free, and such as shall hereafter become so, to the colony of Liberia in Africa, or such other place
or places out of the limits of this state, as they may approve of, and the person or persons so to be
removed, shall consent to go."120 Up to $20,000 was appropriated for this purpose in 1832, to be
raised by a loan secured by a tax levy.

The Board of Managers was to be notified of every slave manumitted by will or by deed
after the enactment of the statute, and it was required to attempt to get the American Coloniz-
ation Society or the Maryland Colonization Society to remove the freed slaves. If neither society
would do so or the freed slaves refused to go to Africa, the board was to remove them outside the
state with sufficient means for support until they could provide for themselves. Any freed slaves
who refused to go were to be arrested and transported out of state. For these purposes, none of
the age or condition restrictions on manumission would apply.121 Where removal would result in
the separation of families, the freed slave was given the option of renouncing freedom.122 The
orphans court was given power to grant an annual permit to the slave to remain as free in the
county where the court was satisfied by "respectable testimony, that such slave or slaves so
manumitted, deserve such permission on account of their extraordinary good conduct and
character.123

In subsequent years the colonization act was amended in several respects to deal with
minor problems, especially difficulties in collecting tax levies from the various counties to
support the colonization effort.124 The thrust did not differ. Until the eve of the Civil War,
manumission was to be accompanied by emigration so that the free black population would not
increase.

F.        The Failure of Colonization

The law was on the books, but enforcement was a different matter. In only one known
instance was a sheriff called upon to remove a manumitted slave from the state.125 From 1831 to
1850, 4,200 manumissions were reported to the Board of Managers, but only one thousand and
eleven blacks (including free blacks not subject to the provisions for coerced emigration) were
colonized during that period.126 The statute required the board of managers to inform the sheriff
of anyone who refused to emigrate, and subsequent amendments provided for punishing sheriffs
who failed to remove such freed slaves from the state, but no punishment was stated for the
failure of the Board of Managers to notify the sheriff. Many manumitted slaves presumably
obtained licenses from orphans court to remain in the state. Others were simply not pursued.
"The harshness that prompted the above legislation soon gave way to the kindly feeling that had
always influenced the people of Maryland towards the colored population," wrote John H.B.
Latrobe, the President of the Maryland State Colonization Society.127

Latrobe was the "father" of colonization in Maryland. Soon after the Maryland State
Colonization Society was founded in 1831 one hundred and fifty emigrants were sent to Liberia
on one ship, but they were poorly treated and the reports of this treatment discouraged the society
from sending any more persons there. When the Maryland legislature enacted the laws of 1832,

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