Editing History of Liberia (section)

===Handing over command to Americo-Liberians===
[[File:West Africa 1839.jpg|thumb|Liberia on a 1839 map of West Africa]]
The ACS administrators gradually gave the maturing colony more self-governance. In 1839, it was reorganized into the Commonwealth of Liberia. In 1841, the Commonwealth's first non-white governor, [[Joseph Jenkins Roberts]], was appointed by ACS's governing board. In early 1847, the ACS directed Liberian leadership to declare independence. On July 26, 1847, eleven signatories to the [[Liberian Declaration of Independence]] established the free and independent Republic of Liberia. It took several years for other nations to recognize Liberia's independence, most notably [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] in 1848 and [[Second French Empire|France]] in 1852. In the United States, the Southern bloc in Congress refused to recognize Liberian sovereignty.<ref>Wesley, Charles “The Journal of Negro History”, Vol. 2, No. 4, page 378, (Oct., 1917)</ref> In 1862, however, following the departure of most Southern congressmen due to the [[American Civil War]] and the [[Confederate States of America|secession]] of the Southern states, the United States finally established diplomatic relations and welcomed a Liberian delegation to Washington.<ref>''Id''</ref>