Excerpt from A Discourse, Delivered at Montpelier, October 17, 1834: Before the Vermont Colonization Society Here the object is distinctly stated, namely, to promote and execute a plan for colonizing, with their consent, the free people: of color residing in our country. There can then be no mistake On this point. This object, when it became understood, commended itself to some of the wi sest, and best, and most influential men of the nation. Un doubtedly some patronized it from good, and some from bad motives; some, because they thought they could see in it the sure, but effectual means for ridding the coun try of slavery; and others, because they thought that by ridding the slave holding States of the free blacks, it would render slaves more valuable. It was, at the time this Society was formed, supposed that the free people of color generally would be pleased to emigrate to Africa, as their father-land; that, escaping from the disabilities under which they labored here, they would successfully emulate the whites in their devotion to learning, civil polity, and the arts; that the Colony, pat ronized by the General Government, would help to destroy the traffic in slaves, which Was still carried on upon the coast; and that it would exert a salutary influence upon Africa by the introduction of civilization and Christianity into those barbarous regions. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.