Thomas Buchanan (Governor of Liberia)


Thomas Buchanan was an American who became a politician, the first official governor of Liberia. He was a cousin of James Buchanan, President of the United States.

Career

Buchanan served in the 1830s as the envoy of the American Colonization Society to the colony of Liberia, which it had founded on the coast in West Africa. He worked first as an administrator in Grand Bassa, later a county that named its seat as Buchanan in his honor. In 1839, Buchanan was sent to Monrovia. After the death of Jehudi Ashmun, a secretary of the ACS and top executive in Liberia, Buchanan was appointed as the first official governor of Liberia. He served from April 1, 1839 until his death on September 3, 1841.