American Colonization Society Meeting, Washington, D.C. Formed in 1817, the American Colonization Society consisted of northern merchants and southern planters who sought to resolve the race problem in the United States by shipping free and enslaved blacks to Africa. Although the society helped found Liberia, most African Americans opposed the venture, and as slave labor became increasingly profitable, few slaveholders allowed their enslaved workers to emigrate. © Bettman/CORBIS