Envelope or Cover
1837 · Monrovia, Liberia
by Joseph Jenkins Roberts
Monrovia, Liberia, 1837. Envelope or Cover. Very good. This four-page stampless folded letter measures 16” x 10” unfolded. It is from Joseph Jenkins Roberts, datelined “Monrovia November 7th 1837,” and addressed to Mr. Benjamin Coats of Philadelphia. It bears a Norfolk, Virginia receiving postmark dated January 16, a straight-line “SHIP” handstamp, and a manuscript “20” rate mark. Very legible. There is a small tear on the second page where the letter’s red wax seal had been attached. In nice shape. A transcript will be included.
Several of Roberts’s letters have survived, and all their handwriting bears both similarities and differences with each other. None have been positively identified as having been personally penned by Roberts, so it is possible that any of them, including this example, may have been dictated by him to a clerical assistant.
This letter was written shortly after Roberts returned to Liberia from Washington, D.C. where he had been engaged in colony business which apparently included transporting number of new missionaries to Monrovia. It reads in part.
“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. My treatment in Am. Sometimes bore hard, particularly when traveling. . ..
“We had a fine passage of thirty eight days out from Norfolk. 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 they done a well as could be expected under the embarrassed state of the society. . ..
"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 excelled by any Agent for the Society. . ..
“I read a Number of the 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 uncontrovertible 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. . ..” . Mr. Teage was likely Hilary Teague, a born-free black Baptist minister who emigrated to Liberia with his family in 1821 and became champion for Liberian independence. H was the editor of the Liberia Herald, a Colonial Secretary and leader at the Constitutional Convention of 1847. He wrote the Liberian Declaration of Independence, served as its first secretary of state as well as its attorney general.
The Pennsylvania Freeman was an anti-slavery newspaper published in Philadelphia that was for a time edited by the famous anti-slavery Quaker poet, John Greenleaf Whittier.
Thomas Buchanan, a white man, was an early envoy to Africa as a member of the American Colonization Society and later served as the first governor of Liberia from 1839 to 1841.
Benjamin Coates, to whom this letter was addressed, was a Quaker dry goods and wool merchant who was actively involved in abolition, black education, and colonization. As a member of the American Colonization Society, he worked closely with Roberts to encourage Liberian emigration as the best strategy to end American slavery.
Joseph Jenkins Roberts was a free-born octoroon from Norfolk, Virginia, the son of a Welsh planter and his concubine. His mother married James Roberts, a free black man who raised Roberts as his own son. He grew up working on a James River flatboat. The Roberts family was deeply religious and felt called upon to evangelize to the indigenous population of Africa. In 1829 at about 17-years old, the American Colonization Society sponsored their emigration to the African coast. There Roberts established a business exporting palm products, camwood, and ivory to the United States, and importing American goods to be sold at his store in Monrovia. He became the colony’s high sheriff in 1833 and was appointed as vice governor in 1839. Following Governor Buchanan’s death in 1841, Roberts was appointed as the colony’s first black governor. Upon Liberia’s independence, Roberts was elected as its first president in 1848 and served until 1856. Upon leaving the presidency, he served as a major general in the Liberian Army and as a diplomatic representative to France and Great Britain. Roberts was re-elected president in 1872 and 1876.
(For more information, see Colonization – The African-American Mosaic Exhibition at the Library of Congress website, Mathews’s “The Father of Liberia” in the Autumn of 1973 issue of Virginia Cavalcade, Pham’s Liberia: Portrait of a Failed State, and “Joseph Jenkins Roberts” at findagrave.com)
A rare and important early Liberian letter written shortly after Roberts was appointed at the colony’s vice-governor. At the time of listing, no other examples from Roberts or other early Liberian leaders are for sale in the trade. The Rare Book Hub identifies no Roberts correspondence as having been listed at auction, although a later letter from 1847 sold in 2019 at a Heritage auction for $4,375. OCLC shows only one Roberts letter is held by an institution, the Chicago History Museum, although other Roberts material is held by the Library of Congress. . (Inventory #: 010463)
Several of Roberts’s letters have survived, and all their handwriting bears both similarities and differences with each other. None have been positively identified as having been personally penned by Roberts, so it is possible that any of them, including this example, may have been dictated by him to a clerical assistant.
This letter was written shortly after Roberts returned to Liberia from Washington, D.C. where he had been engaged in colony business which apparently included transporting number of new missionaries to Monrovia. It reads in part.
“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. My treatment in Am. Sometimes bore hard, particularly when traveling. . ..
“We had a fine passage of thirty eight days out from Norfolk. 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 they done a well as could be expected under the embarrassed state of the society. . ..
"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 excelled by any Agent for the Society. . ..
“I read a Number of the 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 uncontrovertible 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. . ..” . Mr. Teage was likely Hilary Teague, a born-free black Baptist minister who emigrated to Liberia with his family in 1821 and became champion for Liberian independence. H was the editor of the Liberia Herald, a Colonial Secretary and leader at the Constitutional Convention of 1847. He wrote the Liberian Declaration of Independence, served as its first secretary of state as well as its attorney general.
The Pennsylvania Freeman was an anti-slavery newspaper published in Philadelphia that was for a time edited by the famous anti-slavery Quaker poet, John Greenleaf Whittier.
Thomas Buchanan, a white man, was an early envoy to Africa as a member of the American Colonization Society and later served as the first governor of Liberia from 1839 to 1841.
Benjamin Coates, to whom this letter was addressed, was a Quaker dry goods and wool merchant who was actively involved in abolition, black education, and colonization. As a member of the American Colonization Society, he worked closely with Roberts to encourage Liberian emigration as the best strategy to end American slavery.
Joseph Jenkins Roberts was a free-born octoroon from Norfolk, Virginia, the son of a Welsh planter and his concubine. His mother married James Roberts, a free black man who raised Roberts as his own son. He grew up working on a James River flatboat. The Roberts family was deeply religious and felt called upon to evangelize to the indigenous population of Africa. In 1829 at about 17-years old, the American Colonization Society sponsored their emigration to the African coast. There Roberts established a business exporting palm products, camwood, and ivory to the United States, and importing American goods to be sold at his store in Monrovia. He became the colony’s high sheriff in 1833 and was appointed as vice governor in 1839. Following Governor Buchanan’s death in 1841, Roberts was appointed as the colony’s first black governor. Upon Liberia’s independence, Roberts was elected as its first president in 1848 and served until 1856. Upon leaving the presidency, he served as a major general in the Liberian Army and as a diplomatic representative to France and Great Britain. Roberts was re-elected president in 1872 and 1876.
(For more information, see Colonization – The African-American Mosaic Exhibition at the Library of Congress website, Mathews’s “The Father of Liberia” in the Autumn of 1973 issue of Virginia Cavalcade, Pham’s Liberia: Portrait of a Failed State, and “Joseph Jenkins Roberts” at findagrave.com)
A rare and important early Liberian letter written shortly after Roberts was appointed at the colony’s vice-governor. At the time of listing, no other examples from Roberts or other early Liberian leaders are for sale in the trade. The Rare Book Hub identifies no Roberts correspondence as having been listed at auction, although a later letter from 1847 sold in 2019 at a Heritage auction for $4,375. OCLC shows only one Roberts letter is held by an institution, the Chicago History Museum, although other Roberts material is held by the Library of Congress. . (Inventory #: 010463)
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