Condition of the American Colored Population, and of the Colony at Liberia

by American Colonization Society

“Now,” says the Rev. John C. Young, President of Centre College, Kentucky, “the systematic and efficient operation of this society could in less than seventy years settle the whole of our colored population in Africa; and this great work could be accomplished without the necessity of imposing on any one a single cent of additional tax. The plan of operations by which this could be effected is simple and feasible. Let the emigration be every year enlarged by one thousand persons, until the number annually exported amounts to 50,000. Continue the annual exportation of this number for twenty years longer, and the whole race will have disappeared from the land. The effect of this process, (supposing it to be actually entered upon) is not a matter of guess-work, but of calculation.” [See note in Young’s Address.] It can certainly be done; and if the operations of the society are permitted to go onward, and increase, as they have done, unobstructed by national calamities, and the wildness of fanatics, it will be done.

But supposing all this cannot be effected through the influence of the Colonization Society, or that it were not desirable, as many think, to be done, yet we maintain that so much can be done towards meliorating the condition of the colored population, both slaves and free, as to merit the hearty co-operation of every Christian and philanthropist.

The present actual tendencies of the colonization scheme, so far as abolition and the general interests of the blacks are concerned, receive a favorable character from the following considerations, which are presented as briefly as possible.

1. The colonization scheme exerts, and has exerted, a happy influence toward abolition, by directing the minds of people of all classes, including slave-owners, to the condition of the blacks. Before the plan of colonization was agitated, nothing, comparatively, had been done to meliorate the condition of this class, and no interest had been felt in their behalf. But when the plan which we speak of suggested itself to a few benevolent minds, an ardent feeling began to be roused in behalf of the negro. Inquiries were instituted; discussion commenced; and the public mind was excited to the calm but earnest consideration of the momentous subject in all its bearings. But for this Institution, the 3,000 free blacks, who are now rejoicing in the land of their fathers, under a government and laws chiefly of their own, would still be enduring poverty and wretchedness; and the slaves who have been emancipated would be still suffering in bondage.

Says the Hon. Gerrit Smith, in a recent letter on this subject, “The late demonstrations, in Virginia and Maryland, of patriotic and Christian interest in our colored population, are commonly ascribed to the Southampton insurrection. That insurrection may have been, and probably was, a proximate cause of them; but, in my judgment, Virginia and Maryland are vastly more indebted for the steps they have taken in the cause of universal freedom to the moral influence of the American Colonization Society than to all other causes. And, may not most of those, who now rail at the Society, be likewise indebted to the same influence for their fresh and augmented interest in the welfare of the black man? The tenacious slave-holder at the south lays all the blame of these things at the door of the Colonization Society, and this too, notwithstanding some abolitionists charge the Society with playing designedly into the hands of such slave-holders. And if such (he goes on to say) be the power of those moral influences now, when Liberia has a population of 3,000, what will it be when 50,000 of our blacks shall be gathered into that asylum? Whether or not this shall be the result of colonization, remains to be seen; but meanwhile it is certain that whatever of influence is now exerted for the ultimate good of the blacks has been brought into exercise by the operations of our Institution.

2. The Colonization Society exerts a happy influence on the interests of the black population, by weakening the prejudice of the whites against them. Some of the doctrines and measures advanced and pursued in different parts of the country are, in our opinion, calculated to strengthen this prejudice.

That the Colonization Society in its operations has a contrary effect, appears from the circumstance that before this scheme commenced, little or no interest was felt for the blacks, except by a few individuals. Prejudice ground them in the dust; and, had their condition remained unaltered, would have continued to oppress them to the end of time. No sympathy was felt for them in their suffering and wretchedness. Indeed, it did apparently no good to sympathize. It was like weeping for the souls of the lost. Men will not feel when feeling is without effect. At any rate, this was true in the case of the blacks. They were despised, not because they were degraded merely; but because respect could do them no good. But when the plan of colonizing them presented itself, the case immediately altered—a way was open by which the black could be benefited, and the hearts of all who understood the plan prompted them to action. As soon as people saw that something could be done to ameliorate the condition of this wretched race, they were ready and willing to do it; and this feeling has gained strength with the increase of light, and with the success of the enterprize—and may we not expect that it will continue to gain strength as the colony on the coast of Africa increases in magnitude and importance, and as the practicability of the scheme of benevolence in question is with every successive day made more and more certain? It must increase. But some may say, and they have said, that this interest in behalf of the blacks, so far from being an evidence that the prejudice is diminishing, results directly from prejudice; and that if men would show respect for the blacks, or any interest in their behalf, they must treat them as they do themselves. Now this objection supposes two things. First, that the plan of colonization is one of positive evil to the blacks, not only in tendency but design. This assertion requires no argument. Finley, and Mills, and Ashmun, did not lay down their lives to sustain an Institution, which they thought would either directly or indirectly prove an injury to the blacks. Christians do not now pray for the success of this Institution because they hate the blacks, and wish in this way to do them evil. Heaven forbid that any one should charge them with such a crime! What, Christians pray and contribute for the support of the Colonization Society because they hate the blacks! Charity that endureth all things alone can endure this.

But again, the objection supposes that for us to respect our fellow, and do unto him as we would have him do unto us, we should consider his circumstances in every respect the same as our own. It supposes that our duty to the blacks requires us, in order to do him the greatest possible good, to treat him in all particulars, as we ourselves need to be treated—that we are not to consider age, character, color, constitution, nor any other circumstance or condition of life as making any difference, but that we must regard him, without qualification, just as we are. Now this could not be true of any two white men in the country, much less of the whites and blacks, whose condition, in every respect differs most widely. Nor do the Sacred Scriptures require this. They suppose that we are to regard the difference of condition between ourselves and others. We are to do to others as we would that they should do to us in like circumstances, it being remembered that the circumstances of no two persons in the world are alike. If, therefore, we treat the negro in a manner which we suppose will promote his highest temporal and eternal good, we are not to be charged with acting under the influence of prejudice, because we do not treat a white man in the same manner. The circumstances of the two are so wide apart, that what would be a blessing to the one, would be ruinous to the other. We think it would be better to carry the negro to Africa and colonize him there, (with his own free will, of course) under a climate suited to his constitution, and under laws and institutions calculated to make him wise and happy, than to keep him here under the withering influences which are operating against him. Are we therefore under the influence of prejudice? If we are, it is a prejudice which duty prompts us exercise. But we have bestowed more attention to this objection than it deserves. Nothing can be plainer than that the colonization scheme has had a great influence in weakening this prejudice against the blacks, and creating an interest in their behalf, which must, in the nature of things, continue to increase until the whole race shall be restored to an equality with the whites.

3. Colonization exerts a favorable influence on the interests of the blacks, by improving their character and elevating their condition, so as to remove objections from the minds of those who oppose them.

Before the Society commenced operations the character of the negro was degraded to a level with the brutes. They were even called brutes, and books were written to show that they were not human. But since the days of colonization such thoughts and feelings have been laid aside. Men have begun to recognize the negro as a man, and treat him as such; and he himself has become conscious of his power. Says a writer in the Christian Spectator, “Not Hayti has done more to make the negro character respected by mankind and to afford the means of making the negro conscious of his manhood, than Liberia has already accomplished. The name of Lott Carey is worth more than the name of Boyer or Petion. It has done, it is doing more to rescue the African character from degradation, than could be done by a thousand volumes against prejudice.” And thus the writer goes on to say, “it has done, and is doing more to accelerate the abolition of slavery than could be done by a ship-load of such pamphlets and speeches as some that we might mention. Elevate the character of the free people of color—let it be seen that they are men indeed—let the degrading associations that follow them be broken up by the actual improvement of their character, as a people, and negro slavery must rapidly wither and die.