It supported the settlement of thousands of free people of color to its colony of Liberia, in West Africa.

[5] In 1838, these African-American settlements were united into the Commonwealth of Liberia, which declared independence from the American Colonization Society on July 26, 1847.

The Maryland colony remained separate from the Commonwealth of Liberia, as the colonization society wished to maintain its trade monopoly in the area.

The American Colonization Society was founded in 1816, in part due to alarms over the violence of the Haitian slave revolution and its aftermath, which resulted in independence for that country in 1804.

Nat Turner's rebellion of 1831 panicked Southerners, who feared another slave uprising and seizure of the country, as had recently happened in Haiti.

The Maryland Society decided to establish a new settlement of its own to accommodate its emigrants and with the intention of controlling trade to its colony.

Most of the settlers were freed African-American slaves and freeborn African Americans primarily from the state of Maryland.

[11][page needed] The Colonization Society organizers thought they could establish new trading ties by relocating African Americans to West Africa.

In 1838, a number of other American settlements on the west coast of Africa united to form the Commonwealth of Liberia, which declared its independence on July 26, 1847.

President Roberts sent military assistance, and an alliance of Marylanders and Liberian militia troops successfully repelled the local tribesmen.

A statue of John Brown Russwurm was erected near his burial site at Harper, Cape Palmas, Liberia.