Colonists Quotes

San Domingo was on the Island of Haiti. The government had attempted to have a colony there for American Blacks. Most Negroes of the time were not enthusiastic about colonization. The San Domingo colony was not very successful and most of the colonists were very unhappy. Lincoln gave this order and those who wished to do so were returned to the United States. This quotation also refutes the argument made by a that Lincoln favored forced emigration and colonization of Negroes. Early in his career had had favored colonization {590145}, as it was called, but never forced. See {40859}. And if he was in favor of forced colonization, the easiest thing he could have done was left the dissatisfied San Domingo colonists where they were instead of going to all the trouble to repatriate them.

The first Black American colonists founding Liberia, like many early settlers in a new land, had many early difficulties and many of the settlers wanted to abandon the effort and return to America. This famous statement turned the attitudes around and Liberia was founded

Bourne was one of the first writers with a national audience to question the classic but never real “melting pot” theory of immigration and suggest the “salad” model though he never used the term.

He was a great believer in moving large numbers of Dutch settlers to the Dutch colonies in the East Indies.

In the early colony of Liberia each man was supposed to work 2 days a week for the community in exchange for public stores. Ashmun was the agent of the colonial society that provided funds to get the colony started, but he became a political issue. While many of the whites of the Colonial Society were abolitionists, many others were not and just wanted to get rid of free Blacks. Ashman however was an outspoken foe of the slave trade and the latter group, in retaliation for his public attacks on the slave trade, withdrew their ‘confidence” in him and refused to honor his bank drafts or even to provide funds for his subsistence and remuneration. The colony was thus in chaos, and a number of men went on a work strike in protest of the political fight in the society affecting them. To prevent complete chaos and maintain some unity and discipline in the colony, Ashmun issued this order. Things calmed down in the colony but the society continues its politicking with different views on slavery the cause of the strife.

Even at this early time, it was clear that whites had brought numerous diseases that decimated the Indians. Alcohol and disease killed many more native Americans than all the wars—intertribal and with the whites—ever did. Neolin warned but did not have more than regional influence.

The Incas had an amazing mail delivery system like the Pony Expess but with runners. They had the fastest mail delivery system in the entire world and it was then faster than many modern systems in the 21st century. So the Inca received the intelligence of what was being said within a day or two, a much better centralized intelligence system than most.

In 1820, convoyed by the war-sloop Cyane, American free Negroes (33 men ,18 women and some children) set out for Africa pursuant to a new program authorized by Congress and President Monroe. However, the details of the endeavor had not been worked out and after the Negroes’ experience in the U. S. the would-be settlers were suspicious of all government.

No one at the time knew the answer to the question but we do today. The colonial whites brought small pox with them to the new world. The whites had many generations of building immunity to small pox so that only a small percentage of whites who contracted the disease would die. The Indians, however, had never before been in contact with small pox and their immune. Their systems had not had the time to evolve resistance to the disease. The same thing occurred with the Spanish conquistadors and the native people in Central and South America only the percentage of death was much higher than the Indians of North America—possibly due to more sexual and other interpersonal contact, possibly climate, and possibly the North American Indians were better nourished and generally healthier to better withstand the disease which wiped out the vast majority of the Indians of Central and South America.

The graphic is the famous Benjamin West painting of the treaty signing between the Lenape Indians and William Penn in 1686. Tenoughan was one of the Indians depicted at the signing but we do not know which one.

Each of the original American colonies was established with a different charter and had different structures. Pennsylvania was unlike the other colonies not chartered to a company or some other structure but was given completely to William Penn as his personal property. So there was never a Royal Governor appointed by the King or a Company for Pennsylvania. Technically Penn was the "True and Absolute Proprietor" where all of Pennsylvania was treated the same as a person's personal estate in England. William Penn was a very tolerant Quaker with strong democratic, and egalitarian beliefs. He established his estate with a legislature that had the power of taxation and the making of civil laws, defense and development. He was one of the great figures in the history of America. Philadelphia was the largest city in the colonies and the center of American science and culture. However, Penn's son, Thomas Penn was everything his father despised. He was aristocratic, arrogant, power seeking, vain and greedy. However, he had inherited Pennsylvania and was the proprietor. He saw the Pennsylvania Legislature and Franklin, one of its leaders, as the people who were running his private property. So Thomas Penn at this meeting took the legal position that his father did not have the authority to establish a legislature that had power; it could only advise the proprietor. See {583431} for Thomas Penn's statement that produced this reply.

American Indians not only had no culture of alcohol and drinking in moderation, but most Native Americans have a genetic susceptibility to alcoholism.

The organization was named for James Bruce—Lord Elgin, the Governor-General of Canada who was very favorably disposed towards Blacks colonists. When a slave reached Canada, he or she was automatically free under Canadian law, and Canada was the preferred destination of many runaway slaves. The Elgin Association was best know for the founding of Buxton—See {590063}.

Negro Chattel Slavery was not the only disgraceful practice in early America. The “Debt” was the money owed to the Company with the franchise for the colony. The company paid for the passage from England and some necessities for the colonists. The parents had various ways of repaying the debt when they settled in America. However if the parents died, the children would be indentured to pay the debt of the parents.

Alsop wrote much about the Maryland and Chesapeake area of Colonial America. At the time many indentured servants emigrated to America, but the male to female ratio was 6 to 1. The women in effect had a great advantage and often could marry rich planters or others that they chose—not possible for women in England.

From the earliest days of the nation, alcohol has been a competitor for the resources and time of people, especially native Americans many of whom have a genetic predisposition to the deleterious effect of alcohol.