o left its mark in the form of a social contradiction that dominated 20th-century Liberia, and still deeply marks Liberian society. The Americo-Liberians were of African ancestry, but they did not think of themselves as Africans. Nor did they regard the indigenous African peoples of Liberia as their fellow-countrymen. They proudly adopted the declaration that "The Love of Liberty Brought Us Here" as Liberia's national motto, they offered no liberty to the indigenous majority of Liberians. Not until 1904 were the indigenous peoples even admitted to citizenship, which remained nominal for decades more.
Only after 1944 did efforts begin to forge a unified Liberian identity. Even then, Liberia remained essentially a colonialist society until 1980. Since 1980, Liberia has struggled with coups, rigged elections, dictatorship, and brutal civil war, but the seeds of this strife -- as elsewhere in Africa -- were planted in the colonial era.
The remainder of this essay will examine how the colonial experience shaped modern Liberia, and the persisting effects of Liberia's unwanted-stepchild relationship with the nation that founded it. Our examination will proceed along a threefold path: the origins and development of Liberia, the relations between the Americo-Liberian elite and the indigenous majority, and Liberia's relations with the United States.
II. Historical Background of Liberia
The African slave trade was integral to the English presence in the New World long before the first successful English colony in North America was established at Jamestown in Virginia in 1607. The Spanish had begun importing African slaves to their colonies early in the 16th century. In the 1560s, English seamen like John Hawkins and Francis Drake began to sail to the Caribbean, originally as smugglers to the Spanish colonies.
The goods they smuggled were slaves, bought or kidnapped in West Africa. Queen Elizabeth I of England w...