American Colonization Formally Created

December 21 1816 was the formation of The American Colonization Society. And on this day, December 28, 1816, the society was formally organized and a constitution for the society was signed for the purpose "to promote and execute a plan for colonizing (with their consent) the Free People of Color residing in our Country, in Africa, or such other place as Congress shall deem most expedient."

Shown is a lifetime membership certificate into the ACS. The cost was $30.00.

In 1821 the colony of Liberia on the coast of West Africa was established and arrangements were made for the transportation of free blacks from the United States. During the next 20 years the colony continued to grow and establish economic stability. In 1847, the legislature of Liberia declared itself an independent state.

Some charged that the ACS was a racist society, while others point to its benevolent origins and later takeover by men with visions of an American empire in Africa, both black and white Americans were apart of the ACS.

The society was supported by Southerners fearful of organized revolt by free blacks, by Northerners concerned that an influx of black workers would hurt the economic opportunities of working class whites, by some who opposed slavery but did not favor integration, and by many blacks who saw a return to Africa as the best solution to their troubles.

The massive increase in the number of free African-Americans disturbed whites and increased support for the ACS. From 1790 to 1800, the number of free African-Americans increased from 59,467 to 108,378, a percentage increase of 82 percent; and from 1800 to 1810, the number increased from 108,378 to 186,446, an increase of 72 percent.

This dramatic increase did not go unnoticed by whites who kept a wary eye out for free blacks in their midst.

While the societies supporters in the South were motivated by concerns of a slave uprising; the white suppoters in the North refused to accept the notion of white-black co-existence. The proposed solution was to have this class of people deported from United States to Africa by a process euphemistically called "colonization".

As early as the Revolutionary period, Thomas Jefferson proposed relocating African Americans beyond the boundaries of the new nation. Colonization, as this idea became known, rested upon the contention that blacks and whites — due to innate racial differences, polarized societal statuses, and habitat — could not live together in social harmony and political equality within the same country.

Among the delegates signing the ACS’s constitution were Henry Clay, John Randolph, Richard Bland Lee, Daniel Webster, the Rev. Robert Finley. Francis Scott Key, Bushrod Washington, and the architect of the U.S. Capitol, William Thornton.

The AFC was the brain-child of Rev. Robert Finley who saw the presence of blacks in America as a threat to the national well-being and the quality of life for whites. He said that free blacks were "unfavorable to our industry and morals" and that removing them would save Americans from difficulties such as interracial marriage and having to provide for poor blacks.

The concerns of Finley and other members of the AFC have come to reality and today we see interracial marriage supported by schools, magazines, television and post-Christian churches that are intertwined with the New Age Movement. Millions of blacks in America cannot live without free government hand-outs. Millions of young white families and children must carry the burden to pay to support this welfare system.

Ex-President Thomas Jefferson publicly supported the organization's goals, and President James Madison arranged public funding for the Society.

Many who joined the society thought slavery was unsustainable and should eventually end but did not consider integrating slaves into society a wise option. So, the ACS encouraged slaveholders to offer freedom on the condition that those accepting it would move to Liberia at the society's expense.

Bushrod Washington, a Supreme Court Justice and nephew of George Washington, served as the first president of the organization. The great American statesman Henry Clay of Kentucky provided its main intellectual and political leadership.

The prestige of the ACS benefited tremendously from the high-profile association of leaders like Clay and Washington, and over the years, some of America’s greatest men were not merely members but officers of the society: James Madison, Daniel Webster, James Monroe, Stephen Douglas, John Randolph, William Seward, Francis Scott Key, General Winfield Scott, John Marshall and Roger Taney. Other great men such as Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, while never members of the society, strongly supported colonization and the removal of blacks from the United States.

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We recorded another edition of our weekly This is the Klan internet "TV" show which should be available now. We also recorded another edition of the Global Minority Report. If you live north of Louisville, Kentucky you should be able to listen to it on shortwave at 3.185 Mhz on Wednesday night at 10 PM eastern time. This broadcast reaches into Canada, over the north pole and into Europe.

Don’t forget Faith & Freedom Conference, April 4-6. Don Black, Paul Fromm, Ralph Forbes,