The Eleven Signatories
Eleven delegates representing the three counties of the Commonwealth of Liberia gathered in Monrovia to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the first Constitution of Liberia. Their names are inscribed in the original document, held in the Liberian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Each was a free person of color or formerly enslaved American who had come to the West African coast in search of a different future. Their backgrounds were varied, farmers, merchants, teachers, clergy, and public administrators; but they shared the conviction that the time for self-rule had come.
Representing Montserrado County
Samuel Benedict (President of the Convention), Hilary Teague (author of the Declaration), Elijah Johnson, John Naustehlau Lewis, Beverly R. Wilson, and J. B. Gripon.
Representing Grand Bassa County
John Day, Amos Herring, Anthony William Gardiner, and Ephraim Titler.
Representing Sinoe County
Richard E. Murray.
The Number Eleven
The number eleven is permanently commemorated in the Liberian national flag: the eleven horizontal red and white stripes of the Lone Star flag represent each of the eleven signatories. Samuel Benedict, as president of the Constitutional Convention, presided over the proceedings. Hilary Teague, in writing the Declaration, gave voice to the collective aspirations of the assembly. Elijah Johnson, the son of one of the very first settlers who arrived in 1820, represented the continuity between the earliest arrivals and the declaration of nationhood.
Note on the record: there is scholarly discussion about whether Jacob W. Prout, who signed the documents as secretary of the Convention, should also be counted as a signatory. University of Liberia historian Dr. William Ezra Allen has argued that Prout’s role was administrative rather than representational, and that the eleven delegates, not twelve, are correctly recognized as the signatories.
Sources:
Wikipedia — Liberian Declaration of Independence [3]
AllAfrica / Dr. William Ezra Allen, University of Liberia [primary]
Medium — Jabari Lamb [secondary]