Joseph Jenkins Roberts

From Free net encyclopedia

{{Infobox_President | name=Joseph Jenkins Roberts | image=Joseph Jenkins Roberts.jpg | order=1st President (1848)
7th President (1872) | term_start=January 3 1848 | term_end=January 7 1856,
January 1 1872 –
January 3 1876 | vicepresident=Stephen Allen Benson (1848)
Anthony W. Gardiner (1872) | predecessor=None (1848)
James Skivring Smith (1872) | successor=Stephen Allen Benson (1848)
James Spriggs-Payne (1872) | birth_date=March 15 1809 | birth_place=Norfolk, Virginia | party=Republican Party }}

Joseph Jenkins Roberts (March 15, 1809 – February 24, 1876) was the first President of Liberia (1848–1856, 1872–1876).

Roberts was born a free man, of mixed African and European ancestry, and was raised in Norfolk, Virginia, in the United States. He attended the Norfolk Academy and Maury High School. He moved to Petersburg, Virginia, where he worked in his family's boating business. In 1829, his family moved to Liberia and established a trading store in Monrovia. In 1839, Roberts became Liberia's lieutenant governor and afterwards, its governor (1841–1848). He is known as the father of Liberia and helped Liberia win its independence in 1847, and he became the first president of Liberia.

Roberts initially left office in 1856. However, in 1871, President Edward J. Roye was deposed in a coup d'etat by elements loyal to the Republican Party, on the grounds that he was planning to cancel the upcoming elections. Roberts, one of the Republican Party's leaders, won the ensuing presidential, and thus returned to office. He served until 1876, although he was incapacitated by illness from 1875 until his death the following year.

Liberia's main airport, Roberts Field, is named in honor of Joseph Roberts.

External link

• Liberia Past and Present: J. J. Roberts

Reference

• Virginia's Ninth President, Joseph Jenkins Roberts by C. W. Tazwell

Template:Start box Template:Succession box Template:Succession box Template:End box

{{Persondata |NAME=Roberts, Joseph Jenkins |ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Roberts, Joseph J. |SHORT DESCRIPTION=President of Liberia |DATE OF BIRTH=15 March 1809 |PLACE OF BIRTH=Norfolk, Virginia |DATE OF DEATH=24 February 1876 |PLACE OF DEATH=Monrovia, Liberia }}

de:Joseph J. Roberts nl:Joseph Jenkins Roberts ru:Робертс, Джозеф Дженкинс sv:Joseph Jenkins Roberts