What was the goal of the American Colonization Society?

The American Colonization Society was founded in the early 19th century with the primary goal of addressing the issue of slavery in the United States by promoting the idea of resettling freed African Americans in Africa. The society believed that this would be beneficial both for the freed individuals who could face racial discrimination in the U.S. and for the nation, which they thought would be better off without a significant population of free African Americans.

In 1822, the society founded Liberia on the west coast of Africa, where freed slaves could start anew. The movement had complex motivations, including a combination of humanitarian concern for the welfare of African Americans and a desire among some white Americans to remove free blacks from the U.S., which they viewed as a potential threat to the institution of slavery and social cohesion. Thus, the option of sending freed slaves back to Africa encapsulates the essence of the society's mission and actions.

This choice captures the historical context of the American Colonization Society's objectives more accurately than the other options, which either misconstrue the society’s activities or introduce concepts that were not central to its founding principles.