The_Open_Door_deel1

military and diplomatic support to the colony each time its
survival was threatened. However, despite all these problems
the territory of the American colonists stretched from Cape
Mount in the West to beyond the Cavalla river in the East and
extended 20-30 miles inland by the end of the 1830's.
The Commonwealth of Liberia
In 1838 Liberia Colony and Bassa Cove united in the "Commonwealth
of Liberia". It comprised the eight settlertowns of
Monrovia, New Georgia, Caldwell, Millsburg, Marshall, Bexley,
Bassa Cove and Edina. An official census held in this year
showed that there were 2,247 colonists, 20 Christian churches,
10 schools and 4 printing presses (30). It is interesting to
note that in its year of creation the Commonwealth had more
churches than schools. A central government was instituted
with its seat in Monrovia. Thomas Buchanan, a (white) cousin
of the President of the U.S.A., James Buchanan, was appointed
first Governor of the Commonwealth of Liberia. Joseph Jenkins
Roberts, a colonist and a prosperous trader, became Vice Governor.
Although Roberts was a colonist, he "was not really
black; he was an octoroon and could have easily passed for a
white man" (31).
Immediately after the foundation of the Commonwealth, headed
by Governor Buchanan, the U.S. Government supplied it with a
much needed supply of arms, ammunition, cannon, naval boats
and stores (32).
Thomas Buchanan, after whom the city of Buchanan was named,
died in 1841 and was succeeded by Joseph Jenkins Roberts. The
Commonwealth was now governed by a colonist. Thus an old dream
of the American colonists had come true. In the same year
"Mississi'ppi in Africa" joined the Commonwealth and its name
was changed into Sinoe County, the original name of the region
(33). The Commonwealth of Liberia now comprised three counties:
Montserrado County (Liberia County), Grand Bassa County (Bassa
Cove) and Sinoe County, and had a settler-population of 2,271
(34).
The prospects for the trade in oilpalm products which the region
offered were excellent and the pressure of the colonizing
British and French governments on the settlers and native population
and the territory was steadily increasing. In 1842 the
French flag was hoisted at Garaway, between Sinoe County and
Maryland in Africa. The British Navy and the Liberian authorities
on more than one occasion seized others' ships. These
incidents gave the colonists reasons to seek the diplomatic
intervention of the U.S. Government and Governor Roberts travelled
to the United States in 1844. There he discussed the
status of the Commonwealth with the Directors of the American
Colonization Society. Shortly after his return from this visit
an American squadron paid a "courtesy call" on the Commonwealth.