American Colonization Society established in Washington, D.C.

Background. The society was founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to encourage the repatriation of freeborn people of color and emancipated slaves to sub-Saharan Africa. It was modeled on earlier British efforts to resettle the 'black poor.' The organization addressed the belief that African Americans could not integrate into U.S. society, a view held by many White Americans who believed African Americans were inherently inferior.

Founding Members. Among the Society's supporters were Charles Fenton Mercer of Virginia, Henry Clay of Kentucky, John Randolph of Virginia, Richard Bland Lee of Virginia, Francis Scott Key of Washington, D.C., and Maryland, and Bushrod Washington of Virginia. At the Society's inaugural meeting, Reverend Finley suggested establishing a colony in Africa to take free people of color, most of whom had been born free, away from the United States.

Origins and Motivations. The society's origins trace to 1816 when Charles Fenton Mercer discovered accounts of earlier legislative debates on black colonization following Gabriel Prosser's rebellion. Some slave owners supported emigration to remove free Blacks from slave societies and avoid rebellions, perceiving the growing free Black population as threatening.