The coastal people, primarily some of the Fante and the inhabitants of the new town of Accra, who are chiefly Ga, come to rely on British protection against Ashanti incursions, but the ability of the merchant companies to provide this security is limited.

The British Crown dissolves the company in 1821, giving authority over British forts on the Gold Coast to Governor Charles MacCarthy, governor of Sierra Leone.

The British forts and Sierra Leone will remain under common administration for the first half of the century.

MacCarthy's mandate is to impose peace and to end the slave trade.

He seeks to do this by encouraging the coastal peoples to oppose Kumasi rule and by closing the great roads to the coast.

Incidents and sporadic warfare continues, however.

MacCarthy is killed, and most of his force is wiped out in a battle with Ashanti forces in 1824.

An Ashanti invasion of the coast in 1826 is defeated, nonetheless, by British and local forces, including the Fante and the people of Accra.

When the British government allows control of the Gold Coast settlements to revert to the British African Company of Merchants in the late 1820s, relations with Ashanti are still problematic.

From the Ashanti point of view, the British have failed to control the activities of their local coastal allies.

Had this been done, Ashanti might not have found it necessary to attempt to impose peace on the coastal peoples.

MacCarthy's encouragement of coastal opposition to Ashanti and the subsequent 1824 British military attack further indicate to Ashanti authorities that the Europeans, especially the British, do not respect Ashanti.

A London committee of merchants chooses Captain George Maclean to become president of a local council of Gold Coast merchants.

Although his formal jurisdiction is limited, Maclean's achievements are substantial; for example, a peace treaty is arranged with Asante in 1831.

Maclean also supervises the coastal people by holding regular court in Cape Coast, where he punishes those found guilty of disturbing the peace.

No British confrontations have occurred with Asante between 1830 and 1843 while George Maclean is in charge of affairs on the Gold Coast,  and the volume of trade reportedly increases threefold.

Maclean's exercise of limited judicial power on the coast is so effective that a parliamentary committee recommends that the British government permanently administer its settlements and negotiate treaties with the coastal chiefs that will define Britain's relations with them.

The government does so in 1843, the same year crown government is reinstated.

Commander H. Worsley Hill is appointed first governor of the Gold Coast.

Under Maclean's administration, several coastal tribes had submitted voluntarily to British protection.

Hill proceeds to define the conditions and responsibilities of his jurisdiction over the protected areas.

He negotiates a special treaty with a number of Fante and other local chiefs that becomes known as the Bond of 1844.

This document obliges local leaders to submit serious crimes, such as murder and robbery, to British jurisdiction and lays the legal foundation for subsequent British colonization of the coastal area.

Additional coastal states as well as other states farther inland eventually sign the Bond, and British influence is accepted, strengthened, and expanded.

Under the terms of the 1844 arrangement, the British give the impression that they will protect the coastal areas; thus, an informal protectorate comes into being.

As responsibilities for defending local allies and managing the affairs of the coastal protectorate increased, the administration of the Gold Coast is separated from that of Sierra Leone in 1850.

Growing acceptance of the advantages offered by the British presence in the Gold Coast lead to the initiation of another important step.

In April 1852, local chiefs and elders meet at Cape Coast to consult with the governor on means of raising revenue.

With the governor's approval, the council of chiefs constitutes itself as a legislative assembly.

In approving its resolutions, the governor indicates that the assembly of chiefs should become a permanent fixture of the protectorate's constitutional machinery, but the assembly is given no specific constitutional authority to pass laws or to levy taxes without the consent of the people.