The_Open_Door_deel1

Numerous colonists from the U.S.A. arrived between 1842 and
1 845 in the Commonwealth of Liberia and Governor Roberts succeeded
in the same period in extending the Commonwealth's
territory, which by 1845 stretched from Cape Mount to Cape
Palmas (from west to east).
An incident in the latter part of 1846 was the final straw
that broke the camel's back. When the captain of a British
ship refused to pay harbour dues in Bassa, the Colonial
authorities seized the ship which act provoked the British
to seize a boat of an American colonist, Stephen A. Benson -
who eventually was to become the republic's second President
(1856 - 1864). The U.K. Government maintained that it could .
not accept the authority and jurisdiction of the Commonwealth
of Liberia, as this was a venture of a private organisation,
the American Colonization Society. The colonists, who for
years had been eager to take their fate in their own hands,
for these reasons in 1847 - after consultation with the authorities
of the American Colonization Society - decided to
establish the independent Republic of Liberia.
The founding of the Republic of Liberia
In July 1847 a Constitutional Convention conrened in Monrobia
(which at that time had approximately 1,000 inhabitants (35)).
The towns of Monrovia, New Georgia, Caldwell ,and Millsburg in
Montserrado County, Marshall, Edina, Bexley and Bassa Cove -
Buchanan in Grand Bassa County and Greenville in Sinoe County
sent eleven delegates to the Convention: 6 from Montserrado
County, 4 from Grand Bassa County and 1 from Sinoe County. It
is important to mention that recaptured Africans and "natives"
(the tribal peoples living in the Commonwealth's territory)
were excluded as they were not considered civilised} whereas
of the colonists only male citizens of the age of twenty-one
and over were entitled to suffrage. Thus the eleven delegates
most probably did not represent more than 2,500 - 3,000 people,
of whom more than 600 had elected them (36). Although the delegates
of Grand Bassa County and probably also the delegate of
Sinoe County were opposed to a declaration of independence, the
draft constitution was unanimously adopted by the Convention
(37). Liberia was declared a Free, Sovereign and Independent
Nation on 26 July 1847. On 27 September 1847, elections were
held during which the decision of the Constitutional Convention
could be approved or rejected. As many opponents to independence
did not vote only 214 votes were cast in favour of the Constitution
and 58 against (38).
The constitution which was adopted, was drafted by the American
Harvard Professor Simon Greenleaf and differed only in some aspects
from the U.S. Constitution (39). The Liberian flag closely
resembles the American national symbol, apart from the number of
stripes (thirteen on the United States' colours) and the number
of stars. The eleven stripes of the Liberian flag refer to the
eleven delegates to the Constitutional Convention, who signed