Daniel Bashiel Warner

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Daniel Bashiel Warner bigraphy, stories - President of Liberia

Daniel Bashiel Warner : biography

April 19, 1815 – December 1, 1880

Daniel Bashiel Warner (April 19, 1815 – December 1, 1880) served as the 3rd President of Liberia from 1864 to 1868. Prior to this, he served as the 5th Vice President of Liberia under President Stephen Allen Benson from 1860 to 1864, and as the 3rd Secretary of State in the cabinet of Joseph Jenkins Roberts from 1854 to 1856.

Background

Warner, an African-American, was born on Hookstown Road in Baltimore County, Maryland to a father who was a farmer and ex-slave who acquired his freedom one year before Warner was born.

Warner’s date of birth is unclear. Some records show that he was born on April 19, 1815. However, American Colonization Society documents list him as age nine when he emigrated to Liberia, with eight relatives, on the ship Oswego in 1823. That would put his birth year as 1814.

A member of the Americo-Liberian elite, he also served as a member of the Liberian House of RepresentativesEmma Jones Lapsansky Werner & Margaret Hope Bacon. and Liberian Senate.American Colonization Society, "Information About Going To Liberia With Things Which Every Emigrot Ought To Know", 1852 In 1877, he became an agent of the American Colonization Society.

He also wrote the lyrics to the Liberian national anthem, which the country officially adopted when it got independence from the American Colonization Society in 1847.Streissguth, Thomas.

Presidency (1864-1868)

Warner’s main concern as President was how the indigenous people, particularly the indigenous people in the interior, could be brought into society and become cooperating citizens. He organized the first expedition into the dense forest, led by Benjamin J. K. Anderson. In 1868, Anderson journeyed into Liberia’s interior to sign a treaty with the king of Musardo. He took careful notes describing the peoples, the customs, and the natural resources of those areas he passed through, writing a published report of his journey. Using the information from Anderson’s report, the Liberian government moved to assert limited control over the inland region.