press freedom in liberia, 1830-1847

8/13/2019 Press Freedom in Liberia, 1830-1847

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PRESS FREEDOM IN LIBERIA, 1830-1847:THE IMPACT OF HETEROGENEITY AND MODERNITYBy Carl Patrick Burrowes

Using data drawn from Liberia, West Africa (183 0 to 1847), this studytested two propositions offered by historian John D. Stevens con cerninga possible correlation between legal restrictions on the press and culturalhomo geneity o n the one hand an d a lack of economic development on theother. Although Liberia seemed to meet both criteria suggestedby Stevens,an outbrea k of social tensions in 18 40 did not lead to restrictions o n theopposition Afr ica 's Luminary nexospaper, despite the existence o f asedition law. In conclusion, it is argued that the weak predictive power ofthese propositions was d ue large to imprecise definitions of key terms.

This study examines government-press relations in Liberia, WestAfrica, from 1830, when the first newspaper was established in what wasthen a colony of the Am erican Colonization Society, to 1847, when thecolonists declared their independence. As Africa's oldest republic and oneof the oldest nabon-states in continuous existence, Liberia provides an idealcase study for testin)^ prop osition s across time and space. Historical datafrom Liberia are used to test two propositions on press freedom offered byhistorian John D. Stevens, deriv ed largely from the American experience .The application of social science prop osition s to history is an approachpioneered in the communications field by Frederick S. Siebert, who identi-fied two factors to account for restrictions on expression in the three centuriesof English pr ess historj' covered by his stud y: the relationsh ip of the go vern-ment to the governed on the one hand and stresses on the stability of thegovernment and on the structure of society on the other.' Building up onthis approac h, Stevens offered tw o prop ositions for testing, wh ich are em-ployed in this stud y:

Proposition I: The m ore he terogeneous a society, themore freedom of expression it will tolerate.^Proposition II: The more developed a society, the m oresubtle will be the controls it exerts on expression.-'

For Stevens, heterogeneity was linked to political decentralizationand cultural variation, as registered in ideals, values, religious beliefs, andlanguages. In this scheme, however, culture w as an epiphenonien on that


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shared values is not fikefy to endure without some element of coercion. Onthe other hand, if there is not much centralized power, a society must try toavoid issues which vt'ill wreck its fragife coalition.'"*fn prop osition ff, S tevens prese nted the forms of restrictions, not theirquan tity, as being d eterm inant. Following Bishop,'^ the m eanin g of "deve l-oped" was largely cast in economic terms. Stevens not only suggested thatcoun tries with per capita incom es of between $600 and $1,000 wou ld be lessfree than those with more than $1,000 per capita, he also conflated pressfreedom with electoral democracy.As with much of masscom mu nicat:ionsstudies from the three decadesafter Worfd War II, the press-freedom theories developed by Stevens andother scholars are undergirded by a faith in modernity and Americanpluralism that remain to be systematically tested in the context of non-W este rn societies.*' By exam ining conditions in a Third World country dur ingthen inete enth cen tury , this study fulfills S tevens'call for "more com parative(historical) studies, which cross time and/or national boundaries." ' ' fn thecontext of colonial Liberia, Stevens' propositions were found to have weakpredictive pow er du e largely to imprecise definitions of "heterogeneity" and"development ."

Given the role of Americans in the establishment of Liberia, it is notsurp rising that several research centers in the United States hou se significantprim ary m aterials on the cou ntry, especially du rin g its colonial era." Sourceswe re selected o n the basis of availability, relevance, and reliability. D espitean attem pt at com prehensiveness, the com posite perspective presented herewas drawn mainly from journalists and officials, the majority of whom wereW esternized, urban , artisan m en. As a result, it largely exclude s the perspe c-tives of repatriate women and the few people of indigenous descent whoresided in the colony.

Of the serials that survive from that period, five provided extensivecoverage of the Liberian colony and, therefore, were exhaust ivelyexamined: the African Repository (W ashington, D.C.), Africa's Luminary(Mo nrovia, Liberia), the American Colonizalion Society Annual Report (Washington, D,C.), the Liberia Herald (Monrovia, Liberia), and the Maryland Colonization loiirnal (Baltimore, M aryland ).' ' The two pap ers pu blished in Liberia,th e Liiminar\j an d Herald, were selected to represent opposition and pro-government perspectives respectively. Also consulted were letters fromrepatriates to their relatives, friends, and former masters in the UnitedStates, '" as well as secondary material on the colonization movement,"religious m issions in the colony,'-^ and the L iberian press.^^ The de vel op m entof the Liberian press is considered in A br oa de r context by A inslie,'* one ofthe earliest histo rian s of the African m edia - a nd still on e of the best, if judg edby historical dept h as well as analytical framew ork. H ow ever, press freedomin particular has been the subject of few systematic studies in the Liberiancontext.'^

From the various sources, two crises in government-press relationsw ere identified that could h ave been the basis for restrictions on the press: a1835 courtroom riot that led the governor to declare the colonists to be in


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During the nineteenth century, some 19,000 blacks emigrated to The ColottyLiberia under the auspices of the American Colonization Society (ACS),'*' an and theassociation of powerful and influential whites committed to removing freeblacks from the United States as a m eans of im provin g the living stand ard s ^'t^=>='of this gro up , w hile also lessening racial tension s in the U nited S tates. As aresult, an improbable alliance of black repatriates and white deportationistswas forged, around the goal of promoting Christianity, "civilization," andlegitimate com me rce in Africa.'' ' Liberia's origin - as an outg row th of racialtensions in the United States that stemmed in turn from the trans-Atlanticslave trad e - illustrates the reality of global inter dep end enc e even in the earlynineteenth century.

The first group of repatriated African-Americans to settle in Liberialande d on 28 April 1822, at Ca pe M esura do, the site of what wo uld becom ethe seaport of Monrovia. Already implanted in this territory were speakersof three major langu ages: Mel, Kwa, and M ande.'" During the period un derconsideration, Liberia encompassed nine scattered coastal towns that wereeffectively controlled by the Liberian state.'^ By 1843, the year a thoroughcensus was undertaken by the U.S. Navy,^" the colony was home to 2,390people. Only 27 percent were locally born, including some indigenouspersons who had adopted Liberian ways.

Three denominations maintained buildings and officially ordainedclergy: the Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians.^' Given mission supportfrom abroad, the Methodist church cast the longest shadow, especially overthe small outlying towns of the colony, claiming 906 of the colony's 1,484congregants and supporting eleven of its fourteen schools. In keeping withthe success of the Baptist denom ination am ong Southern blacks, who ma deu p the majority in this society, that chu rch had 554 m emb ers. Despite massiveideological and financial support given by Presbyterians to the Africancolonization caus e, their church m aintain ed a wisp of a presence.—

A cosmetic appearance of homogeneity notwithstanding, the colonywas permeated by three parallel, mutually reinforcing social tensions: Onemuted fight involved the colony's formal white authorities on the one handand the em ergin g black leadersh ip on the other, evid ent in an "insu rrection "in 1835. Ano ther pitted the Metho dist mission autho rities and their ecclesias-tically oriented supporters against the colonial officials and their leadingBaptist allies, who w ere more secular in world view and emp loym ent. A thirdcleavage pitted early arrivals (mainly free-born blacks from the U ppe r South)against later immigrants (mostly manumitted slaves from the Deep South).Not surprisingly, the colony's two newspapers, which existed as appen-dages of other organ izations - the Liberia Herald of the colonial governmentand Africa's Luminary of the M ethod ist m ission, helpe d to reinforce thesepolarities.

The colony's first newspaper, the Liberia Herald, was launched inFebruary 1830 by John Brown Ru ssw urm , wh o had d istinguished himself asone of the first blacks to gra du ate from college in the United States, at a timewhen higher education was a rarity, even for white men. While still in his


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ences. Ru ssw urm w as bom free in Port Antonio, Jamaica, to a black Jam aicanwom an and a well-to-do white Am erican m erchant and ow ner of a plantationwith fifty-four slaves. In a move that was unusual for that period, Ru ssw urm 'sfather ack now ledge d his paternity, giving his first-born, John, his na m e andthe best available education. Having spent his childhood in his mother'sJamaica home, he would pass his preadolescent years attending school inQuebec, Canada, then a center of abolitionism.-^''

Ru ssw urm 's polit ical perch was m ade precariou s by his occupation ofseveral conflicting offices - the elected positions of colonial secretary andHerald editor and the appo inted positions of governm ent p rinter and schoolsupe rintend ent. His inabili ty to negotiate the pressures brou ght by his man y-sided involvements would ultimately prove his undoing, at least in thecontex t of the Liberian colony,^'' His me diato ry role w as im periled also by hislack of familiarity with the Sou thern culture of most im m igran ts, as well ashis own elitism. In response apparently to local calls for greater freedom ofthe press, Russ wu rm wou ld reject opening the pages oi the Herald toall formsof public opinion , declaring in a 6 February 1831 editorial, "the experience ofpast ages demonstrates most conclusively, that no country could long existwith w hat is vulgarly called a free press, und er the guidan ce of un princ ipledm en." Co nspicu ously absen t from the next issue of the Herald was the pap er 'soriginal motto, "Freedom is the brilliant gift of heaven."^''

The unraveling of Russwurm's polit ical career in Monrovia camewhile the Reverend John B. Pinney was serving as colonial agent.^'' DuringPinney's tenure, an increasingly restive populace staged repeated protestsagainsf ACS policies and employees, culminating in a courtroom riot inwhich Pinney's authority was challenged and denounced. Following theseprotests in 1835, Russwurm published a proclamation on orders from thegove rnor de claring the repatriates to be in a stateof insurrection. In respon se,an angry mob attacked the Herald office o ne eve ning a nd , accord ing toPinney, "threw down the type, rendered the Press useless by taking awaycertain po rtions of it and p ublicly thre atene d violence."^^ As this controv ersysw irled, Pinn ey ret ur ne d to the U nited S tates on 10 May.̂ ** The followingyear, Russwurm received word that the Maryland Colonization Society, anindependent affiliate of the ACS, had appointed him governor and chiefjustice of the neig hbo ring colo''} of Maryland in Africa, with a population ofab ou t 400 repatriates.-'^Nine years after Russwurm launched the Herald, it was joined byAfrica'^ Lum inary, the newspaper of the Methodist Episcopal Mission toLiberia, the first issu e of which app eare d 15 March 1839, edited by th eReverend John Seys. Like Russwurm, the Luminary'a founder was also bomin the W est Indies, the son of a slave-holding planter, but unlike his rival, Seyswa s w hite. O rdain ed as a Metho dist preach er in 1829, he served briefly as amissionary on Tortola, British West Indies, before moving to the UnitedStates that sam e year. After p rea chi ng in New York for a few years, he arrivedin Liberia 18 October 1834 and a year later w as appo inted supe rintend ent ofWest Africa missions by the Methodist Episcopal Church of the UnitedStates.3'


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fifteen m onth s due to an escalating feud betw een the Metho dist Mission andthe government .

The first government-church controversy began in January 1840,w he n the colonial legislature passed a law requ iring the ACS and m issionarysocieties to pay du ty on im ported goods used in trading. This new law wa sone plank in a series of legal and fiscal reform s initiated by Gov. T hom asBuchanan.^- Whe n p resen ted a $80.30 bill for duty on im por ts by the Meth-odist church, the Reverend Seys refused to pay pending clarification on theapplication of du ty to good s paid out for labor.^^ On 21 A ugu st Go vern orBuchanan w rote Seys, noting that the ACS Board had decided "unan imo uslythat the missionaries are entitled to have the duties remitted only on goodsimported for their own consumption, and not on those sold or paid out forlabor."^"

After co nsulting s om e "respec table citizens" of the colony - very likelyM ethod ists me m bers of the council, Seys informed the gov erno r in a no te sixdays later that he would not act on the matter until the managers of theMethodist Missionary Society in the United States had taken up the matterwith tlie ACS head office in Washington, D.C.-^'^Buchanan responded one day later, dem anding imm ediate paym entof the du ty. N oting that Seys'"disre spectful" and "s editious" note had forcedhim "from the gro un d of conciliation," he explain ed: "1 entertain the m ostprofo und respect for the Missionary S ociety of the M. Church, but I canno t fora moment recognize their authority in the civil or political affairs of this

government; and neither my veneration for that distinguished institution,nor m y respect for the sacred office you b ear, shall make me forget the solem nobligations of my duty."'*'W ith m atter s at an imp asse, the collector of custom s sued S eys for theunpa id duly . Since the governor also served as chief of the judiciary,Buchanan would preside when the case reached the Supreme Court on 4September. After a jury of twelve was impaneled, and several objections bythe defendant we re denied, including a request that the judg e recuse himselfa veritable wh o's w ho of colonial society app ear ed for the defense. All deniedthat the church had ever engaged in trading, as that term wa s com mon ly

understood.-^^In his summation for the defense, Seys urged the jurors to reject theColonization Society's interpretation of the law. A ppe aling to w idely heldrepublican values, he asked, if the ACS is suprem e:Why this court? why this jury? Why is the matter referred totwelve free citizens of the comm onwealth of Liberia, if anyother society, or body of me n, could d ecide this case? w hyappeal it to a jury of Liberians? No , gentlem en; you are su-preme in this case. The Col. Society may give or grant you aconstitution; you may accept if; you m ake law s; they m ayrevoke them; bu t they cannot interpret you r laws, {when m ade

The Government-ChurchControversi


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deliberating from 4:30 p.m . Friday until 10 a.m. Saturday, the jurors return edto inform the court that they were divided, ten to two, and unlikely to everreach a una nim ous decision. The case for paym ent of duty by tbe M ethodistmission was dropped when the plaintiff chose not to bring suit in anothercounty, as was its option,'"* but the feud would continue.Six m onth s later, tensions eru pted again, this time touche d off by theHerald, which was bein^ edited for five or six months by the colonialphysician, James Lawrence Day." The controversy grew out of two publicmeetings at the church in M onrovia convened by suppo rters of the ReverendSeys in connection with the earlier suit, at which speakers criticized thegovernment in harsh terms.*' In response, Gov. Buchanan accused thechurch hierarchy of "the propagatio n of sedition, and the prepa ration of thepublic mind, for a transfer of the power of government" from the ACS toMethodist officials.*'Concerned that the use of the church for political purposes might be

misunderstood by Methodist supporters back in the United States, theReverend Seys quickly published a pastoral letter enum erating the variouspublic purp oses to which the mission's building had been put, add ing that,but for the M ethod ist pro perties, "th ere is scarcely a single decent ro om in allLiberia fora court, fora town meeting, or fora school."*-Of the various publicuses of mission property cited in Seys' letter, his characterization of anincident at Millsburg in March 1840 w ould prov e most controversial.Describing the milit ia 's encampment in the Methodist church there, Seyssaid:The officers concerned, just as they arrived at Millsburg,demanded the key of our beautiful new church from thesexton, and without saying to the preacher in charge; may weuse the church? they moved benches, which were fastened tothe floor, and then rolled in barrels, heaped up ammunitionan d m usk ets, pa lm oil, rice, &:c., &c., until the ch urch floor, th ealtar, and everywhere else was covered.*-^The Herald entered the fray 28 April 1841 by publishing a letter to theeditor that labeled as "monstrous," "unprincipiod," and "erroneous" the

implication in Seys' letter that the church had been ransacked. The anony-mous writer went on to ask:W hat could have induced this gentlem an fo speak in this way?H as he forgotten that there are pers ons w ho can contradict himto his very teeth, and pronounce him a base violator of thetruth? or does he imagine that he can always say and writewhat he thinks proper with impunity, however opposite totruth it ma y be, without meeting w ith a contradiction? No thisgentleman has been suffered to say too many things that arenot facts, and it is time that some one should expose suchdaring untruths.' '^


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The amm unitio n w as fixed an d very neatly pu t up In boxes withthe exception of two casks of loose powder, of 100 Ib each:therefore, there could have been no possible injury done to thehouse. The guns (about thirty in number) were placed in thecorner s of the church, w ith som e doz en or m ore cutlasses, pistolsand cartridge-boxes. I deny positively tha t while Mr. Lewis hadthe church in charge, there w as any m oving of the benches; andno injury wh ateve r w as don e to the house.*^The fire was fueled further when Moore, a Methodist, was expelledfrom the church for "falsehood and insubordination," with a notice of hisseverance published in Africa s Luminary of 1 Jun e. On 2 Aug ust, M oore fileda libel suit against the Reverend Amos Herring, who had presided over theseven-m em ber trial comm ittee, setting dam ages at $500. When the next issueof the Luminary appe ared two da ys later it cast no light on the case, which had

resulted in an award of $25 to Moore by the jury in the Court of CommonPleas, In contrast, the Herald app eare d on 14 A ugu st w ith a celebratoryeditorial, noting, "The tables are therefore now turned, and the publicdisapprobation no longer falls upon Mr. Moore, but his persecutors whow ould tram ple him in the mire of degrada tion and crime to save the characterof the pre sidin g elde r [Seys]."'"'But the tables wo uld turn yet again on 5 Octob er wh en the jury 'sfinding was reversed on appeal to the Superior Court, presided over byJudge Nathaniel Brander, a leading Methodist. The next issue of theLuminary on 15 Octobe r w ould devo te a page to recou nting the history of

the trial and attacking the Herald under Day's editorial tenure, which hadended two months earlier, as filled with "abuse, misrepresentation, defama-tion, slander and low invective, that would have disgraced a press in theGothic age."'*''The libel suit, together with the suit brought by the colonial govern-ment over nonpayment of duty, underscored the abiding differences be-tween the church and state officials. Their contrasting values and standardsw ould becom e mo re clearly manifested in elections held in 1840, when Seys'supporters "organized as the Anti-Administration ticket," fielded candi-dates against incumbents, who were identified with the administration's

policies. The Anti-Administration group, also known as the "Seys Party,"wo n three out of eleven seats in the colonial legislature. This was the colon y'sfirst brush with partisan politics, since previous elections had featuredcandidates running on their individual reputations.'"*Political tensions w ould decrease dra m atically in 1841, first w ith therecall in January of Seys to the United States in "the interest of peace,"followed by the dea th of Gov. Buchan an on 3 Septem ber. Buchanan w aseulogized by Hilary Teage, who had replaced Russwurm as editor of theLiberia Herald. Teage praised the former governor for his "inflexibility andfirmness in enforcing our laws as well upon citizens as foreigners who

affected fo desp ise and w ho wished to disregard them as known to you all ."^'Seys, w ho had lost four of his children in Liberia, spe nt his first twelve m on ths


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Implicationsof theLiberian Casefor Press-FreedomTheory

Despite an existing sedition la w""' an d several high- pitched exch ange sbetween government supporters and the Methodist church newspaper, thegovern me nt of this apparen tly hom ogen eous and economically unde rdeve l-oped colony did not apply any restrictions against the press. The weakpredictive power of Stevens' propositions is due largely to his imprecisedefinitions of "heterogeneity" and "development."

M easured by the economic indices cited by Stevens as determ inant ofpres s freedom, the colony at first glance seemed und erde velo ped , given itssmalf p opu fation an d fragile fiscal condition (Table 1). Th e go ve rn m en t'sbud gets, for exam ple, am oun ted to less than $8,000 per year. The eviden ce ondevelopment Is less than conclusive, however, since this population wasoccupationally diverse and relatively literate, two indicators normally asso-ciated with economic development.Residents were engaged in seventy-eight different occupations, from

laborer through cleric. Some 412 persons, the largest single occupationcategory, were employed in semi-skilled jobs as apprentice, barber, caulker,seam stress, and w aiter. While mo st farm w orke rs tiffed their ow n smaf f plots,some worked for planters fike Judge Samuef Benedict, who owned seventyacres in four towns. The artisan group, 60 percent of whom were women,consisted of 126 persons empfoyeci in a diverse range of jobs, from baker andblacksmith to weaver and wheefwright. At the top of the occupationalpyramid were thirty officials and professionals, including the governor,severaf missionaries, and two newspaper editors.^^The apparent cultural homogeneity of the colony stemmed from the

cruciaf support provided by the government and churches for makingChristianity and "civifization" enduring features of the Liberian ethos.Regarding fanguage, all residents spoke some form of Engfish, the officiallanguage. Of the 2,390 residents, church m em bers, whife many nonchurch-goers probably considered themselves to be Christians, since Christianityafready had become a central feature of Black life in America before emigra-tion to Liberia began.''•^One element of cultural homogeneity that worked against govern-men t restrictions on the press w as a general comm itment within the colonyto such republican liberties as the control by citizen-jurors over the fact-

finding process in criminal cases, to which Seys soug ht to appeal d ur ing histrial for unp aid du ty in 1840. Inside the colony, a continue d com m itm ent tothose ideals w as man ifested in internal su pp or t for Christianity, literacy, andrepublican liberties, which were viewed as constituent elements of a risingage of "m od ern ity ."^ The significance of literacy wen t beyond the num ber ofpers ons w ho could read; it w as reflected in the existence of two ne w spa per sin this small community. That Liberia embodied a quest by repatriates forliberty was often muted in the propaganda of their white colonizationistallies and dis para ged by abolitionists w ho dismissed em igrants as ignoran tor selfish.^^ For Blacks from the South , howeve r, colon ization offered long ed-for freedoms.Reflecting the tortu red choices many faced, one pros pectiv e e m igra nt


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TABLE 1Budgets of Major Institutions, 1836-7843

Institution (No.) Annua l Budgetin U.S. $

Methodist Church $11,791Businesses (6) $9,700Government

Judiciary $918LegislaHve $378Executive $6,240fViilitia $0Source: Charles H. Huberich, The Political and Legislafiz e History of Liberia, 2 vols. (NY: Central B1947), 803, citing Gov. J. J. Roberts; Rafph R. Gurfey, Life ofjehudi A shtriun, Late Colamal Agent in L(n.p.: James C. Dunn, 1835; N ew York: Negro Universities Press, 1969 reprint), 356; Mary A. Brown"Education and national devefopment in Liberia, 1800-1900" (Ph.D. diss., Comelf University, 1967)129,140.

I find that none of them is the home for the Cuferd man and So I... wish tobe and Emigrant for the land of man auntsestors."^^Regarding press restrictions in particufar. Herald editor Teage wasdefensive of the paper's freedom, even from controf by officiafs of the ACS,which ow ned the press . In a private letter to ACS secretary in 1829, he urgedan officiaf reb uke of the idea that ha d " been re cently star ted in the Colony thatthe press and the Herald are u nde r the directio n of the governor,̂ ** tha t he canorde r or forbid pu blications altogether in dep end ent of the editor, that he isa kind of censor of the press." This view, Teage regard ed as "so erro neo us inthe very nature of things, I am anxious to have corrected."^"^W hen the Society's president complained in 1840 about an "offensive"article, Teage rep lied, "I will not rega rd your letter as dictatorial, bu t m erely

advisory." He went on:In comm on w ith colored m en, I have certain sentimen ts. Thesesentiments, however, as I do not think their being m ade kno w ncould possibly do any good, but would most probably do aninjury, I think it prop er to repress, reserving to myself however,the right to enjoy my sentiments, and, when justice and honorrequire i t , to speak them out. I should be altogether unw orth yof your confidence and respect, if I sho uld at any tim e forget fora mom ent that this is m y indefeasible right, or so base and m ean-spirited as not to claim to exercise it whenever circumstancesshould demand it.**


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government. This provided support for one aspect of Proposition I, whichposited a link between political decentralization and press freedom. Theimpact borne by financial assets on the outcome of government-churchbattles was evident to such contem porary observe rs as Elijah Johnson , a blackMethodist missionary and resident of Liberia for nearly twenty-one years,who said of Seys, "the money at his command has been a matter of muchboasting with him & its [money] influence h as been the m eans of alienatingthe feelings of many from the government and consequently of makingadh eren ts to Mr. Seys."^'

What mattered most in measuring "homogeneity" was not diffused"values" but structured socialities. The prominence of churches in politicsand journalism stemmed in part from their ability to shape relationships,from school-yard friendships to cemetery plot neighbors. The country's twonewspapers were at the heart of these controversies because one was pub-lished by the Methodist Church and the other by the government. Under-girding this political fission were differences in theology and evangelicalemphases. The Seys group emphasized an expanding Christianizing mis-sion, with support from abroad, while the other faction stressed the su-prem acy of a secular state. The differences betwee n th e church and gover n-me nt w ere every w her e evident, from their roles in the polity to the name s andcontent of their ne ws pape rs.

The politics of this period, however, were driven by more thandenominational loyalties. Supporters of the Anti-Administration groupinclu ded at least one Baptist cleric, J.C. Ross, whife con.spicuousfy m issingwere Methodist ministers like Francis Burns and John Wright Roberts,bo th of whom would la te r serve as b i shops of the loca l church .Conversely, several leading Methodists were closely identified with theadministration, including A.D. Williams, Louis Sheridan, and General Jo-seph Jenkins Roberts, whose wedding was performed by the ReverendSeys. In fact, Sheridan and Roberts were reportedly among the many repa-triate leaders who had written the ACS board to urge the removal of Seysfrom Liberia."

These discrepant loyalties underscore a third cleavage, structuredaround place of origin in the United States and time of arrival in the colony,which pitted early arrivals (mainly free-born blacks from the Upper South)against later immigrants (mostly manumitted slaves from the Deep South).As early as 1833, John B. Ru ssw urm noted that "old settlers" w ere "a littlelifted up w ith the success wh ich has crow ned their efforts," but he d ismissedthis as "hum an n atu re " and urged new e mig rants "n ot to expect to be placedon par with them unless they bring undoubted letters of introduction andrecommendation from home."'' ' ' Of six known leaders of the Anti-Adminis-tration group,*^ only tw o wer e from the Chesa peake region, while that areaprovide d all but two of the eight Ad min istration party leaders.' '' ' Of contin-ued im portance in this context were such primordial attachm ents as kinship,shared histories, and particularistic cultures, formed in the narrow confinesof specific U.S. cities an d states.Although the struggle between the government and church was


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Draw ing upon Am erican press history, Stevens offered two propo si- ConcluStOHtions linking press freedom to cultural heteroge neity and econ omic dev elop-ment. Those claims were tested in this study across national and temporalbou nda ries, using data derived from n ineteenth-century Liberia during tw operiod.s of strain in gov ern m ent- pre ss relations. At first glance, Liberia - witha population of fewer than 3 000 people - seemed relatively hom ogeneo usand economically underdeveloped, two key criteria that Stevens had linkedto restrictions of the pre ss. Since the majority of the popu lation spok e Englishand em brace d Ch ristianity, the colony app eare d to be unified in reference tolanguage and religion, two underlying variables in Proposition I. Similarly,w hen judg ed solely on the ba.sis of economic indicators, Liberia clearly w asun de rde ve lop ed , given the fiscal fragility of major institution s. Despite wh atmight have been predicted on the basis of the two propositions, the opposi-tion press continued to enjoy wide latitude to criticize government policiesand officials. A sedition law existed, but it was not used against Africa'sLuminary, a major conduit of (government criticism. In fact, it was the wellfinanced Methodist church that seized the political and legal offensiveagainst the government.

The weak predictive power of these propositions is due largely toimprecise definitions of "heterogeneity" and "development." For example,whe n the major cultural variable of religion w as exam ined at a lower level ofabstraction, the illusion of cultural unity disso lved. In its place em erged dee pdifferences in the conceptualization of Christianity that divided the commu-nity into two almost equal factions. In other words, what mattered most injudging "hom ogen eity" w as not diffused "values" but structured socialit ies.Equally am bigu ous wa s the concept of "develo pm ent," which is so central toProposition II. Although the colony w as economically u nde rdev elope d, thepopulation was occupationally diverse and committed to modern socialrelations - two characteristics normally associated with developed societies.In thiscase, m ode rn social relation s-in clu din g respect for press freedom andother civil liberties - p rece ded econ om ic dev elop m ent. On e aspect of Propo-sition 1 that received confirmation wa s the im por tant role in pres ervin g pr essfreedom played by civil institutions that are powerful enough to provide astructural counterbalance to government. In the Liberian case, the power ofthe Methodist Mission (as measured by economic resources and number ofadherents) probably helped to forestall the ready imposition of restrictionsby the governm ent, w hile also enabling the church to em erge as the de factocenter of the opposition.

This study highlighted the importance of cross-national testing ofpropo sitions to avoid prem ature generalizing on the basis of conditions thatare unique to certain periods and societies. It also revealed the globalcharacter of mass com mu nications, even in the nineteenth century. Regard-ing the purported link between cultural variables and press freedom inparticu lar, it sugg ested the need for greater attention to be paid to institution-aiized valu es. Finally, it confirme d the utility of quali tativ e resear ch inrefining and operationalizing concepts, along with the value of historical


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NOTES1. Frederick S. Siebert, Freedom of the Press in England J 476-1776 {UrbanIL: Univ . of Illinois P ress , 1952), 10-11. Siebert 's propositions have proven tobe rich in heuristic va lue; for exam ple, see D.L.Shaw and S.W. Bauer, "P ress

Freedom and War Constraints: Case Testing Siebert's Proposition II," jour-naiism Quarterly 46 (su m m er 1969): 243-54; Don R. Pem bcr, The Smith Act asa Restraint on the Press, Journalism M onogra phs, no. 10 (Columbia, SC:AEJMC, 1969); and David H. Weaver, "The Press and Government Restric-tions: A Cross-National Study over Time," Gazette 23 (summer 1977): 152-70.The second prop osition w as substan tiated by Shaw and Bauer in an historicalstudy , bu t its universality has been dis pute d by Weaver on the basis of a pathanalysis using d ata collected at four points in time from 137 countries.2. John D. Stevens, "Freedom of Expression: New Directions" in MassMedia and the National E xperience: Essays in Communications History, ed. R.

Farrar and J. D. Stevens (NY: H arp er an d R ow, 1971), 17-26. A lthoug hStevens numbered his propositions as "III" and "IV" (in recognition ofSiebert's earlier two hypotheses), his numbering has been changed to avoidconfusing the read ers of this article.3. Stevens, "Freedom of Expression," 26.4. Stevens, "Freedom of Expression," 17.5. Robert Bishop, "Modernization and the European Press" (paperprese nted at the annu al me eting of AEJ, Law rence, KS, 1968).6. Carl P. Burrowes, "M easuring Freedom of Expression C ross-Cultur-ally: Some Methodological an d Conceptual Problems," Mass Comm Review 16(1989): 38-51.7. Stevens, "Freedom of Expression," 22.8. Of the twenty research collections that were visited, six provedparticularly useful: the American Colonization Society Papers, ManuscriptDivision, Library of Congress (also available on microfilm through theLibrary of Congress, Photoduplication Service, Washington, DC; 331 reels);Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress; LibraryCo m pany of Philade lphia, PA; Historical Society of Penn sylvania, Philadel-phia, PA; Rare Book and Special Collections, Princeton Un iversity, P rinceton,NJ; and Scho mb urg Ce nter for Research on Black Cu lture, N ew Y ork PublicLibrary.9. Africa s Luminary, a semi-mo nthly news pape r published by the Meth-odist Episcopal Mission in Monrovia from 1839 to 1841, original v ols. 1-3 (15May 1839-17 December 1841) in Yale Divinity School Library; microfilmproduced for the American Theological Library Association Board ofMicrotext, Chicago, by Dept. of Photoduplication, University of ChicagoLibrary, 1970; 1 reel, 35 mm; the African Repository, them onth ly journal of theACS, published from 1825 to 1892, vols. 1-68 (March 1825-January 1892)available on m icrofilm from Un iversity Microfilms, A nn A rbor, M i; vols. 1-25 known as the African Repository and Colonial Journal; vol. 10 contains anindex to vols. 1-10; the American Colonization Society Annual Report, 1818-1908/10, with a reprint available from Negro University Press, New York,


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January 1834, 24 February 1834, 7 June 1834, 27 December 1834; October1839); and M aryland Colonization Society Pa pers (24 Janua ry 1844,30 March1844,24 Janua ry 1845,15 March to 31 March 1845, 31 May 1845, 5 September1845,7 No vem ber to 28 November 1845,3July to 17 July 1846,1 Janu ary 1847,5 March 1847, 2 Ap ril 1847, 4 June to 30 July 1847; 26 A ugu st to 17 December1847); and the Maryland Colonization Journal, a monthly journal published inBaltimore, MD, by the state auxiliary of the ACS from May 1835-May 1841;new series, June 1841-May 1861; available in the pap ers of the M arylan dCo lonization Society (an auxiliary of the ACS), on microfilm reels 28-29 fromScholarly Resources, Wilmington, DE; 31 rolls of 35mm , with guid e.

10. For exam ple, Randall M. Miller, ed.. Dear Master: Eetters of a SlaveFamily (A thens, G A: Un iversity of Georgia, 1991), an d Bell L W iley, ed.. StavesNo More: Letters from Liberia, 1833-1869 (Lexington: Un iversity Press ofKentucky, 1980).11. The major w orks on the movem ent are Penelope Cam pbell, Maryland

in Africa: The Maryland State Colonization Society, 1831-1857 (Urbane: U niver-sity of Illinois P ress, 1971); E. L. Fox, The American Colonization Society, 1817-1840 (1919; repr int. N ew York: AMS P ress, 1971); Floyd J. Miller, The Searchfor a Black Nationality: Black Emigration and Colonization, 1787-1863 (Chicago:University of Illinois Press, 1975); and P. J. Staudenraus, The African Coloniza-tion M ovement, 1816-1865 (NY: Columbia University Press, 1961).12. These include M ary A. Brown , "Education and N ational Develop-m en t in Liberia, 1800-1900" (Ph.D. diss., Cornell Un iversity, 1967); John M .d'A m ico, "Spiritual and Secular Activitiesof the Methodist Episcopal Chu rchin Liberia, 1833-1933" (Ph.D. diss., St. John's University, New York, 1977);

Henry John Drewal, "Methodist Education in Liberia, 1833-1856," in Essaysin the History of African Education, ed. Vincent M. Battle and Cha rles H. L yons(NY: Te ach ers Co llege Pre ss, 1970);D. El w oo dD un n, AHis(on/q/"f/ie£p(sropfl/Church in Liberia, 1821-1980 (M etuche n, NJ: Scarecrow Pre ss, 1992); JohnWalter Cason, "The Growth of Christianity in the Liberian Environment"(Ph.D. diss., Colu m bia U niversity, 1980); E. N . Ho dgso n, "The P resbyter ianMission to Liberia, 1832-1900" (Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1980);William A. Poe, "N ot Christop olis but Christ and C aesar: Baptist Lea dersh ipin Liberia," journal of Church and State 24 (autumn 1982): 535-51; Tom W.Shick, "Rhetoric and Reality: Colonization an d Afro-American Missionariesin Early Nineteenth-Century Liberia," in Black Americans and the MissionaryMovement in Africa, e d. Sylvia Jacobs (Westport, CT: Gre enw ood, 1982).13. The earliest and most influential work in this category is Henry B.Cole, "The Press in Liberia," Liberian Studies Journal 4 (1971-72): 147-55, whichgivesa chronological l istingo fm ajorn ew spap ersan d their editors, with verylittle analysis of the data presented, and John Hanson, "The Liberian Press"(master's thesis, Newhouse School of Public Communications, SyracuseUniversity, 1972), a largely descriptive work tha tem ploy s sources uncritically;Mom o K. Rogers, "Liberian Journalism , 1826-1980: A D escriptive Histo ry"{Ph.D. diss.. Southern Illinois U niversity at Ca rbon dale, 1988), arguably themost comprehensive, critical, and insightful work in Liberia journalismhistory. A lso see Hen ry B. Cole, "The Press in Liberia," in The Press in WestAfrica (Dakar: International S em inar on the Press and P rogress in West


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Co., 1967).15. These include Julia F. Gibson , "Crim inal Libel in Liberia," Liberian Lawjournal 3 (Tune 1967): 68-79, wh ich exa m ines major sedition law s and cases,abstracted from their societal context; Charles H. Hu berich, The Political andLegislative Historif of Liberia, 2 vols. (NY: Central Book Co., 1947), a two-volum e docum entary history of the coun try's statutes and polit ics; and CarlP, Burrowes, "Press Freedom in Liberia, 1830-1970" (Ph.D. diss.. TempleUniversity, 1994).

16. D, Elwood Dunn and Sven E. Holsoe, Historical D ictionary of Liberia(Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1985), 16-17; Tom W. Shick, Behold thePromise Land: A History of Afro-America}i Settler Soeiety (Baltimore: JohnsHo pkins University Press, 1980).17. Forex am ple,seeSa m uelJ.M il ls ," Abstract of a journal of the late Rev.Samuel John Mills," ACS Second Annual Report (1819), 18-67; ArchibaldAlexander, A History of Colonization on the Western Coast of Africa (Philadel-phia: William S. Martien, 1847).18. Dunn and Holsoe, Historical Dictionary, 1-8.19. These towns and their populations were: Bassa Cove, 52; Edina, 67;Marshall, 68; M onrovia, 463; Sinoe, 40; Bexley, 50; Ca ldw eli, 138; Millsb urg,95; and New G eorgia, 121; see Christian A.CassL^W, Liberia: History of the FirAfrican Republic (NY: Fountainhead Publishers, 1970), 103, 111-12, and U.S.Senate, U.S. Navy Department, Tables Showing the Number of Emigrants andRecaptured Africans Sent to the Colony of Liberia by the Government o f the UniSlates... Together with a Census of the Colom/ and a Report of its Comm erce, &September, IS43, Senate Docum ent No. 150,28th C ongres s, 2d session (Wash-ington , DC: G ove rnm ent Prin ting Office, 1S45).20. U.S. Sen ate, U.S. Navy Department. Unless otherwise no ted, all quan-titative data given in this section are from that census.21. Cassell, Liberia: History of the First African Repu blic, 103,106-108, 111Shick, Behold the Promise Land, 33 , 65-66, 74-75,166, n. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.22. U.S. Sena te, U.S. Navi/ Department; and Hodgson, "The PresbyterianMission."23. Cole, "The Press in Liberia," 147-55, 147; Rogers, "Liberian Journal-ism, 1826-1980," 54-55. Although both Cole and Rogers credited Force withhaving published several issues of the Herald, that accoun t is not plausiblesince no copies of those issues or contem porane ous ack now ledgm ents havebeen found and the first issue publish ed by Russw urm - available at theLibrary Company of Philadelphia - was laheled "Vol. 1, No. 1." TTiesesilences would not likely have developed had Force actually publishedseveral issues, especially given the pench ant of the ACS for preser vation ofits records and celebration of its every advance.

24. M. Sagarin, John Brown Russwurm: The Story of Freedom s journal anFreedom s journey (NY: Loth rop, Lee & She pard , 1970), 14,18, 2 1.25. Rogers, "The Liberian Pre ss," 275-81, 276-77; Rogers, "L iberian Jour-nalism, 1826-1980," 6-57; Huberich, The Political and Le^^islative History, 43466, 471, 642. Following H uberich , Rogers dated Ru ssw urm 's fall frompolitical grace with M onro\'ia r epa triate s to 1834, when he accepted control


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maternal grandfather.26. "Editorial," Liberia Herald, 6 February 1831.27. Huherich, The Po litical and Legislatii e History, 47S-79. Before assumingoffice on 1 January 1834, Pinney had served as a missio nary to Liberia in 1833.Born near Baltimore, MD , Pinney g rad uate d from the University of Georgiaat Athens in 1828 and wa s adm itted to the Georgia bar. He later stud iedtheology at Princeton Seminary and was ordained by the PresbyterianChu rch in 1832, dev otin g all his life thereafter to African-Am erican coloniza-tion.

28. John B. Pinne y to R.R. Gu rley, 26 April 1835, ACS Pape rs.29. Despite this precipitous depa rture, Pinney continued to sup por t thecolonization cause, serving first as ACS agent for the New England states,then editor of th e New York Colonization Journal from 1830 to 1858, andLiberian consul general to the United States in 1860; see Huberich, ThePolitical and Le^iislative History, 478-79.30. Campbell, Maryland in Africa, 123-50.31. j.S . Boulton, "M r. Seys: A Footnote to the History of the W esleyanMe thodist M issionary Society," London Quarterly Review 134 {October 1943):352-56.32. Huberich, The Political and Legislative History, 727, A N ew York nativewho had served from 1 January 1836 to A ugu st 1837 as gove rnor of BassaCove, a colony of the Pennsylvania and N ew York auxiliaries of the ACS,Buchanan was scarcely 30 years old when in December 1838 he was ap-pointed the first governor of the commonwealth of Liberia.33 . The account of the d isp ute that follows is derive d entirely from a

transcript of the trial that was recorded by two Methodist missionaries andpublished in two installments in Africa' :^ Luminary, 18 Sep tem ber 1840, andAfrica's Lum inary, 2 October 1840 (hereafter cited at "Supreme Court T ran-script"). In a display of "objectivity" tha t was un usu al for that era, the writersplaced editorial comments in brackets and used quote marks to distinguishverbatim com m ents of other s from the rest of the text, which con sisted largelyof para phr ase d ma terial. Several searches thro ugh letters from Liberia in theACS Papers pro duc ed no refutations of the facts presen ted in the Luminary,only questions about the motives of the M ethodist missionaries, especiallySeys. Copies of the Liberia Herald from this period, which were held by theLibrary of Cong ress prior to the 1960s, have since disa pp ear ed. Because theAfrica's Luminary account is the only e xtant record of the case, it was notpossible to verify the details given in the report.

34. Th om as B uchanan to Rev. John Seys, 21 Augu st 1840, in "SupremeCourt Transcript," Africa's Luminary, 2 Octob er 1840, 54.35. John Seys to Gov. Thom as Bucha nan, 27A ugu st 1840in "Su prem eCourt Transcript," Africa's Lum inary, 2 Octob er 1840, 54.36. Tho ma s Buchan an to Rev. John Seys, 28 Au gust 1840 in "S uprem eCourt T ranscript," Africa's Lum inary, 2 Octob er 1840, 54,37. "Suprem eCourtTranscript,"4/rii:fl'sLHm //i«ri/, 2O ctobe r 1840,53-54.38. "Supreme Court Transcript," Africa's Lum inary, 2 October 1840, 56.39. Wiley, Slaves No More, 317, Letter 37, n. 2.


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Grand Bassa County.43 . "The Late Libel Suit," Africa's Luminary, 15 October 1841, 58, quot ingfrom a pastoral letter from Rev. Seys to mem ber s of the Method ist Ch urch,Crand Bassa County.44. "The Late Libel Suit," Africa s Luminary, 15 October 1841, 58, quotingfrom "Letter to the editor," Liberia Herald, 14 Au gust 1841.45. "The Late Libel Suit," Africa's Luminary, 15 Octob er 1841,58, quotingfrom David Moore, "Swom statement before David White, justice of thepeace," Liberia Herald, 14 A ug ust 1841.

46. "The Late Libel Suit," Africa's Luminary, 15 Octob er 1841, 58, quot ingfrom "Editorial," Liberia Herald, 14 A ugu st 1841.47. "The Late Libel Su it," Africa's Luminary, 15 Oc tober 1841, 58.48. Shick, Behold the Promise Land, 61, n. 29.49. "Sermon on the Death of Governor Thom as Buchanan," AfricanRepository, 15 Janu ary 1842,17-20.50. Sagarin, John Broum Russwurm, 101-103,105, 111;Campbell,Marylandin Africa, 90, U4.51. "Digest, Art. 1, Colony of Liberia, 19 Aug ust 1824," Co de of Law s atLiberia (1828), in ACS Papers.52. For a discussion of the occup ational struc ture, see Shick, Behold thePromise Land, 33 , 145.53. John B. Bole, Masters and Slai'es in the House of the Lord: Race and Religionin the American South, 1740-1870 (Lexington, KY: University Press of Ken-tuck y, 1988), 5,193 n. 9. Bole also noted th at church atte nda nce w as far greaterthan church mem bership, given more deman ding mem bership standards in

the Antebellum period.54. For exam ple, Ralph R. Giirley, TheLifeofJehudiAshmun (Washington,DC: James C. Dun n, 1835), a panegy ric for one of Liberia's white gov erno rs,written by an ACS manager. Following Anthony Gidden, The Consequences ofModernity (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990), I use modernity tocover the nexus of ideas and disp ositions that are norm ally identified with theScientific Revolution as well as the institutional arrang em ents associatedwith capitalism and industrialization.55. For exam ple, William Lloyd Garrison , Tho ughts on African Colonization(Boston: Ga rrison and Kn app, 1831).56. Carter G. Woodson , ed . . The Mind of the Negro as Reflected m LettersWritten D uring the Crisis, 1800-1860 (Washington, DC: A ssociated Publishers,1926), 2.57. Woodson, The Mind of the Negro, 93.58. This app are ntly refers to A nthon y D avid W illiams (1799-1860), actinggovernor from 25 September 1836 to 1 April 1839.59. Hilary Teage to Ralph R. Gu rley, M onrovia, 20 March 1829.60. Hilary Teage to Sam uel W ilkeson, M onrovia, 18 Decem ber 1840,printed as "Letter from Mr. Teage," African Repository, 15 March 1841, p. 95.Desp ite several searches, the original of this letter was not found am ong the

ACS Papers.61 . Elijah John son to the Board of D irectors of the ACS, Monrovia, 7 A pril


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Payne, VA; Daniel Johnston, SC ; John B. Gr ipon, SC ; Sam uel Benedict, GA;and N . M. Hick, PA. Informa tion on the origins of these indiv idua ls w as takenfrom Tom W . Shick, Einigranfs lo Liberia, 1820 to 1843 {Newark, DE: Univer-sity of Delaware, 1971); D. N. Syfert, "The Origins of Privilege," LiberianStudies journal 6 (fall 1975): 109-28.65. The Gov ern m ent Party cand idates for the colonial council in the 1840election we re J. J. Roberts, VA; Hilary Teage, VA; Lew is Giples, SC; Jam esBrown, DC; Lewis Sheridan, NC ; John H anson, M D; Nathaniel Harris, MD;and John Woodland, DC. Information on the origins of these individualsw as taken from Shick, Emigrants to Liberia; Syfert, "The Origins of Privilege."


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press freedom in liberia, 1830-1847

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