Daniel Bashiel Warner


Daniel Bashiel Warner served as the 3rd President of Liberia from 1864 to 1868. Prior to this, he served as the 5th Vice President of Liberia under President Stephen Allen Benson from 1860 to 1864, and as the 3rd Secretary of State in the cabinet of Joseph Jenkins Roberts from 1854 to 1856.

Background

Warner, an African-American, was born on Hookstown Road in Baltimore County, Maryland, to a father who was a farmer and ex-slave who acquired his freedom one year before Warner was born.
Warner's date of birth is unclear. Some records show that he was born on April 19, 1815. However, American Colonization Society documents list him as age nine when he emigrated to Liberia, with eight relatives, on the ship Oswego in 1823. That would put his birth year as 1814.
A member of the Americo-Liberian elite, he also served as a member of the Liberian House of Representatives, as Speaker of the House of Representatives 1848-1849, and in the Liberian Senate. In 1877, he became an agent of the American Colonization Society.
He also wrote the lyrics to the Liberian national anthem, which the country officially adopted when it became independent from the American Colonization Society in 1847.

Presidency (1864–1868)

Warner's main concern as President were his government's relationship with the area's indigenous people, particularly those in the interior of the country. He organized the first expedition into the dense forest, led by Benjamin J. K. Anderson. In 1868, Anderson traveled into Liberia's interior to sign a treaty with the king of Kingdom of Koya. He took careful notes describing the peoples, the customs, and the natural resources of those areas he passed through, writing a published report of his journey. Using the information from Anderson's report, the Liberian government moved to assert limited control over the inland region.