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fter the War of 1812, antislavery sentiment was
deflected by colonization movement, a movement to transport free blacks to
Africa.
A number of factors contributed to support for
colonization. Racism increased dramatically after the Revolution. African
Americans were shut out from most forms of employment and from most schools,
except for a few segregated schools. The strength of racial prejudice convinced
some whites and a few African Americans that it would never be possible for
whites and blacks to live as genuine equals.
Slave revolts also led some to support
colonization. In the aftermath of Haitian Revolution and Gabriel Conspiracy of
1800 and 1803 in Virginia, colonization seemed like a safe and sane approach to
race relations.
During the 1810s and '20s, the colonization
movement attracted a highly respectable leadership, including such major
political leaders as Henry Clay. Congress helped fund the cost of transporting
free blacks to Liberia (a colony and later a country established in West Africa
by 83 free blacks).
In the face of this widespread consensus in favor
of colonization, staunch opponents of slavery concentrated their efforts on
lobbying for state emancipation acts and measures to prevent the kidnapping of
free blacks.
A few African Americans supported colonization in
the belief that it provided the only alternative to continued discrimination. Paul
Cuffe (1759-1817), a Quaker sea captain who was the son of a former slave
and an Indian woman, led the first experiment in colonization. In 1815, he
transported 38 free blacks to Sierra Leone.
Most African Americans opposed colonization. In
August 1817, over 3000 African Americans attended a protest meeting against
colonization in Philadelphia. But during the 1850s, when many black
abolitionists felt a deep sense of pessimism about their cause, colonization
sentiment appeared again among free blacks.
During the 15 months following passage of the Fugitive Slave Law of
1850, some 13,000 free blacks migrated to Canada.