In 1843, Commodore Matthew C. Perry visited Liberia as the commander of the first United States Africa Squadron (1843–1845) and conducted “palavers” (negotiations with native Africans) to resolve the difficulties faced by the fledging colonies. United States’ naval presence was expected to send clear messages not only to the troublesome natives, but also to the European powers, especially Britain and France, that would grab at the African tribal lands at the first sign of trouble. Perry also had to take into account his own government’s ambiguous attitude toward the colonies, as well as the missionary groups’ not-always amicable presence nearby. This paper analyzes the Commodore’s arbitration and interposition enacted in the palavers, and the ensuing punishment of a recalcitrant native family.

Two major palavers stand out in Perry’s itinerary on western Africa. At Sinoe, a town about halfway between Monrovia and Cape Palmas, native residents had captured a boat from the American schooner Edward Burley and killed two men on it. In the palaver with the guilty natives, Perry magnanimously condoned the murders, requiring only a small compensation for the loss of life. A few days later, at Little Bereby, on the western part of the present-day Cote d’Ivoire, Perry held another palaver, this time on the case of the Mary Caver, whose captain and the whole crew of five had been brutally murdered by a native clan. In this case, Perry was contrastingly hard on the offenders; two leading members of the clan were killed during the scuffle, and 4 towns were burned to ashes.

Even considering the extenuating circumstances in the Edward Burley affair (where the captain was suspected of being involved in slave trade), Perry’s judgments in these two palavers appear to be a bit lopsided. But the difference can be understood if we take a closer look at the social and political contexts behind these two affairs. In the case of the Sinoe palaver, the colonial government was looking primarily at gaining the secure control of the land there, by vanishing the squatting Fishmen. It did not wish to offend the landowners by exacting severe retributive amendments; it did not want to destabilize the peaceful relationship the white missionaries kept with the natives either. Perry’s pardoning of the murderers (while giving powerful negotiating leverage to Governor Roberts) also enabled the colony to develop without interference from European powers. In the Mary Carver affair, however, Perry had to intimidate the native tribes, which had not yet come under the colonial authority, so that Maryland in Africa could wield power over the uncharted territory beyond its borders. The Africa Squadron’s operations evidently had decisive influence on the colony’s acquisition of the land on the western Ivory Coast, but the political legacy he and his squadron would leave on the new republic has not always been auspicious.