A rare and important survival: Joseph J. Roberts - future first president of Liberia - gives early news from Monrovia nearly a decade before the independent Republic of Liberia was formally established.
While several of Roberts’ letters have survived and are held at the Chicago History Museum and Library of Congress, a conclusive identification of his handwriting has yet to be made. So this may be autograph (the revisions suggest so) or possibly a (loose) secretarial hand.
Free-born in Virginia, Joseph Jenkins Roberts (1809-1876), was the son of a Welsh planter and a woman of colour. After the death of his father in 1829, “he and the rest of the family emigrated to Liberia, where he and his younger brothers became successful merchants. One of his earliest positions in the Liberian government was High Sheriff, an office that tried to slow the slave trade on the West African coast. In 1839 Roberts became lieutenant governor under Thomas Buchanan. He held this position until Buchanan’s death in 1841, when he became the first governor of Liberia who was not 100% white. Under his leadership, in response to trade conflicts with British merchants and the lack of support from the American government, Roberts and the ACS [American Colonization Society] began working for Liberian independence. In 1847, when Liberia became independent, Roberts became its first president” (Lapsansky-Werner & Bacon).
The recipient, Philadelphia wool merchant and Quaker, Benjamin Coates (1808-1887), was both an abolitionist and heavily involved with the ACS. It was only natural that Coates and Roberts would have a relationship - they worked closely together to encourage Liberian emigration as the best strategy to end slavery in the United States. This letter is an excellent example of their correspondence with Roberts being made lieutenant governor that year.
This letter pre-dates Robert’s election by some eight years and is something of a time capsule as it pre-figures much of what was to come: news of the growing colony, issues with funding from America, an interest in the New School Abolitionists. The following excerpts convey the heart of the letter:
“From the caption of this you will perceive that I am again … ‘In the land of the free and the home of the Oppressed.’ Rejoice with me! For I assure you Sir I was hartily sick of America and rejoiced to hear it said embark and be off.”
“We had a fine passage of thirty eight days out from Norfolk [Va.] Peace and concord existed among all; the Missionaries were very agreeable, all enjoyed good [health], except Mr. Teage who took Cold after a few days which brought on the plurisey …”
“My business at Washington was not arranged entirely to my satisfaction, probably done as well as could be expected under the embarrassed state of the society. I had one small bill not paid.”
“I find things at home better than could be expected; The Colony decidedly advancing, much however remains yet to be done, much more would have been done but for the rainy season and the bad health of the Gov.”
“Gov. Buchanan’s health is now good. And allow me to assure you he is an efficient man … I hesitate not to say that within twelve months the Colony will be advanced by fifty p.ct … If the friends in America will sustain him it will be verified. Much has to be done that will require money. I know that the Society … has complained about the disbursements in Africa, and in some instances justly too. But Governor [Buchanan] has not been excellent by an Agent for the society …”
“I read a Number of Pennsylvania Freeman and rather pleased with the spirit & tone of several Paragraphs, more so than I expected to be with any paper supported by the New School Abolitionists … It is a valuable production. The author in my opinion has produced many incontrovertible facts in support of Colonization …”
“I cannot close this without expressing my gratitude by acknowledging your very polite attention to me during my stay in Phila. …”
After leaving office in 1856, he served as a major general in the Liberian Army and a diplomatic representative to France and Great Britain. He later served a second term as president from 1872-1876. Doris Banks Henries sums up Roberts’ achievements: “As a successful businessman, he financed the education of numerous tribal boys. As a soldier, he helped to destroy the slave trade, end intertribal wars, and to pacify the hinterland. As an educator, he encouraged equal access to education at all levels for all people. As a statesman, he laid the basis for the unification of tribal and non-tribal citizens, and for economic and social development.”
A rare and important early letter from Roberts. These hardly ever appear on the market and we locate just a single example from 1847 selling at Heritage in 2019.
Burrowes, C.P., “Black Christian Republicanism: A Southern Ideology in Early Liberia, 1822 to 1847” in The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 86, No. 1 (Winter, 2001), pp.30-44; Henries, D.B., “Joseph Jenkins Roberts” in Encyclopaedia Africana accessed online 17 July 2025 ; Lapsansky-Werner, E.J. & Bacon, M., Benjamin Coates and the Colonization Movement in America, 1848-1880: Back to Africa (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005), p.59n.
