McCoy says (p.316) that it is "difficult to tell just when Coles became an
ardent colonizationist, but he later asserted that he had been 'among the
first to advocate the establishment of a colony on the coast of Africa for
the removal to & settlement of our Negro population.'" He had tried to
persuade his own former slaves to move to Liberia, but they refused. See,
on these and related issues, pp.310-318 of The Last of the Fathers. I
think it's likely that his project of emancipation took shape before he
became enthused about colonization, even though the ACS existed by the
time (1819) Coles actually made his journey to Illinois and freed his
slaves.

Douglas Deal
Professor of History and Chair of History Department
State University of New York at Oswego
Oswego, NY 13126
[log in to unmask]
(315)-312-5632




On Sat, 20 Dec 2003 [log in to unmask] wrote:

> Thanks, Douglas.  What I don't understand is how Coles could have taken
> his own slaves to Illinois to free them on American soil if he believed in
> colonization.  That seems a contradiction to me.  I wonder if he embraced
> the idea of colonization later.  Thanks for the reference.
>
> HW
>
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html