Editing History of Liberia (section)

==Americo-Liberian rule (1847–1980)==
Between 1847 and 1980, the state of Liberia was dominated by the small minority of African-American colonists and their descendants, known collectively as [[Americo-Liberian people|Americo-Liberians]]. The Americo-Liberian minority, many of whom were [[mixed-race]] African Americans, viewed the native majority as "racially" inferior to themselves and treated them much the same as white Americans had treated them. To avoid "racial" contamination, the Americo-Liberians practiced [[endogamy|endogamous marriage]].{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} For over a century the indigenous population of the country was denied the right to vote or participate significantly in the running of the country. The Americo-Liberians consolidated power amongst themselves. They, but not the natives, received financial support from supporters in the United States. They established plantations and businesses, and were generally richer than the indigenous people of Liberia, exercising overwhelming political power.{{sfn|Jones|1974|p=315}}

===Politics===
[[File:Map of Liberian Republic 1856.jpg|thumb|right|Map of Liberia {{circa}}1856]]
Politically, Liberia was dominated by two political parties. The Americo-Liberians had limited the [[Suffrage|franchise]] to prevent indigenous Liberians from voting in elections.{{sfn|Jones|1974|p=316}} The [[Republican Party (Liberia)|Liberian Party]] (later the Republican Party), was supported primarily by mixed-race African Americans from poorer backgrounds, while the [[True Whig Party]] received much of its following from richer blacks.{{sfn|Jones|1974|pp=315-6}} From the first presidential election in 1847, the Liberian Party held political dominance. It used its position of power to attempt to cripple its opposition.{{sfn|Jones|1974|p=316}}

In 1869, however, the Whigs won the presidential election under [[Edward James Roye]]. Although Roye was deposed after two years and the Republicans returned to government, the Whigs regained power in 1878 and maintained power constantly thereafter for over a century.{{sfn|Jones|1974|p=316}}

A series of rebellions among the indigenous Liberian population took place between the 1850s and 1920s. In 1854, a newly independent African-American state in the region, the [[Republic of Maryland]], was forced by an insurgency of the [[Grebo (ethnic group)|Grebo]] and the [[Kru people]] to join Liberia. Liberia's expansion brought the colony into border disputes with the [[French colonial empire|French]] and [[British Empire|British]] in [[French Guinea]] and [[Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate|Sierra Leone]], respectively. The presence and protection of the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] in West Africa until 1916 ensured that Liberia's territorial acquisitions or independence were never under threat.{{sfn|Jones|1974|p=320}}

===Society===

==== Americo-Liberian and indigenous segregation (1847–1940) ====
[[File:LiberiaKing.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Charles D. B. King]], 17th President of Liberia (1920–1930), with his entourage on the steps of the [[Peace Palace]], The Hague (the Netherlands), 1927.]]
The social order in Liberia was dominated by Americo-Liberians. Although descended primarily from peoples of African origin, often with some white ancestry as slave owners commonly impregnated their female slaves{{citation needed|date=September 2023}} (see [[Children of the plantation]]), the ancestors of most Americo-Liberians had been born in the United States for generations before emigrating to Africa. As a result, they held American cultural, religious, and social values. Like most Americans of the period, the Americo-Liberians held a firm belief in the religious superiority of [[Christianity]], and indigenous [[animism]] and culture became systematically oppressed.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

The Americo-Liberians created communities and a society that reflected closely the American society they had known. They spoke English, and built churches and houses in styles resembling those found in the [[Southern United States]].  The Americo-Liberians controlled the native peoples' access to the ocean, modern technology and skills, literacy, higher levels of education, and valuable relationships with many of the United States' institutions—including the American government.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Global Impacts of White Racism: Americo-Liberians |url = http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2009/01/04/global-impacts-of-white-racism-americo-liberians |website=racismreview.com |access-date = 2015-11-27 |language = en-US |date = 2009-01-04 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190810200411/http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2009/01/04/global-impacts-of-white-racism-americo-liberians |archive-date = August 10, 2019|url-status = dead}}</ref>

Reflecting the [[Segregation in the United States|system of segregation]] in the United States, the Americo-Liberians created a cultural and racial caste system, with themselves at the top and indigenous Liberians at the bottom. They believed in a form of "racial equality," which meant that all residents of Liberia had the potential to become "civilized" through western-style education and conversion to Christianity.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Slaves to Racism: An Unbroken Chain from America to Liberia|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4KQS29TYYGQC|publisher = Algora Publishing|date = 2008-01-01|isbn = 9780875866581|first1 = Benjamin G.|last1 = Dennis|first2 = Anita K.|last2 = Dennis|access-date = November 27, 2015|archive-date = January 16, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160116163900/https://books.google.com/books?id=4KQS29TYYGQC|url-status = live}}</ref>

====Social change (1940–1980)====
During [[World War II]], thousands of indigenous Liberians migrated from the nation's rural interior to the coastal regions in search of jobs. The Liberian Government had long opposed this kind of migration, but was no longer able to restrain it. In the decades after 1945, the Liberian government received hundreds of millions of dollars of unrestricted foreign investment, which destabilized the Liberian economy. Government revenue rose enormously, but was being grossly embezzled by government officials. Growing economic disparities caused increased hostility between indigenous groups and Americo-Liberians.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World|last=Lansford|first=T.|publisher=Routledge|year=2007|editor-last=Rodriguez|editor-first=J.|location=London, UK|via=Credo Reference}}</ref>

The social tensions led President [[William Tubman]] to enfranchise the indigenous Liberians either in 1951 or 1963 (accounts differ). Tubman and his Whig Party continued to repress political opposition and rig elections.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

===Economics===
[[File:1862 Liberian One Dollar.jpg|thumb|A one Liberian Dollar banknote from 1862]]
The [[Blockade of Africa|suppression]] of the [[Atlantic slave trade|transatlantic slave trade]] in West Africa by the [[United States Navy|American]] and [[Royal Navy|British navies]] after 1808 also produced new settlers, as these two navies would settle liberated slaves in Liberia or [[Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate|Sierra Leone]]. In the later 19th century, Liberia had to economically compete with European colonies in Africa. The economy of Liberia was always based on the production of agricultural products for export. In particular, Liberia's important [[coffee]] industry was destroyed in the 1870s by the emergence of production in [[Empire of Brazil|Brazil]].{{sfn|Jones|1974|p=321}}

New technology that became available in Europe increasingly drove Liberian shipping companies out of business.{{sfn|Jones|1974|p=321}} Although Roye's government attempted to procure funding for a railway in 1871, the plan never materialized. The first railway in Liberia was not constructed until 1945.{{sfn|Jones|1974|p=322}} From the late 19th century, European powers, such as the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] and [[German Empire|Germany]], invested in infrastructure in their African colonies, making them more competitive in terms of getting products to market, improving communications, etc.

The national currency, the [[Liberian dollar]], collapsed in 1907. The country was later forced to adopt the [[United States dollar]]. The Liberian government was constantly dependent on foreign loans at high rates of exchange, which endangered the country's independence.{{sfn|Jones|1974|p=322}}

In 1926, [[Firestone Tire and Rubber Company|Firestone]], an American rubber company, started the world's largest rubber plantation in Liberia. This industry created 25,000 jobs, and rubber quickly became the backbone of the Liberian economy; in the 1950s, rubber accounted for 40% of the national budget. During the 1930s, Liberia signed concession agreements with Dutch, Danish, German, and Polish investors in what has been described as an "open door" economic policy.<ref>{{cite book|author=Fred p.m. van der Kraaij|title=The Open Door Policy of Liberia. An Economic history of Modern Liberia|publisher=Bremen|year=1983|chapter= Chapter 2, The origins of the Closed Door Policies and Open Door Policies 1847–1947|pages=12–46}}</ref>

Between 1946 and 1960, exports of natural resources such as iron, timber and rubber rose significantly.{{citation needed|date= January 2022}} In 1971, Liberia had the world's largest rubber industry, and was the third largest exporter of iron ore.{{citation needed|date= January 2022}} Since 1948, [[Flag of convenience|ship registration]] was another important source of state revenue.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alam |first=Muhammad Ammar |date=2021-02-12 |title=The Flag of Convenience: A case study of Liberia's Shipping Industry |url=https://www.maritimestudyforum.org/the-flag-of-convenience-a-case-study-of-liberias-shipping-industry/ |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=Maritime Study Forum |language=en-US |archive-date=January 20, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240120001734/https://www.maritimestudyforum.org/the-flag-of-convenience-a-case-study-of-liberias-shipping-industry/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

From 1962 until 1980, the U.S. donated $280 million in aid to Liberia, in exchange for which Liberia offered its land rent-free for American government facilities.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/liberia/essays/uspolicy/ | title=Global Connections . Liberia . U.S. Policy &#124; PBS | website=[[PBS]] | access-date=June 21, 2022 | archive-date=April 5, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405040412/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/liberia/essays/uspolicy/ | url-status=live }}</ref> Throughout the 1970s, the price of rubber in the world commodities market was depressed, which put pressure on Liberian state finances.{{citation needed|date= January 2022}}

===International relations===
After 1927, the [[League of Nations]] investigated accusations that the Liberian government had forcibly recruited and sold indigenous people as contract laborers or slaves.{{sfn|Jones|1974|p=322}} In its 1930 report, the league admonished the Liberian government for "systematically and for years fostering and encouraging a policy of gross intimidation and suppression" by "[suppressing] the native, prevent him from realizing his powers and limitations and prevent him from asserting himself in any way whatever, for the benefit of the dominant and colonizing race, although originally the same African stock as themselves."<ref>{{cite book |title=Report of the International Commission of Inquiry into The Existence of Slavery and Forced Labor in the Republic of Liberia |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |location=Washington |year=1931}}</ref> President [[Charles D. B. King]] hastily resigned.

====Relations with the United States====
{{main|Liberia–United States relations}}
The United States had a long history of intervening in Liberia's internal affairs, and had repeatedly sent naval vessels to help suppress insurrections by indigenous tribes before and after independence (in 1821, 1843, 1876, 1910, and 1915). However, the United States had lost interest in Liberia after 1876 (the end of [[Reconstruction era|Reconstruction]]), and the country instead became closely tied to British capital. Starting in 1909, the U.S. once again became heavily involved in Liberia. By 1909, Liberia faced serious external threats to its sovereignty over unpaid foreign loans and border disputes.<ref name="TuckerRoberts2005">{{cite book|author1=Spencer C. Tucker|author2=Priscilla Mary Roberts|title=Encyclopedia Of World War I: A Political, Social, And Military History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2YqjfHLyyj8C&pg=PA689|date=September 2005|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-420-2|page=689|access-date=October 11, 2016|archive-date=June 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610201310/https://books.google.com/books?id=2YqjfHLyyj8C&pg=PA689|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1912, the U.S. arranged a 40-year international loan of $1.7 million, against which Liberia had to agree to four Western powers (United States, Britain, France, and Germany) controlling Liberian Government revenues until 1926. The American administration of the border police stabilized the frontier with [[Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate|Sierra Leone]] (then part of the [[British Empire]]), and checked French ambitions to annex more Liberian territory. The [[United States Navy]] established a coaling station in Liberia.<ref name="TuckerRoberts2005"/>

Ensuring American support for Liberian independence, prosperity, and reform was among the high priorities of [[President of the United States|United States President]], [[William Howard Taft]]. The United States played a significant role in training the Liberian army, known as the [[Liberian Frontier Force]], with the assistance of African-American officers from the [[United States Army]]. The American presence warded off European powers, defeated a series of local rebellions, and helped bring in American technology to develop the resource-rich interior. Democracy was not a high priority, as the 15,000 Americo-Liberians had full control over the approximately 750,000 locals. The Krus and Greboe tribes remained highly reluctant to accept control from Monrovia, but were not powerful enough to overcome a regime strongly supported by the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] and [[United States Navy|Navy]]. The American officers, including [[Charles Young (United States Army)|Charles Young]] and [[Benjamin O. Davis Sr.|Benjamin Davis]] among others, were skilled at training recruits, helped the government minimize corruption, and advocated for loans from American corporations (while monitoring the resulting flow of fund).<ref>Brian G. Shellum, ''African American Officers in Liberia: A Pestiferous Rotation, 1910–1942'' (2018) pp 205-12. [https://www.amazon.com/African-American-Officers-Liberia-Pestiferous/dp/1612349552/  Excerpt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819151325/https://www.amazon.com/African-American-Officers-Liberia-Pestiferous/dp/1612349552/ |date=August 19, 2020 }}</ref>

===World War I===
{{main|Liberia in World War I}}
Liberia remained neutral for most of [[World War I]].  It joined the war on the [[Allies of World War I|Allied]] side on 4 August 1917.<ref name="TuckerRoberts2005" />  After its declaration of war, the resident German merchants were expelled from Liberia. As they constituted the country's largest investors and trading partners, Liberia suffered economically as a result.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/grebo2.htm | title=Liberian-Grebo War of 1910 | access-date=September 1, 2012 | archive-date=January 28, 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130128104257/http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/grebo2.htm | url-status=live }}</ref>{{failed verification|date=January 2016}}

=== Firestone concession ===
In 1926, the Liberian government granted a concession to [[Firestone Tire and Rubber Company|Firestone]], an American rubber company, that allowed the company to establish the world's largest rubber plantation at [[Harbel]], Liberia. Concurrently, Firestone had arranged a $5 million private loan to Liberia. By the 1930s, Liberia became virtually bankrupt once again. After receiving pressure from the United States, the Liberian government agreed to an assistance plan from the [[League of Nations]]. As stipulated by the plan, two key officials of the league were placed in positions to "advise" the Liberian government.

===World War II===
[[File:Liberia US troops WWII.jpg|thumb|American troops in Liberia during [[World War II]].]]
{{main|Liberia in World War II}}
In 1942, Liberia signed a [[defense pact]] with the United States. Rubber was a strategically important commodity, and Liberia assured the U.S. and its allies that a sufficient supply of natural rubber would be provided. Furthermore, Liberia allowed the U.S. to use its territory as a bridgehead for transports of soldiers and war supplies, in addition to the construction of military bases, airports, the [[Freeport of Monrovia]], roads to the interior, etc.<ref>{{cite journal |first=William R. |last=Stanley |title=Trans-South Atlantic air link in World War II|journal=GeoJournal|doi=10.1007/BF00806430|volume=33|date=August 1994|issue=4 |pages=459–463 |bibcode=1994GeoJo..33..459S |s2cid=151202036 }}</ref> Many of the American personnel who passed through Liberia were [[Military history of African Americans|black soldiers]] (who, at the time, were in [[Racial segregation in the United States Armed Forces|racially segregated army divisions]]), and were deployed into military service [[Western Front (WWI)|in Europe]]. The American military presence boosted the Liberian economy; thousands of laborers descended from the interior to the coastal region. The country's huge iron ore deposits were made accessible to commerce.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

The Defense Areas Agreement between the U.S. and Liberia entailed the US-financed construction of [[Roberts International Airport|Roberts Field airport]], the Freeport of Monrovia, and roads into the interior of Liberia.  By the end of World War II, approximately 5,000 American troops had been stationed in Liberia.<ref>Akingbade, Harrison. “U.S Liberian Relations During World War II.” Phylon Vol. 46 (1). 1985. Pp 25-36.</ref> Americo-Liberians disproportionately controlled and benefited from Liberia's growing economy and increase in foreign investment.<ref>Dalton, George. “History, Politics, and Economic Development in Liberia.”  The Journal of Economic History. Vol 25(4). 1965. pp 569-591</ref>

===Cold War===
[[File:Carter and Tolbert.png|thumb|President Tolbert and U.S. President [[Jimmy Carter]] (in car, left) in [[Monrovia]], 1978]]
After World War II, the U.S. pressured Liberia to resist the expansion of [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] influence in Africa during the [[Cold War]]. Liberian president [[William Tubman]] was agreeable to this policy. Between 1946 and 1960 Liberia received some $500 million in unrestricted foreign investment, mainly from the U.S. From 1962 to 1980, the U.S. donated $280 million in aid to Liberia. In the 1970s under president Tolbert, Liberia strove for a more non-aligned and independent posture, and established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, China, Cuba and Eastern bloc countries. It also severed ties with Israel during the [[Yom Kippur War]] in 1973, but announced it supported American involvement in the [[Vietnam War]].

President [[William Tolbert]] pursued a policy of suppressing opposition. Dissatisfaction over governmental plans to raise the price of rice in 1979 led to protest demonstrations in the streets of Monrovia. Tolbert ordered his troops to fire on the demonstrators, and seventy people were killed.