Joseph Jenkins Roberts

Joseph Jenkins Roberts ( born March 15, 1809 in Norfolk, Virginia, USA, † February 24, 1876 in Monrovia ) was dated January 3, 1848 to January 7, 1856, the first president of Liberia, from 1 January 1872 to the 7 January. , 1876 he was again president of Liberia.

The vorliberianische time (1809-1829)

Roberts was born on March 15, 1809 in Norfolk, Virginia, in the Eastern United States. As the son of freed slaves, he came as a free black ( freeborn Negro) to the world, so it is never in his life been a slave. He was the eldest of seven siblings.

As a boy, he took his first job on a flat boat, which transported on the James River from Petersburg goods to the docks of Norfolk. After the death of his father, he moved with his family to St. Petersburg, where he first heard of it, that plans for the colonization of the African coast existed. Funded by the American colonial society, many ships were already broken in the direction of Africa. It was already a settlement at the mouth of the River Mesurado emerged, a small city called Monrovia, named after U.S. President James Monroe.

The Roberts family decided to give up the " Africa - returnees " to connect. On February 9, 1829, the crossing began. By the way, were on this ship other for the future of Liberia important people on board, such as James Spriggs Payne of Richmond, who was to become president of Liberia later also. A few days before the ship docked in Monrovia, Roberts celebrated his 20th birthday.

The vorpräsidiale career (1829-1847)

Having a home for the family had been built in the new colony, the brothers with ivory and palm products began to act.

Business was so good that new ships could be purchased and the trading activities were extended. One of the brothers (Henry J. Roberts) left Liberia to study at the Berkshire Medical School in Massachusetts in the United States. In order to work, he returned to his studies to Monrovia. Another brother, ( John Wright Roberts), first bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Liberia.

Joseph Jenkins Roberts was appointed at the age of 24 years to the High Sheriff of the colony. One of his tasks is to conduct expeditions to collect taxes and quell uprisings also in the surrounding tribal villages belonged Monrovia. 1838 appointed him the American colonial society for lieutenant governor and two years later the governor died, he became the first non-white governor of the colony.

As in 1847, the first Liberian Congress declared independence, he was elected as a former governor as the first President of the Republic.

Presidency and the years thereafter (1847-1876)

As president, he expanded the borders of the young republic. Thus enlarged, for example, the coastline of Liberia under his government to over 600 miles. He also took the first steps to integrate the tribal cultures of the surrounding region in the Republic.

In foreign policy, he sat up very much for the recognition of the Republic by the European countries, like the United States. England and France were the first countries which recognized the independence of Liberia (1848 ). 1849 was followed by Portugal, Brazil, Sardinia - Piedmont, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Hamburg, Bremen, Lübeck and Haiti.

Interestingly, contended just the U.S. with the recognition of the independence of Liberia. Only in 1862, under President Abraham Lincoln, they recognized the independence of Liberia. The reason for the late recognition was that the previous U.S. president had feared that the southern states of the USA a black messenger from Liberia in Washington, DC would not accept.

Roberts was re-elected for another three legislative sessions and reigned a total of 8 years before he eventually lost the elections of 1855. After his tenure as president, he served 15 years in the Army as a major general. He later became a diplomat in France and the UK.

Roberts was instrumental in the founding of the Liberian College and became its first rector. Several times he traveled to the U.S., where he gave lectures and collected donations for college. Until his death he remained at the College as a professor of jurisprudence and international law.

As in 1871, the current president of Liberia was settled, the Parliament Roberts explained again for another two years as president. Then he finally officiated yet another, his sixth and last legislative session, which ended in his death, in 1876. A considerable part of his fortune he left in his will the educational system of Liberia.

Honors

In the district of Mamba Point Monrovia, the capital Joseph Jenkins Roberts is monument, it is only a few steps from Ducor Hotel, the Masonic Temple and the American Embassy.