Finley, like many other white Christians, believed that free black people could never effectively assimilate into American society. “Could they be sent to Africa, a three-fold benefit would arise,” he suggested. “We should be cleared of them; we should send to Africa a population partially civilized and christianized for its benefits; our blacks themselves would be put in better condition.”16 Inherent in this plan for colonization was the assumption that blacks, as American citizens, would never meet the demands of democracy.
