Timeline June 1831 — Mississippi Colonization Society founded 1835 — Mississippi and Louisiana State Colonization societies found Mississippi-in-Africa colony June 1837 — Josiah Finley named governor September 10, 1838 — Finley murdered 1841 — Thomas Buchanan (Governor of Liberia) named Acting Agent (but not in residence) 1842 — Incorporation into the Commonwealth of Liberia 1844 — Richard E. Murray named governor
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proslavery and antislavery advocates
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