Lott Cary - American Colonization Society

American Colonization Society

In the early 19th century, about 2 million African-Americans lived in the United States, of whom 200,000 were free persons. In 1816, Robert Finley established the American Colonization Society (ACS), with the goal of enabling former slaves to emigrate to Africa and establish a colony there. Although most enslaved and free blacks had been born in the United States, often for generations, some members of the ACS saw the goal as a kind of "repatriation" of blacks to Africa. The Society was supported by a paradoxical coalition of philanthropists, members of the clergy and abolitionists, and slaveholders. Those favoring abolition wanted to free enslaved blacks and provide them with the chance to go to Africa. The slaveholders feared the presence of free blacks in a slave society and wanted to expel them from the South and the United States.

Cary was among numerous free blacks who became interested in this movement. Most free blacks, however, as native to the United States, wanted no part of expatriation. Like those of European Americans, their roots were in the United States; they simply wanted to enjoy the rights of citizens and free people in the country where they had many ties.