Joseph Jenkins Roberts - First Presidency (1847-1856)

First Presidency (1847-1856)

Roberts was re-elected three more times to serve a total of eight years, until he lost the election in 1855 to the vice president Benson.

Attempts to found a state based upon some 3000 settlers proved difficult. Some coastal tribes converted to Christianity and learned English, but most of the indigenous Africans retained their traditional religion and language. The slave trade continued illicitly from Liberian ports, but the British Navy finally closed it down in the 1850s.