Liberia was an American invention. Founded by American religious and philanthropic groups with the support and unofficial cooperation of the U.S. government, Liberia was envisioned as a place to which freed slaves could emigrate. The American Colonization Society (ACS) spearheaded the effort. Formed in Washington, D.C., in 1816, the organization’s first president was George Washington’s nephew, Bushrod Washington, who was an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Founding members included Speaker of the House of Representatives Henry Clay; Daniel Webster, who was to become a prominent U.S. senator known as a champion of American nationalism; Francis Scott Key, who penned the words to “The Star-Spangled Banner” a few years earlier during the War of 1812; and a number of other people of distinction. Thomas Jefferson, the drafter of the U.S. Declaration of Independence who had served two terms as president of the United States, and James Madison, Jefferson’s successor, who was the president of the United States at the time that ACS was organized, lent their support.

The founders and supporters of the American Colonization Society were motivated by a variety of concerns. Some saw colonization as a way to correct the injustices suffered by African Americans as a result of the practice of slavery. Others found the presence of free African Americans in the United States threatening (notwithstanding the fact that they numbered no more than 200,000 at a time when the population of the United States was more than 8 million.) Still others believed that an African American colony in Africa would contribute to missionary work in Africa and help “civilize” indigenous tribes. Though colonization was limited to African Americans who were free, some ACS supporters hoped that in time their efforts would lead to the emancipation of large numbers of slaves.