The suggestion was adopted in Liberia by popular vote, and a convention met on July 26, 1847, adopted a Declaration of Independence and a new Constitution, closely modelled on the corresponding documents of the United States.  In September the Constitution was ratified by vote of the people.  Governor Roberts was elected to the office of President, upon which he entered January 3, 1848.  His inaugural address is one of remarkable interest, fitly proclaiming to the world a new Republic.

IV.

Maryland in Liberia.

The widespread interest awakened by the actual establishment of a permanent colony at Monrovia led to the formation of a number of State Colonization Societies, at first purely auxiliary to the central body, but later in some cases independent.  The foundation of independent settlements at Bassa Cove and Sinou by the New York, Pennsylvania and Mississippi Societies, and their union in 1837 into the Commonwealth, has been considered.  A much more important colony was founded by Maryland at Cape Palmas, which for years maintained its independence.

In 1831, the Maryland State Colonization Society was formed.  Active interest in the movement had long been felt in the State, and it scarcely needed the eloquence of Robert Finley, son of the old champion of colonization, who visited Baltimore in that year, to awaken enthusiasm.  The Society had hardly been formed when ample funds were provided in an unexpected way.  In August, 1831, a tragic Negro uprising took place in Virginia, in which some sixty-five white men, women and children were murdered.  The Southampton Massacres were attributed largely to the instigation of the troublesome free-Negro element, and the growing sentiment in favor of emancipation was abruptly checked.  The Maryland Legislature, sharing the general excitement, passed in December a resolution which became law in March, and proved to the State Society what the Act of March 3, 1819, was to the main organization.  The connection was more explicit.  Three members of the Society were to be appointed Commissioners to remove all free Negroes to Liberia.  The sum of $20,000 in the current year, and of $10,000 in each succeeding year, for a period of twenty years, was devoted to the purpose.  Any free Negro refusing to emigrate was to be summarily ejected from the State by the sheriff.  The wave of feeling which dictated this monstrous piece of legislation passed away before any of its harsh provisions were carried out.  But the beneficent portion remained in force.  The Society was left in the enjoyment of the liberal annuity of $10,000.