Editing History of Liberia (section)

===Colonization societies===
The [[American Colonization Society]] (ACS) was founded in 1816 by Virginia politician [[Charles F. Mercer]] and Presbyterian minister [[Robert Finley]] of New Jersey. The goal of the ACS was to settle free blacks outside of the United States; its method was to help them relocate to Africa.<ref name=WDL />

Starting in January 1820, the ACS sent ships from New York to West Africa. The first had 88 free black emigrants and three white ACS agents on board. The agents were to find an appropriate area for a settlement. Additional ACS representatives arrived in the [[American Colonization Society#Second ship:the Nautilus|second ACS ship, the ''Nautilus'']]. In December 1821, they acquired [[Cape Mesurado]], a {{convert|36|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}} strip of land near present-day [[Monrovia]], from the indigenous ruler [[Zolu Duma|King Peter]] (perhaps with some threat of force).<ref>{{cite book | last=Staudenraus | first=P. J. | title=The African Colonization Movement, 1816–1865 | location=New York | publisher=Columbia University Press | year=1961 | pages=64–65}}</ref>

From the beginning, the colonists were attacked by indigenous peoples whose territory this was, such as the [[Mandinka people|Malinké]] tribes. In addition, they suffered from disease, the harsh climate, lack of food and medicine, and poor housing conditions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Schick |first=Tom W. |title=Behold the Promised Land: A History of Afro-American Settler Society in Nineteenth-Century Liberia |location=Baltimore |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |year=1980}}</ref>

Until 1835, five more colonies were created by the colonization societies of five different states in the U.S. ([[Republic of Maryland]], [[Kentucky-in-Africa]], [[Mississippi in Africa]], [[Louisiana, Liberia]], and that set up by the Pennsylvania state colonization society and one planned by the New Jersey colonization society), and one{{which|date=December 2019}} by the U.S. government in the vicinity of the ACS settlement. The first colony on Cape Mesurado was extended along the coast as well as inland, sometimes by use of force against the native tribes. In 1838 these settlements{{which|date=December 2019}} came together to create the Commonwealth of Liberia. [[Monrovia]] was named the capital.<ref name=WDL /> By 1842, four of the other American settlements{{which|date=December 2019}} were incorporated into Liberia, and the fifth{{clarify|date=December 2019}} was destroyed by indigenous people. The colonists of African-American descent became known as [[Americo-Liberian]]s. Many were of mixed race, including European ancestry. They remained African Americans in their education, religion, and culture, and they treated the natives as White Americans had treated them: as savages from the jungle, unwanted as citizens and not deserving the vote.<ref>Teah Wulah, ''Back to Africa: A Liberian Tragedy'' (2009) p 432.</ref>