[African-Americana] [Liberia]American Colonization Society Mini-Archive1. A Few Facts Respecting the American Colonization Society, and the Colony at LiberiaWashington: Printed by Way and Gideon, 1830. 8vo. 16 pp. Modern black cloth, stamped in gilt; dampstaining and foxing to text. Sabin 81977; American Imprints 892. American Colonization Society Membership CertificateCa. 1816-1829. Partially printed document issuing a lifetime membership to R.H. Douglas, signed by Bushrod Washington (nephew of George Washington, and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, 1798-1829) as President, and countersigned by R.R. Gurley as Secretary. 9 x 11 1/4 in. (228 x 285 mm). 3. American Colonization Society Circular Richmond, Virginia, August 29th, 1833. Printed circular concerning an impending voyage sending freed slaves from Virginia to Liberia. Creasing from old folds, small separations along same; inscription at bottom recto. With lithographic printed view of Monrovia. The Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America, more commonly known as the American Colonization Society, was founded in 1816 with the purpose of supporting the migration of freed slaves to Africa. Over the course of the society's near 100-year existence they transported close to 12,000 freed slaves. The society's mission focused on the purchase and assistance of freed slaves, providing them with free passage to Africa, and aid upon settlement there. In 1822, the Society, with the assistance of the federal government, purchased Cape Mesurado on the west coast of Africa. In 1847 it became the independent nation of Liberia. The Society was controversial during its existence and harshly criticized by abolitionists such as Gerrit Smith and William Lloyd Garrison, accusing it for being a scheme by slaveholders, and doing little to address the persistence of slavery itself. The society's membership was overwhelmingly white and generally held the view that free blacks could not integrate into white America. This view was held by its founding member, Presbyterian minister Robert Finley, who saw free blacks as a threat to national well-being.