We were animated with the hope, that here we should be at liberty to train up our children in the way they should go--to inspire them, with the love of an honorable fame, to kindle within them, the flame of a lofty philanthropy, and to form strong within them, the principles of humanity, virtue and religion. Among the strongest motives to leave our native land--to abandon forever the scenes of our childhood, and to sever the most endeared connections, was the desire for a retreat where, free from the agitations of fear and molestation, we could, in composure and security, approach in worship the God of our Fathers. Thus far our highest hopes have been realized. Liberia is already the happy home of thousands, who were once the doomed victims of oppression; and if left unmolested to go on with her natural and spontaneous growth: if her movements be left free from the paralysing intrigues of jealous ambition and unscrupulous avarice, she will throw open a wider and a wider door for thousands who are now looking with an anxious eye for some land of rest. Our courts of justice are open equally to the stranger and the citizen, for the redress of grievances, for the remedy of injuries, and for the punishment of crime. Our numerous and well attended schools attest our efforts, and our desire for the improvement of our children. Our churches for the worship of our Creator, every where to be seen, bear testimony to our piety, and to our acknowledgement of his Providence. The native African, bowing down with us before the altar of the living God, declare that from us, feeble as we are, the light of Christianity has gone forth; while upon that curse of curses, the slave trade, a deadly blight has fallen as far as our influence extends. Therefore, in the name of humanity, and virtue and religion--in the name of the Great God, our common Creator, and our common Judge, we appeal to the nations of Christendom, and earnestly and respectfully ask of them, that they will regard us with the sympathy and friendly consideration, to which the peculiarities of our condition entitle us, and to extend to us that comity which marks the friendly intercourse of civilized and independent communities. DONE in CONVENTION, at Monrovia, in the County of Montserrado, by the unanimous consent of the people of the Commonwealth of Liberia, this Twenty-sixth day of July, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty-seven. In witness whereof we have hereto set our names. MONTSERRADO COUNTY, S. BENEDICT, _President_ H. TEAGE, ELIJAH JOHNSON, J. N. LEWIS, BEVERLY R. WILSON, J. B. GRIPON. GRAND BASS COUNTY, JOHN DAY, AMOS HERRING, A. W. GARDNER, EPHRAIM TITLER. COUNTY OF SINOE, R. E. MURRAY. JACOB W. PROUT, _Secretary of the Convention_. CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA _PREAMBLE_