A Declaration of Independence by the Representatives
of the People of the Commonwealth of Liberia
(July 16, 1847)

We the representatives of the people of the Commonwealth of
Liberia, in Convention assembled, invested with authority for
forming a new government, relying upon the aid and protection
of the Great Arbiter of human events, do hereby, in the
name, and on the behalf of the people of this Commonwealth,
publish and declare the said commonwealth a FREE, SOVEREIGN,
AND INDEPENDENT STATE, by the name and title of
the REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA.
While announcing to the nations of the world the new position
which the people of this Republic have felt themselves
called upon to assume, courtesy to their opinion seems to demand
a brief accompanying statement of the causes which induced
them, first to expatriate themselves from the land of
their nativity and to form settlements on this barbarous coast,
and now to organize their government by the assumption of a
sovereign and independent character. Therefore we respectfully
ask their attention to the following facts.
We recognise in all men, certain natural and inalienable
rights: among these are life, liberty, and the right to acquire,
possess, enjoy and defend property. By the practice and consent
of men in all ages, some system or form of government is
proven to be necessary to exercise, enjoy and secure those
rights; and every people have a right to institute a government,
and to choose and adopt that system or form of it, which in
their opinion will most effectively accomplish these objects,
and secure their happiness, which does not interfere with the
just rights of others. The right therefore to institute government,
and to all the powers necessary to conduct it is an inalienable
right, and cannot be resisted without the grossest injustice.
We the people of the Republic of Liberia were originally the
inhabitants of the United States of North America.
In some parts of that country, we were debarred by law from
all rights and privileges of men—in other parts, public sentiment,
more powerful than law, frowned us down.
We were every where shut out from all civil office.
We were excluded from all participation in the government.
We were taxed without our consent.
We were compelled to contribute to the resources of a
country, which gave us no protection.
We were made a separate and distinct class, and against us
every avenue to improvement was effectually closed. Strangers
from all lands of a color different from ours, were preferred
before us.
We uttered our complaints, but they were unattended to, or
only met by alledging the peculiar institutions of the country.
All hope of a favorable change in our country was thus
wholly extinguished in our bosoms, and we looked with anxiety
abroad for some asylum from the deep degradation.
The Western coast of Africa was the place selected by
American benevolence and philanthropy, for our future home.
Removed beyond those influences which depressed us in our
native land, it was hoped we would be enabled to enjoy those
rights and privileges, and exercise and improve those faculties,
which the God of nature has given us in common with the rest
of mankind.
Under the auspices of the American Colonization Society,
we established ourselves here, on land acquired by purchase
from the Lords of the soil.
In an original compact with this Society, we, for important
reasons delegated to it certain political powers; while this institution
stipulated that whenever the people should become capable
of conducting the government, or whenever the people
should desire it, this institution would resign the delegated
power, peacefully withdraw its supervision, and leave the people
to the government of themselves.
Under the auspices and guidance of this institution, which
has nobly and in perfect faith redeemed its pledges to the people,
we have grown and prospered.
From time to time, our number has been increased by mi-
gration from America, and by accessions from native tribes;
and from time to time, as circumstances required it, we have
extended our borders by the acquisition of land by honorable
purchase from the natives of the country.
As our territory has extended, and our population increased
our commerce has also increased. The flags of most of the civilized
nations of the earth float in our harbors, and their merchants
are opening an honorable and profitable trade. Until
recently, these visits have been of a uniformly harmonious character,
but as they have become more frequent, and to more numerous
points of our extending coast, questions have arisen,
which it is supposed can be adjusted only by agreement between
sovereign powers.
For years past, the American Colonization Society has virtually
withdrawn from all direct and active part in the administration
of the government, except in the appointment of the Governor,
who is also a colonist, for the apparent purpose of
testing the ability of the people to conduct the affairs of government,
and no complaint of crude legislation, nor of mismanagement,
nor of mal-administration has yet been heard.
In view of these facts, this institution, the American Colonization
Society, with that good faith which has uniformly
marked all its dealings with us, did by a set of resolutions in
January, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred
and Forty-Six, dissolve all political connexion with the people
of this Republic, returned the power with which it was delegated,
and left the people to the government of themselves.
The people of the Republic of Liberia, then, are of right, and
in fact, a free, sovereign, and independent State; possessed of
all the rights, powers, and functions of government.
In assuming the momentous responsibilities of the position
they have taken, the people of this Republic feel justified by the
necessities of the case, and with this conviction they throw
themselves with confidence upon the candid consideration of
the civilized world.
Liberia is not the offspring of grasping ambition, nor the
tool of avaricious speculation.
No desire for territorial aggrandizement brought us to these
shores; nor do we believe so sordid a motive entered into
the high consideration of those who aided us in providing this
asylum.
Liberia is an asylum from the most grinding oppression.
In coming to the shores of Africa, we indulged the pleasing
hope that we would be permitted to exercise and improve
those faculties which impart to man his dignity—to nourish in
our hearts the flame of honorable ambition, to cherish and indulge
those aspirations, which a beneficent Creator had implanted
in every human heart, and to evince to all who despise,
ridicule, and oppress our race, that we possess with
them a common nature; are with them susceptible of equal refinement,
and capable of equal advancement in all that adorns
and dignifies man.
We were animated with the hope that here we should be at
liberty to train up our children in the way they should go—to
inspire them with the love of an honorable fame, to kindle
within them, the flame of a lofty philanthropy, and to form
strong within them, the principles of humanity, virtue, and religion.
Amongst the strongest motives to leave our native land—to
abandon forever the scenes of our childhood and to sever the
most endeared connexions, was the desire for a retreat where,
free from the agitations of fear and molestation, we could in
composure and security approach in worship, the God of our
fathers.
Thus far our highest hopes have been realized.
Liberia is already the happy home of thousands, who were
once the doomed victims of oppression, and if left unmolested
to go on with her natural and spontaneous growth; if her movements
be left free from the paralysing intrigues of jealous, ambitious
and unscrupulous avarice, she will throw open wider
and yet a wider door for thousands, who are now looking with
an anxious eye for some land of rest.
Our courts of justice are open equally to the stranger and
the citizen for the redress of grievances, for the remedy of injuries,
and for the punishment of crime.
Our numerous and well attended schools attest our efforts,
and our desire for the improvement of our children.
Our churches for the worship of our Creator, every where
to be seen, bear testimony to our piety, and to our acknowledgment
of His Providence.
The native African bowing down with us before the altar of
the living God, declares that from us, feeble as we are, the light
of Christianity has gone forth, while upon that curse of curses,
the slave trade, a deadly blight has fallen as far as our influence
extends.
Therefore in the name of humanity, and virtue and religion—
in the name of the Great God, our common Creator,
and our common Judge, we appeal to the nations of Christendom,
and earnestly and respectfully ask of them, that they will
regard us with the sympathy and friendly consideration, to
which the peculiarities of our condition entitle us, and to extend
to us, that comity which marks the friendly intercourse of
civilized and independent communities.
Source: The Independent Republic of Liberia; Its Constitution and Declaration of Independence
. . . with Other Documents; Issued Chiefly for the Use of the Free People of
Color (Philadelphia, 1848), 8–9.