Treaties & documents · April 1840
The Buchanan Treaty of Perpetual Peace
Agreement between Governor Thomas Buchanan and neighbouring kings ending slave-trading in their jurisdictions.
Biography
Signed by King Brister among others and reported in the Philadelphia press that July, the treaty bound the signatory rulers to perpetual peace with the colony and to the suppression of slave-trading within their territories.
It belongs to the post-1822 story, but it names men whose authority was established long before the settlers arrived, and it shows the colony still negotiating as one power among several.
Historical significance
Marks the point at which the colony could bargain over the slave trade from something like parity — and no earlier.
Timeline
- Apr 1840Signed
- 31 Jul 1840Reported in the National Gazette
Related entries
References
- National Gazette and Literary Register (Philadelphia), 31 July 1840.
Suggested reading
- Sumaworo (2022). 'Critical Analyses of Liberia's Bicentennial.'