Slavery and the Peculiar Solution: A History of the American Colonization Society (Southern Dissent)

From the early 1700s through the late 1800s, many whites advocated removing blacks from America. The American Colonization Society (ACS) epitomized this desire to deport black people. Founded in 1816, the ACS championed the repatriation of black Americans to Liberia in West Africa. Supported by James Madison, James Monroe, Henry Clay, and other notables, the ACS sent thousands of black emigrants to Liberia. In examining the ACS's activities in America and Africa, Eric Burin assesses the organization's impact on slavery and race relations.

from The Early 1700s Through The Late 1800s, Many Whites Advocated Removing Blacks From America. the American Colonization Society (acs) Epitomized This Desire To Deport Black People. founded In 1816, The Acs Championed The Repatriation Of Black Americans To Liberia In West Africa. supported By James Madison, James Monroe, Henry Clay, And Other Notables, The Acs Sent Thousands Of Black Emigrants To Liberia. in Examining The Acs’s Activities In America And Africa, Eric Burin Assesses The Organization’s Impact On Slavery And Race Relations.
            Burin Focuses On Acs Manumissions—that Is, Instances Wherein Slaves Were Freed On The Condition That They Go To Liberia. in Doing So, He Provides The First Account Of The Acs That Covers The Entire South Throughout The Antebellum Era. he Investigates Everyone Involved In The Society’s Affairs, From The Emancipators And Freedpersons At The Center To The Colonization Agents, Free Blacks, Southern Jurists, Newspaper Editors, Neighboring Whites, Proslavery Ideologues, Northern Colonizationists, And Abolitionists On The Periphery. in Mixing A Panoramic View Of Acs Operations With Close-ups On Individual Participants, Burin Presents A Unique, Bifocal Perspective On The Acs.
            Although Colonization Leaders Initially Envisioned Their Program As A Pacific Enterprise, In Reality The Push-and-pull Among Emancipators, Freedpersons, And Others Rendered Acs Manumissions Logistically Complex, Financially Troublesome, Legally Complicated, And At Times Sociallydisruptive Enterprises. like Pebbles Dropped In Water, Acs Manumissions Rippled Outward, Destabilizing Slavery In Their Wake. based On Extensive Archival Research And A Database Of 11,000 Acs Emigrants, Burin’s Study Offers New Insights Concerning The Origins, Intentions, Activities, And Fate Of The Colonization Movement.
 

 

"Every historian working on colonization will want to read and engage this provocative history of the experience of African colonization for the manumitted, the manumitters, and their proslavery critics." --American Historical Review "One of the most insightful treatments of colonization in years." --Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography "Balanced, accessible, and thorough. Each of Burin's chapters explores the ACS from a specific ACS members who manumitted enslaved workers specifically to go to Liberia, the enslaved themselves, northern fundraisers, white southerners, legal authorities, and finally, the freedpeople in Liberia." --Journal of African American History "Presents a vivid portrait of the organization as a conduit through which several thousand African Americans passed from American slavery to African freedom." --Journal of American History "Conveys the image of chattel slavery not as a monolithic structure controlling all masters and slaves everywhere but as a constantly changing entity throbbing with painful issues of personal and private rights in conflict with predominant opinions about social cohesion and custom. . . . The result is a refreshingly complex picture of American slavery." --History "A meticulously researched biography of one of the oft-overlooked cul-de-sacs in American history." --Virginia Quarterly Review Cover Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Preface for Paperback Edition Foreword Acknowledgments Introduction: American Colonization Society Manumissions and Slavery Chapter 1: An Overview of the African Colonization Movement Chapter 2: ACS Manumitters: Their Ideology and Intentions Chapter 3: Slaves: Negotiating for Freedom Chapter 4: The Pennsylvania Colonization Society as a Facilitator of Manumission Chapter 5: White Southerners’ Responses to ACS Manumissions Chapter 6: ACS Manumissions and the Law Chapter 7: Liberia: Freedpersons’ Experiences in Africa Conclusion Tables Notes Bibliography Index Adds significantly to our understanding of the world view of slaveholding colonizationists, of their negotiations with prospectively freed people, and of their struggle with proslavery critics of colonization