Memoirs of John Adams Dix; comp. by his son, Morgan Dix.

1828-1830.] COOPERSTO WN AND AFRICAN COLONIZATION. 115

States. Under the auspices of this society several establishments were formed at Cape Monserrado and its vicinity, on
the Gold Coast of Africa; an extensive tract of country, under
the name of Liberia, was ceded to the society, for the purposes of colonization, by the surrounding tribes of natives;
and the results were so successful as to lead to attempts to
extend the influence of the Society by every suitable means,
especially as the enterprise rested on the exertions of individual zeal and benevolence.
Accordingly, a meeting of citizens of the county of Otsego
was held at the Court-house in the village of Cooperstown,
on the evening of the 12th of November, 1829, to take into
consideration the propriety of forming An auxiliary society.
Samuel Nelson, Circuit Judge, and one of the Vice-Presidents
of the State Society, took the chair; and Levi Beardsley, of
Cherry Valley, was appointed secretary. The objects of the
meeting having been stated from the chair, the following
resolution was offered by Mr. Dix:
"Resolved, That this meeting, entertaining a high sense of the benefits to
be expected from African colonization, proceed to organize a County Society, as an auxiliary of the State Society of New York, for the purpose
of facilitating the transportation to Liberia of such free people of color
as may be disposed to be transported to that colony."
The resolution was moved in an able address; and, as this
was the first public occasion on which the subject had been
agitated in Otsego County, the speaker went more extensively
into detail than would otherwise have been necessary, in explaining the design of the American Colonization Society,
the advantages which it promised, and the progress which
had been made in the execution of its objects.
The same subjects were handled in another speech, made at
the Capitol in Albany, April 2, 1831, on the occasion of the
first anniversary meeting of the New York State Colonization
Society, at which General Dix was present by special invitation.