Stephen Allen Benson (May 21, 1816 – January 24, 1865) was a

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and southwest. It ...

n politician who served as the second

president of Liberia The president of the Republic of Liberia is the head of state and government of Liberia. The president serves as the leader of the executive branch and as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Liberia. Prior to the independence of Liberi ...

from 1856 to 1864. Prior to that, he served as the third

vice president of Liberia The vice president of the Republic of Liberia is the second-highest executive official in Liberia, and one of only two elected executive offices along with the President of Liberia, president. The vice president is elected on the same ticket wi ...

from 1854 to 1856 under President

Joseph Jenkins Roberts Joseph Jenkins Roberts (March 15, 1809 – February 24, 1876) was an African-American merchant who emigrated to Liberia in 1829, where he became a politician. Elected as the first (1848–1856) and seventh (1872–1876) president of Libe ...

. Born in the United States, Benson was the first president to have lived in

since childhood, having arrived with his family in 1822.

Early life

Benson was born in

Cambridge, Maryland Cambridge is a city in Dorchester County, Maryland, United States. The population was 13,096 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Dorchester County and the county's largest municipality. Cambridge is the fourth most populous city in Mary ...

, United States, to freeborn African-American parents. In 1822, his family emigrated to the newly established country of Liberia, sailing aboard the ''Brig Strong''. For four years, he was a military shopkeeper. He was also a private secretary to Thomas Buchanan, the last of Liberia's white governors. Benson later became a successful businessman. Benson joined the

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non- professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

in 1835, and in 1842 became a delegate to the Colonial Council. After Liberia's independence in 1847 he became a judge. He was also a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

preacher. Benson was the

Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

before becoming the president.

Presidency (1856–64)

In 1853 Benson became the vice president to

, serving in that capacity until winning the presidency in 1856.

Foreign relations

Benson obtained

diplomatic recognition Diplomatic recognition in international law is a unilateral declarative political act of a state that acknowledges an act or status of another state or government in control of a state (may be also a recognized state). Recognition can be accord ...

for Liberia from Belgium in 1858, Denmark in 1860, the United States and Italy in 1862, Norway and Sweden in 1863, and Haiti in 1864.

Expansion

In 1857, Benson organized the annexation of the

Republic of Maryland The Republic of Maryland (also known variously as the Independent State of Maryland, Maryland-in-Africa, and Maryland in Liberia) was a country in West Africa that existed from 1834 to 1857, when it was merged into what is now Liberia. The area ...

. By 1860, through treaties and purchases with local African leaders, Liberia had extended its boundaries to include a 600-mile (1000km) coastline.

Retirement

After the end of his presidency Benson retired to his coffee

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Th ...

Grand Bassa County Grand Bassa is a county in the west-central portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has eight districts. Buchanan serves as the capital with the ...

where he died in 1865.

Legacy

Benson is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of lizard, '' Trachylepis bensonii'', which is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to Liberia.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Benson", p. 23).

References

External links

Biography
*see also History of Liberia, external links
S. A. Benson, President of Liberia
article in National Magazine, April 1856, pages 311-317 {{DEFAULTSORT:Benson, Stephen Allen Presidents of Liberia Vice presidents of Liberia Finance Ministers of Liberia 1816 births 1865 deaths Americo-Liberian people People from Cambridge, Maryland People from Grand Bassa County 19th-century Liberian politicians 19th-century African-American people