James Spriggs Payne: Difference between revisions

Payne was elected as the fourth president of Liberia in 1868 and served a single two-year term. During his presidency, he worked to end the slave trade that still took place along Liberia's coast.<ref name=dacb/> Other reports, such as [[History of Liberia]] and [[Joseph Jenkins Roberts]] say: "The slave trade from Liberian ports was ended by the British Navy in the 1850s."

Payne was elected a second time in 1876, andagain serving a servedsingle untiltwo-year 1878term. Escalating economic difficulties began to weaken the state's dominance over the coastal [[indigenous peoples|indigenous]] population. When the financially burdened ACS withdrew its support from the colony in the years after the [[American Civil War]], conditions worsened as Liberia struggled to modernize its largely agricultural economy. The cost of imported goods was far greater than the income generated by the nation's exports of coffee, rice, palm oil, sugarcane, and timber. AS a result, Payne increasedmade efforts to increase the country's foreign trade.