Thoughts on African Colonization

by William Lloyd Garrison

'It would gladly, however, grasp at a still grander object—that of restoring to the land of their fathers the whole colored race within our borders. Nor probably will it be satisfied to rest from its labors, till this object, in all its magnitude, is accomplished.'—[Rev. Baxter Dickinson's Sermon.]

'It must appear evident to all, that every endeavor to divert the attention of the community, or even a portion of the means, which the present crisis to imperatively calls for, from the Colonization Society, to measures calculated to bind the colored population to this country and seeking to raise them (an impossibility) to a level with the whites, whether by founding colleges or in any other way, tends directly in the proportion that it succeeds, to counteract and thwart the whole plan of colonization. Although none would rejoice more than myself to see this unhappy race elevated to the highest scale of human being, it has always seemed to me that this country was not the theatre for such a change. Far happier they, far happier we, had they never touched our soil, or breathed our air. As it is, to attain solid happiness and permanent respectability, they should now remove to a more congenial clime.'—[New Haven Religious Intelligencer for July, 1831.]

'The recent murderous movements of the people of color in some of the southern States, evinces the dreadful consequences of slavery, and the absolute necessity of colonizing all free blacks immediately, and of manumitting and colonizing slaves as fast as circumstances will justify the measure. We believe, and have for many years, that this is the only course, which will ensure prosperity and safety to our southern brethren.'—[New-Hampshire Observer.]

'The removal annually of one hundred thousand, it may be safely calculated, would sink the parent stock forty thousand in each year, and this in thirty years would reduce the blacks of the Union to a very small number—perhaps not one would remain.'—[National (Ohio) Historian.]

'We will demonstrate, that the conveyance of the present annual increase would, in less than thirty years, remove the whole to Africa. Let all, for instance, born in any single year, say of the age of twenty, be removed to Africa; and in each succeeding year, let all of that age be removed in the same manner.—Then, admitting, what is far too much to admit, that a generation lasts fifty years, on an average, the generation on the stage when the process commenced, would have become extinct at the end of thirty years, and all their increase or offspring would have been removed to Africa. Thirty years would, even in this way, clear them entirely from this country.—But there are two circumstances which would, in fact, make the time much shorter.

'1. It is known that a generation lasts but a little more than thirty years. The generation, then, on the stage at the commencement of the process, would virtually be extinct in a little more than ten years. 2. By the removal of the most prolific part, the annual increase would itself be diminished more than a thirtieth part, in each successive year; that is, it would be diminished in an arithmetical ratio, so that it would be reduced to nothing before the arrival of the thirtieth year.'—[American Spectator.]

'It is "a consummation devoutly to be wished," that we should get clear of the free people of color now, and as they are successively liberated, as well on their own account as ours; and I trust and hope, we shall both have the pleasure to see a moral certainty of the removal of all these poor people back to the same country from which their ancestors were taken.'—[African Repository, vol. iii. p. 311.]

'Neither do we consider liberty worth their acceptance, unless they can be sent out of the country. There is no doubt that a large proportion of the slaves enjoy life quite as well as those who are free.'—[Oxford (Me.) Observer.]

'It is estimated that there are 2,350,680 blacks in the United States, 339,360 of whom are free denizens of this republic. The object of this Society is the removal of these to Africa.'—[New-York Standard.]

'We hope to make it for the interest of the owners, in some way, to part with their slaves;—not to be let loose among our white population, but to be carried back to the land of their fathers.'—[N. Y. Journal of Commerce.]