REPORT OF THE NAVAL COMMITTEE TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AUGUST, 1850, IN FAVOR OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A LINE OF MAIL STEAMSHIPS TO THE WESTERN COAST OF AFRICA, AND THENCE VIA THE MEDITERRANEAN TO LONDON, DESIGNED TO PROMOTE THE EMIGRATION OF FREE PERSONS OF COLOR FROM THE UNITED STATES TO LIBERIA: ALSO TO INCREASE THE STEAM NAVY, AND TO EXTEND THE COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES. WITH AN APPENDIX ADDED BY THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY.
Washington: 1850. 79pp, disbound. .Minimal foxing. Very Good.
This item is not a government-published document, although it prints this House Committee's report advocating an increase in the steam navy, partly to emulate England, partly as an appropriate response to the recent acquisition from Mexico of California and New Mexico; but primarily "for the great and beneficent object of removing the free persons of color from this country to the coast of Africa, and of suppressing the slave trade...In no part of the Union do the free blacks enjoy an equality of political and social privileges; and in all the States their presence is neither agreeable to the whites, nor is their condition advantageous to themselves." The Committee buys the Colonization Society's argument that emigration will encourage legitimate commerce, replacing the illegal slave trade. The document describes the geography and resources of Liberia as an excellent place to cultivate democracy in Africa. The Appendix consists of the Colonization Society's endorsement of the Committee's report, with a speech by Henry Clay, the Society's President.
FIRST EDITION. Sabin 69887. Item #735
Price: $250.00