It was the same issue as this country and any other settler society in which you have a native people and then others who have come to settle.

It has to be the case Liberians buy into the idea that an election will matter, they will participate and be encouraged to participate, and that the election truly brings into power a government that has the best interest of Liberian people -- all the Liberian people, not just a certain group of Liberians.

[Colonization] was supposed to be sort of a remedy for slavery and racial inequality in the country.

Elections themselves are not the magic bullet.

There was a certain amount of romantic sentiment that comes through some of the letters.

I think many Liberians see the United States as sort of a godfather figure, ... They see the United States as the place of their ancestors ... [but] I think that's wishful thinking.