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INSCRIBED "WITH RESPECTS OF MR. ROBERTS"

(LIBERIA.) Constitution and Laws of the Commonwealth of Liberia, Including an abstract of Legal Principles and Rules. Small 8vo, disbound; two small spots on the title, small iron-gall ink stain on bottom edges. Monrovia: Hilary Teage, 1843

  • Notes: first edition of the first constitution of Liberia. The inscription at the top of the title-page, "With respects of Mr. Roberts," is very likely that of Joseph Jenkins Roberts, first Lieutenant Governor of Liberia (1842-48) and then first President of the country (1848-55).
    The laws regarding "Native Africans" are rather extreme: all natives were forced to wear clothes or face a fine of $5; native boys over 18 years of age had to be apprenticed; all men between 18 and 60 had to labor a fixed work-day. These and other laws regarding natives no doubt led to the ethnic and economic divide that still exists to this day between colonizers and natives.

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February 26, 2004 12:00 AM EST
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