Approach
• Brief background about Liberia as a nation of freed slaves.
• Describe the problems the freed slaves encountered.
• Conclude logically
Problems encountered
1. Low population, immigrants from America were always very few during first forty years of its founding, only 150,000 settlers had arrived because majority of the liberated blacks chose to remain in America, this led to shortage of labour yet tropical diseases claimed a lot of lives of the few immigrants.
2. Lack of capital, Liberia being a forested area, there was need for capital to clear the farms, construct roads and other infrastructures coupled with this was the inefficient management of the company (ACS).
3. Divisionism among the settlers and the indigenous local Africans influenced by their western culture, the ex-slaves took themselves to be superior to the Africans and thus did not want to mix with them freely and this brought about internal disharmony. This hostility could at time erupt into violence.
4. Existence of weak, inefficient, poor and corrupt administration Occasionally the government employed repressive policies on the indigenous people and the settler's themselves e.g. high taxes, poor health facilities, land alienation, crop confiscation led to constant uprising against the government
5. Colonial financial problems due to the weak economic enterprises. This was worsened by the corrupt officials who led various economic crises like in 1906 and in 1912; this made Liberia susceptible to colonial influence.
6. Constant imperialistic threats on Liberia. She was over threatened by European powers especially Britain who was operating in the neighbourhood Sierra Leone and France in the Ivory Coast.
7. Ex-slaves faced a problem of attacks from natives of different places like the grebos, Kru, Tiv and Vai.
NB: On reaching Liberia, the freed slaves had come up with a national motto upon which the newly acquired freedom and country would be protected; the motto stated that "love for liberty brought us here" -
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