JEHUDI, ASHMUN

When the colony of Liberia came into existence in 1822, its early days were fraught with hardships and poor leadership. The first leader to emerge successfully was Jehudi Ashmun. He came to Liberia to seek a fortune in trade as a representative of the Baltimore Trading Company, and with large visions of creating an American empire in Africa.

PHOTO CAPTION: Jehudi Ashmun. SOURCE: EA Library

Ashmun launched a brisk trade in tropical goods for his company and soon amassed a large fortune. He tried unsuccessfully to win a monopoly of all trade for his company. The Board of managers of the American colonisation which guided the work of colonisation in Africa preferred that Liberia remained a free port for international commerce.

Ashmun, however, is best remembered for his brilliant administration of the colony, and as the first Agent who got the colony on its feet, his first task was to implement the Plan of Civil Government, Liberia’s first constitution. It soon proved unworkable and the American Negro Colonists sent a signed remonstrance to the Board of Managers protesting against its inequities.

Ashmun, half in disgust and in fear for his life, fled the colony to the Cape Verde Islands. Ralph Gurley, General Secretary of the American Colonisation Society, was sent out to Liberia to hear grievances and to reach a settlement. He met Ashmun at the Cape Verde Islands and persuaded him to return to Liberia. Together they listened to the complaints.

The Plan of Civil Government was amended and Ashmun was promised the full support and cooperation of the Board of Managers. But still in fear for his life, Ashmun retained several guardsmen around his residence. As the weeks passed, he grew confident that calm would prevail and dismissed them. His administration witnessed no further recurrence of civil disobedience, and Liberia grew from village to town to colony.

Under Ashmun’s leadership, vast territories were acquired from African chiefs through treaties. Land purchased by Ashmun included the territories of Cape Mount Montserrado County and Grand Bassa, an area of nearly 200 miles along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Trade with the interior grew rapidly using barter, and through trade came the acquisition of tribal lands. Several forts were built for protection against warring natives who had not recovered from the loss of the territories. In March 1828, Ashmun sailed for the United States; his body fever-ridden. He died shortly thereafter during the same year in New Haven, Connecticut. In Monrovia stands several monuments erected in his honour.

ABEODU B. JONES