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The American Colonization Society


            Around 1787, the presence of free blacks was seen as a threat to Americans. Efforts were made by both whites" and blacks" to find an alternative home for free blacks. Some believed that blacks could never be "fully integrated into American society ", and some in America fell that blacks could only be seen as equal "human beings " if they moved out of America. This idea had been in the mines of people since "1714 [to remove blacks] to territory beyond the limits of the United Stated or to an unsettled area of public land ". (The Formation of The America Colonization Society p 209).
             Thomas Jefferson who advocated for the colonization of blacks from the year 1773, replied in 1811, according to Henry Noble to Ann Mifflin's proposition to make a settlement of colored people on the west coast of Africa. Thomas Jefferson said "the most desirable measure which could be adopted for gradually drawing off this part of our population, most advantageously for themselves as well as for us. In Jefferson correspondence (The Formation of The America Colonization Society p564) he also "proposed the establishment of Sierra Leone " for colonization of the blacks, because "England has already colonized a number of Negroes and if this could not be obtained some of the Portuguese possessions in South America, as next most desirable. " (The writings of Thomas Jefferson correspondence p564) As we look at what was going in 1773 we see that slaves in Massachusetts had petition "legislature for freedom. " This must have been a reality check for Jefferson that these slaves had enough sense to petition the court. This could not be good for the colonies that felt they needed to find somewhere for the free slave. .
             In 1816 Reverend Robert Finley a Presbyterian minister from Basking Ridge, New Jersey contacted Paul Cuffe and told him of his plans to form the American Colonization Society. Paul Cuffe was well known for the trip he took with thirty-eight Negroes to West Africa( American Colonization Society and the Slave Receptive of 1860-1861 p 266) this opened the eyes of many, knowing that it was possible to relocate blacks.


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