Municipal Council of Monrovia

Whereas the sad and most affecting intelligence of the assassination of his Excellency Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of North America, has reached this body; and whereas the loss of so great, good, and wise a man must be most keenly felt by the American people, over whom he was called to rule, as well as by humanity everywhere; and whereas we feel that our race, in [Page 478] common with all others, has sustained a loss in the death of this most excellent man, which possibly time will not repair; and whereas, through this most flagrant act of violence, sorrow and mourning have been made to enter the precincts of a once quiet, happy, peaceful home: Therefore,

Resolved by the mayor and city council men of the city of Monrovia in council assembled, That this body has learned with feelings of profound regret of the assassination of his Excellency Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of North America, and that we regard with utter horror and detestation the crime by which a great people have been bereft of a great man.

Resolved, further, That we do hereby express our sincere and profound sympathy with the American people in the loss they have sustained by the sudden and untimely taking from among them their Chief Executive, by the ruthless hand of the assassin, in the month of April last.

Resolved, further, That in the person of the late President of the United States of North America, his Excellency Abraham Lincoln, no less as a private individual than as a public ruler, the negro race have lost a valuable and inestimable friend, who, while living, not less by his actions than by his words, exerted himself for the amelioration of the condition of that part of our race who have so long been in chains and slavery; and that we highly appreciate the many good acts that mark his life; and that we regard with high esteem his sense of justice and righteous acknowledgment of the right of all men to that boon of Heaven, equal freedom of life, limb, and thought.

Resolved, further, That our heartfelt sympathy is with Mrs. Lincoln, the most estimable widow of the late President, and with the present ruler, who has been so suddenly called to preside over so great a people.

Resolved, finally, That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to the United States commissioner and consul general in Monrovia, with a request that he will forward them to the proper persons in Washington.

A true copy from the original:


Clerk of Common Council of Monrovia.