Garretson W. Gibson
Template:Short description Template:Infobox officeholder
_President_Gibson_and_the_Members_of_the_Cabinet.jpg)
Garretson Warner Gibson<ref name="LiberiaMag">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="LiberiaToday">Template:Cite book</ref> (May 20, 1832 – April 26, 1910) was the 14th president of Liberia from 1900 to 1904. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, his family emigrated to Liberia in 1845. After receiving an education in mission schools, he returned to Maryland to study theology. Ordained a priest, he served as rector of the Episcopalian Trinity Church in Monrovia.<ref name="Dunn2011">Template:Cite book</ref> He also served as Chaplain of the Liberian Senate. Later, he served as President of the Trustee Board of Liberia College and at one time President of the college.
Gibson began his political life as a justice of the peace, before serving as secretary of state under Presidents Anthony W. Gardiner and Alfred Francis Russell from 1878 to 1884. He later served as secretary of state under Presidents Joseph James Cheeseman and William D. Coleman from 1892 to 1900. When Coleman resigned in 1900 without a vice-president, Gibson ascended to the presidency as secretary of state.
Gibson died in Monrovia on April 26, 1910. He was the last Liberian president to have been born in the United States.
Presidency (1900–1904)
Prior to attaining the presidency, Gibson had had a long career in government including serving Secretary of State under four presidents.
In 1903, the British forced a concession of Liberian territory to Sierra Leone, but tension along that border remained high.
Whenever the British and French seemed intent on enlarging at Liberia's expense the neighboring territories they already controlled, periodic appearances by U.S. warships helped discourage encroachment, even though successive American administrations rejected appeals from Monrovia for more forceful support.<ref>Liebenow, J. Gus, Liberia: the Quest for Democracy. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987</ref>
See also
References
<references/>
Sources
- Nathaniel R. Richardson, Liberia's Past and Present. London: The Diplomatic Press and Publishing Company, 1959.
Further reading
External links
Template:S-start Template:Succession box Template:S-end
Template:Presidents of Liberia Template:LiberianForeignMinisters
- Americo-Liberian people
- 1832 births
- 1910 deaths
- Presidents of Liberia
- Liberian educators
- Presidents of the University of Liberia
- True Whig Party politicians
- Politicians from Baltimore
- Secretaries of the interior of Liberia
- Liberian Episcopalians
- Ministers of foreign affairs of Liberia
- American emigrants to Liberia
- African-American Episcopalians
- 19th-century American Episcopalians
- 19th-century American Episcopal priests
- 19th-century African-American politicians
- 19th-century Liberian politicians
- 20th-century Liberian politicians
- 20th-century presidents in Africa