Such in outline was Jefferson’s contribution to the colonization idea.  Its influence was unquestionably great:  the “Notes on Virginia,” privately circulated after 1781, and at length published in 1787, went through eight editions before 1800, and must have been familiar to nearly all of those concerned in the formation of the Colonization Society.

Clearer still must the details of Jefferson’s project have been in the minds of the members of the Virginia Legislature in 1800, when, after the outbreak of a dangerous slave conspiracy in Richmond, they met in secret session to consult the common security.  The resolution which they reached shows unmistakably Jefferson’s influence.  With the delicate if somewhat obscure periphrasis in which legislation concerning the Negro was traditionally couched, they enacted:  “That the Governor be requested to correspond with the President of the United States on the subject of purchasing lands without the limits of this State whither persons obnoxious to the laws or dangerous to the peace of society may be removed."[4] An interesting correspondence ensued between Monroe, who was then Governor, and Jefferson.  Both regarded the idea as something far more important than a mere penal colony.  Monroe, too, saw in it a possible remedy for the evils of slavery, and refers to the matter as “one of great delicacy and importance, involving in a peculiar degree the future peace, tranquillity, and happiness” of the country.  After much discussion Africa was selected as the only appropriate site, and approved by another Act of the Legislature.  Jefferson lost no time in attempting to secure land for the colony, but his efforts met with no success.  After a discouraging repulse from Sierra Leone, and the failure of several half-hearted attempts to obtain a footing elsewhere, the whole matter was allowed to sink into abeyance.  For years a pall of secrecy concealed the scheme from public knowledge.

In the meantime a new private movement toward colonization was started at the North.  Samuel J. Mills organized at Williams College, in 1808, for missionary work, an undergraduate society, which was soon transferred to Andover, and resulted in the establishment of the American Bible Society and Board of Foreign Missions.  But the topic which engrossed Mills’ most enthusiastic attention was the Negro.  The desire was to better his condition by founding a colony between the Ohio and the Lakes; or later, when this was seen to be unwise, in Africa.  On going to New Jersey to continue his theological studies, Mills succeeded in interesting the Presbyterian clergy of that State in his project.  Of this body one of the most prominent members was Dr. Robert Finley.  Dr. Finley succeeded in assembling at Princeton the first meeting ever called to consider the project of sending Negro colonists to Africa.  Although supported by few save members of the seminary, Dr. Finley felt encouraged to set out for Washington in December, 1816, to attempt the formation of a colonization society.