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A new book is coming out soon which may cause some waves: ?Colonization After Emancipation: Lincoln and the Movement for Black Resettlement,” by Phillip W. Magness. In it, he argues that Lincoln explored opportunities for sending freed slaves out of the country for colonization, particularly to Guyana and Belize. These claims are apparently based on new documents that have been discovered, so it's not as if this was merely a rehashing of old evidence.[html]Colonization After Emancipation: Lincoln and the Movement for Black Resettlement
[/html]If these claims are correct, how will this reshape Lincoln's image and legacy?A new book is coming out soon which may cause some waves: ?Colonization After Emancipation: Lincoln and the Movement for Black Resettlement," by Phillip W. Magness. In it, he argues that Lincoln explored opportunities for sending freed slaves out of the country for colonization, particularly to Guyana and Belize. These claims are apparently based on new documents that have been discovered, so it's not as if this was merely a rehashing of old evidence.[html]Colonization After Emancipation: Lincoln and the Movement for Black Resettlement
[/html]If these claims are correct, how will this reshape Lincoln's image and legacy?Well known old news here. Lincoln was looking for ways to help freed slaves who wanted to get a fresh start away from the racial tensions in America. One could also say he was looking to avoid a refugee problem too. No one knew how things would play out in a post slavery South.
I think what is new is the degree to which Lincoln toyed with the idea:
Historians have debated how seriously Lincoln took colonization efforts, but Mr. Magness said the story he uncovered, to be published next week in a book, ?Colonization After Emancipation: Lincoln and the Movement for Black Resettlement,? shows the president didn?t just flirt with the idea, as historians had previously known, but that he personally pursued it for some time.
Wasn't Lincoln also behind the founding of Liberia or was that someone else?
Liberia was founded before Lincoln, around 1820. The capitol city, Monrovia, is named after James Monroe, who was a prominent supported of the idea.
Thanks, I knew that the US was involved with the founding of Liberia but have never really been interested enough to find out anything more.
I have been curious about Liberia but have not gotten around to reading up on it more. I'd be interested in hearing about how the U.S. was able to establish Liberia, the reactions of freed slaves in regard to the establishment, how the U.S. prepared them to make the move, and how the early development of the nation progressed. It's interesting to think that there must be quite a few Liberians today with ancestors who resided in the U.S.
