HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor History is past Politics and Politics present History— Freeman...

BY J.H.T. McPHERSON, Ph.D. Fellow in History, Johns Hopkins University, 1889; Instructor in History, University of Michigan, 1890; Professor of History and Politics, University of Georgia, 1891. * * * * * 1891...

This paper claims to be scarcely more than a brief sketch. It is an abridgment of a History of Liberia in much greater detail, presented as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Johns Hopkins University. I have devoted the leisure hours of several years to the accumulation of materials, which I hope will prove the basis of a larger work in the future. J.H.T. McP. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, June, 1891....

There are but few more interesting spots in Africa than the little corner of the west coast occupied by the Republic of Liberia. It has been the scene of a series of experiments absolutely unique in history—experiments from which we are to derive the knowledge upon which we must rely in the solution of the weighty problems connected with the development of a dark continent, and with the civilization of hundreds of millions of the human race. Many questions have arisen which have not been settled

It is always a most interesting part of historic inquiry to search out the very earliest sources, the first feeble germ of the idea whose development we are investigating. It is difficult to decide from what one origin can be traced the continuous development of the idea which resulted in the birth of Liberia; but toward the close of the last century there arose a number of projects, widely differing in object and detail, which bore more or less directly upon it, each of which may be said to hav

With commendable energy the newly organized Society set about the accomplishment of the task before it. Plans were discussed during the summer, and in November two agents, Samuel J. Mills and Ebenezer Burgess, sailed for Africa to explore the western coast and select a suitable spot. They were cordially received in England by the officers of the African Institution, and by Earl Bathurst, Secretary of State for the Colonies, who provided them with letters to Sierra Leone. Here they arrived in Mar

The widespread interest awakened by the actual establishment of a permanent colony at Monrovia led to the formation of a number of State Colonization Societies, at first purely auxiliary to the central body, but later in some cases independent. The foundation of independent settlements at Bassa Cove and Sinou by the New York, Pennsylvania and Mississippi Societies, and their union in 1837 into the Commonwealth, has been considered. A much more important colony was founded by Maryland at Cape Pal

The History of Liberia from this point on assumes a peculiar interest. The capacity and capabilities of the Negro are subjected to a crucial test. He is left fully freed from the control or influence of an alien race, in possession of a borrowed civilization, and of a borrowed political system of an advanced type, dependent on popular intelligence for its very existence. Can he maintain his position? Will he make further progress, developing along lines peculiar to his race and environment, and

Colonization has come to be looked upon with unmerited indifference—with an apathy which its history and achievements surely do not deserve. To some, perhaps the present condition of the Republic seems a discouraging and inadequate return for the life and treasure lavished upon it; for others, hoping for a bloodless and gradual extinction of slavery, the Civil War carried away the chief element of interest. Others still, who looked for a ready solution of the Negro Problem in this country, have

The sources of information which proved most useful to the writer are: The Annual Reports of the A.C.S., together with the files of its quarterly journal, the African Repository . Messages of Presidents of Liberia, and the Reports of Secretaries of Treasury, War, and Navy. The Archives of the Maryland State Colonization Society, preserved by the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore. * * * * * KENNEDY: Colonization Report. ALEXANDER: History of Colonization. 1845. GURLEY: Report on Condition