African Colonization and Unionism in the South, 1817-1862

In late December of 1816, prominent citizens within the state of Virginia in conjunction with the United States government established the American Colonization Society. The initial goal of the society was to raise funds for the free black population within the United States so that they could emigrate to West Africa. This thesis demonstrates how colonization rhetoric functioned as a moderate vantage point through the polarizing debate between abolitionists from the North and proslavery politicians from the South in antebellum America. Proponents justified the program as benevolent by promoting opportunities in West Africa including commerce and the gospel of Christianity. Liberia gained independence in 1847. Passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 led to the resurgence of colonization rhetoric. Colonization proponents became Unionists in the Border South throughout the secession crisis. These Southern Unionists adhered to the notion that a confederacy would ultimately fail. Reverend Robert J. Breckenridge embodied a patriotic spirit for decades prior to the Civil War as a minister in Maryland and Kentucky. He fully supported the sovereignty of the Constitution but advocated antislavery measures such as gradual emancipation with colonization. Robert J. Breckenridge and other prominent whites did not offer allegiance to the Union with slaveholders' rights in jeopardy; yet, Southerners advanced antislavery rhetoric in terms of emancipation with colonization as a gradual process. Lincoln balancing politics on colonization and emancipation in the Civil War needed support from the Border State Unionists. In addition to this paper, a website was created encompassing three lesson plans for eighth graders so they could explore the role of moderates from the Border South. Educators in the past usually emphasize Northern and Southern aggression in terms of abolitionists versus slaveholders. Students will now examine colonization efforts between 1817-1862 and the role of Southern Unionists in the first two years of the Civil War as significant elements in American History