37th Congress, ) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, j Mis. Doc.
2d Session. [ ( No. 31.
COLONIZATION OF FREE BLACKS.
MEMORIAL
or
LEONARD DUGGED, GEORGE A. BAILEY,
and
240 other free colored persons of California, praying Congress to provide
means for their colonization to some country in which their color will
not be a badge of degradation.
January 1G, 18G2.—Laid on the table, and ordered to be printed.
To tie honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
in Congress assembled:
This memorial of colored persons, natives of the United States, and
residents of California, respectfully showeth :
That in view of the many disadvantages which the colored popula¬
tion of the United States labor under—their being deprived of many
of the most important privileges of citizenship, and denied the rights
and franchises freely extended to all other native-born citizens, and
also to every other class of aliens ; their being marked out, not only
by law, but also by public sentiment, which is stronger or more effect¬
ive than law, as an inferior and degraded caste, prevented by the
force of circumstances from engaging in honorable or lucrative em¬
ployments, thus being in a great measure prevented from leading a
life either honorable to themselves or useful to their country—a strong
and rapidly increasing feeling has grown up among a large portion of
the free colored population (probably already a majority of the whole)
in favor of emigration to those countries where color is not considered
a badge of degradation, and has ceased to act as a barrier to honora¬
ble advancement.
While there is considerable diversity of opinion as to the best loca¬
tion to migrate to, some preferring Africa, some the British West
India Islands, some Havti, some South America and Central America,
they all seem to agree that either is preferable to remaining under
the disabilities imposed upon them in the land of their birth, and a
very large majority look upon the first and last named regions, Africa
2
COLONIZATION OF FKEE BLACKS.
and Central America, as offering greater inducements than any other
localities to the industrious emigrant. We therefore pray your honor¬
able body to grant assistance, in such manner as you may deem ex¬
pedient, to colored natives of the United States who may desire to
emigrate to Africa or the tropical regions of America.
Your memorialists think that there are many good and sufficient
reasons for granting such assistance, and ask permission to call your
attention to a few of them.
It seems to be the settled policy of the nation, as evinced in the
action of both the State and federal governments, to discountenance
in every manner the increase of persons of color in their midst, and
to use every legal means to induce those now here to emigrate ; and
there is probably no one point on which the public sentiment of every
section of the country and of every class of society is so perfectly
unanimous as upon this ; and legislation of the severest kind has been
resorted to in many of the States, both north and south, in order to
promote that end. It is not the intention of your memorialists to call
in question the wisdom or justice of those laws, but we may be
allowed to remark that they seem to have failed entirely of the de¬
sired effect, although the white population are almost unanimously in
favor of the separation they are designed to effect, and a very large
majority of the colored population also. The failure to accomplish
what all classes so ardently desire may be attributed to the fact that
the wishes of the blacks themselves have been disregarded, and that
those acts have appeared to them as measures of coercion, which it
seems an instinct of human nature to resist. This accounts also for
the singular state of things visible in the history and management of
the American Colonization Society : while it has sought almost exclu¬
sively to propitiate the favor of the whites, and has succeeded to an
unprecedented degree in securing the approbation of men of all par¬
ties, sections, and denominations, it has only been enabled, after forty
years of constant effort, to plant some ten or twelve thousand blacks
in Africa; while within the same period two or three times that num¬
ber of fugitive slaves have made their escape, and colonized them¬
selves in the comparatively bleak and uncongenial region of Canada.
These things show that any scheme of emigration, to be successful,
must be such as to commend itself to those most interested, the colored
people themselves.
Your memorialists believe that the true interests of both white and
black require a separation of the races; for whatever may be the
difference of opinion in regard to retaining those held in slavery, all
must agree that a class of persons placed in the anomalous condition
that the free blacks occupy are detrimental to the best interests of
the country; and any feasible plan for their removal, and the separa¬
tion of such antagonistic elements, is well worthy of aid and encour¬
agement from government. There is strong desire on the part of
many to settle in Central America and in Africa immediately, and
they are retarded only by lack of the pecuniary means necessary to
make, a successful commencement. Your memorialists believe that
small appropriations, judiciously expended, will insure the success of
COLONIZATION OF FREE BLACKS.
3
the first emigrants, and speedily build up a voluntary emigration that
will embrace the greater portion of the free colored population. If
such a desirable consummation can be reached by a little assistance
and encouragement from government, it is well worth while for gov¬
ernment to grant that aid. It cannot be doubted that the interests of
both whites and blacks demand the separation. A large class of men
freed from servile restraint, yet denied most of the privileges and rights
■of citizens—personally free, and living in the midst of a people en¬
joying the largest political and social freedom, yet prevented by
insurmountable barriers from any participation in that freedom—are
in the worst condition possible to place men, and must be detrimental
to the best interests of the community among whom they are so mis¬
placed; and when a separation can be effected without the commis¬
sion of a great wrong or injustice, and by mutual consent, the interests
of the community require that it should be done as speedily as pos¬
sible, so that their places may be filled with those capable of becom¬
ing incorporated with the great mass of citizens.
We approach your honorable body, therefore, with confidence that
the justice and reasonableness of our prayer will recommend it to your
favorable consideration; more especially as it has been the settled
policy of the government to remove those classes of inhabitants who
are incapable of becoming incorporated with the mass of the popula¬
tion, as instanced in the numerous tribes of Indians, many of whom
have been removed at government expense, and granted small annui¬
ties in" their new homes to aid and encourage them to make progress
in civilization; and this, too, in view of the fact that those Indians
have generally been hostile and at war with the United States, while
the negro has been a faithful and trusty servant, and in many instances
has received his freedem as the reward of faithful services. Your
memorialists would respectfully suggest that a faithful servant is enti¬
tled to at least as much consideration as a bitter enemy, and a sum
equal to that appropriated for the removal and annuities of Indians
would doubtless be amply sufficient for every purpose; and there can
be no question but that it would be productive of more benefit to the
country and to the civilized world, as it would be devoted to the de¬
velopment of a race which does not dwindle before the march of
civilization, but is industrious, and has proved itself susceptible of
every improvement.
Taking it for granted that the interests of both parties require
this separation, we think Africa and the great interoceanic routes
through Central America the most desirable locations, for various
reasons, among which may be mentioned the fact in relation to
Africa, that the history and experience of Liberia and Sierra Leone
demonstrate that such settlements or colonies are the only feasible
means for effectually suppressing the African slave trade—a trade
which the United States government was the first to interdict to its
citizens and brand as piracy. To which may be added the fact that
three centuries of abortive efforts on the part of various powers of
Christendom to subdue and colonize the African continent, as America
was subdued and colonized, furnish a demonstration that the only
4
COLONIZATION OF FEEE BLACKS.
feasible way to introduce Christianity and the improvements of
modern civilization to the populous regions of the interior is by es¬
tablishing settlements or colonies of this kind, composed of persons of
kindred race, with whom the natives can become identified as fast as
they attain the necessary qualifications; and thus a new, rich, and
extensive field may be opened to the trade and commerce of the
manufacturing and maritime nations. Among the inducements offered
by Central America may be mentioned the fact that many could be
more readily induced to go from its ease of access and the regular and
speedy manner in which constant communication can be kept up
through steam navigation with friends at home. Leaving out of view
the benefits which would accrue to the emigrants and to the country
whose resources they would help to develope, it is evident that the
United States would gain important advantages from having on those
important thoroughfares so large a number of the only portion of her
population who are likely to stand the climate or be acceptable to the
native inhabitants.
For these and many other weighty considerations which might be
mentioned, we pray your honorable body to grant such pecuniary aid
and encouragement as you may deem advisable to promote the emi¬
gration of free colored resident natives of the United States to Africa
or the tropical regions of America; and your petitioners will ever
pray.
Leonard Dugged
C. Henderson
George A. Bailey
C. H. Johnson
Henry E. Worke
U. Dixon
L. A. C. Young-
John Campbell
Edward D. Vincent
Henry Carter
William Coffee
Robert White
John Coffee
Leonard Foster
Adolphus P. Wells
Benjamin Tate
Noah Dixon
J. Tate
Charles Handy
M. Scott
David Wills
Ritchie Scott
W. F. Dover
N. Logan
Wm. T. Nicholass
Charles H. Delvecchio
J. M. Whitfield
A. M. Talbot
J. J. Pindell
Robert Talbot
A. P. W. Pindell
Thomas Posey
Richard Trotter
Abdallah McAlfrey
John Cooper
Simon P. Clark
S. Cooper
M. E. Clark
E. Cooper
L. Washington
William Hilton
B. C. Taylor
William Robinson
K. C. Sparks
William Hyer
Charles G. Tash
Samuel Hyer
Daniel C. Bucker
Robert Hyer
John H. Jones
Lott Henderson
John Carter
COLONIZATION
Wellington C. Parick
George B. Patrick
James Underwood
William Underwood
James Underwood
William Bell
S. T. Bell
James B. Sullivan
James C. Worthington
Henry Stornni
Peter Anderson
Richard Schofield
Samuel Brown
Samuel Grooms
Randall Cesar
J. Holland Townsend
William H. Newby
"John Plummer
Reuben Taylor
Henry Jackson
Henry Quonn
George C. Miller
Henry Dangerfiekl
H. N. Jones
M. R. Campbell
R. M. Robinson
Loyd Howard
William Ellis
Richard R. Jones
John C. Wilson
R. Boardley
Silas Baker
E. A. Baker
P. L. Dalton
Henry T. Jones
Richard Phillips
William Philips
James Phillips
Timothy Phillips
M. S. Phillips
Benjamin Coger
Cornelius Cogan
L. Phillips
S. S. Queen
Charles P. Queen
Owen W. Brown
Columbus Sewell
David Vincent
John Scott
James Wineberry
OF FREE BLACKS. 5
Henry Joseph
Henry Bailey
L. Bailey
L. B. Hill
Edward P. Dupler
G. R. Lymes
James Butler
James Cozzens
James B. Barker
Robert Talbot, jr
P. Whitfield
Joseph Whitfield
J. Daver
M. Manuel
Washington Dill
George B. Williams
Samuel Johnson
Alexander Williams
R. M. McCulloch
S. M. Anderson
M. J. Coffee
S. R. Coffee
E. M. Wilhelm
Peter Wilhelm
James Anderson
Edward Plainer
Charles Holland
Edward Johnson
Isaac Joseph
Henry Murphy
Charles Brown
M. H. Taylor
William Taylor
Benjamin Robinson
Peter Lee
Peter Crouch
Daniel Mills
M. K. Cozzens
Martin Gaines
William Bird
Charles J. Graham
William Holmes
William Quails
A. D. Quails
George Dover
Marshall Sedgwick
William Scott
Henry Scott
Moses Burton
John T. Jones
6
COLONIZATION
OF FEEE BLACKS.
Jolin H. Butler
Edwin S. Ward
Louis A. Kelley
Joseph Wood
James G-. Wayne
Nathaniel Cristopher
Robert M. Tidball
Richard Stokes
Samuel Cuney
Isaac Johnson
Richard Isaacs
Henry Dixon
Thomas Detter
Ralph Williams
Green G-ivings
S. Overson
M. Overson
L. Johnson
M. A. Griffin
A. S. Gale
Stephen Gale
Benjamin B. Young
Albert Smith
Charles Postle
A. Reagan
C. Reagan
Charles Bell
Henry Ankler
D. L. Parker
William H. Foote
M. Parker
C. K. Frost
Henry Frost
Henry C. Coffee
Alexander Lamon
Truman P. Hill
M. J. Johnson
A. E. Johnson
H. Johnson
J. Taylor
William H. Yates
William Holmes
H. H. Graham
M. A. Cobbs
M. C. Moxley
S. A. Gale
Richard Saunders
Thomas Saunders
Charles Gaines
Edward Harmer
Thomas Harmer
John J. Hall
Richard Chapman
Reuben Taylor
Cornelius Butler
Hope Butler
Sanford Ritchie
Charles Sanford
Henry T. Johnson
Leonard Grass
Richard Turner
John Mitchell
James Bell
Wm. A. Jackson
Lewis Gross
Samuel Waggner
John Boardly
James C. Jackson.