[103][116], Washington's early views on slavery were no different from any Virginia planter of the time. After his father’s death in 1743, Washington inherited 10 slaves. In 1667, the Virginia Assembly passed a law that barred baptism as a means of conferring freedom. The Mount Vernon Ladies Association has been maintaining the Mount Vernon Estate since they acquired it from the Washington family in 1858. Like nearly all wealthy landowners in Virginia, George Washington owned enslaved people who worked his land. The practices of George Washington as to the dogs on his plantation and with which he hunted, and his attitudes towards the dogs of his slaves, show considerable influence from his English roots, though with significant adaptation to the very [136][137][f] In 1780, he suggested to one of his commanders the integration of African-American recruits "to abolish the name and appearance of a Black Corps. Have them complete the worksheet, “Of Human Bondage: George Washington and the Issue of Slavery,” for each document. Enslaved people occasionally earned money through their normal work or for particular services rendered – for example, Washington rewarded three of his own enslaved with cash for good service in 1775, an enslaved person received a fee for the care of a mare that was being bred in 1798 and the chef Hercules profited well by selling slops from the presidential kitchen. [281] In the late 1790s, about half the enslaved population at Mount Vernon was too old, too young, or too infirm to be productive. [152][153][154] Before resigning his commission in 1783, Washington took the opportunity to give his opinion on the challenges that threatened the existence of the new nation, in his Circular to the States. Washington also brought Hercules, his enslaved cook, to Philadelphia to prepare the daily meals and elaborate dinners. [181][184][185] Washington wrote in despair to Lafayette: "Some petitions were presented to the Assembly at its last session for the abolition of slavery, but they could scarce obtain a reading. To make the Adults among them as easy & as comfortable in their circumstances as their actual state of ignorance & improvidence would admit; & to lay a foundation to prepare the rising generation for a destiny different from that in which they were born; afforded some satisfaction to my mind, & could not I hoped be displeasing to the justice of the Creator. [101] In general, the best chance of success lay with second- or third-generation African-American enslaved people who had good English, possessed skills that would allow them to support themselves as free people and were in close enough contact with their masters to receive special privileges. Also, Mount Vernon's enslaved community developed at least one spiritual leader from within their own community, named Caesar, according to a runaway slave advertisement from the spring of 1798. In the months that followed, he considered a plan to repossess tenancies in Berkeley and Frederick Counties and transferring half of his Mount Vernon slaves to work them. A kinder-than-average slave owner was still a slave owner, and Washington was not one to tolerate disobedience or attempted escapes. [61] Each enslaved person was provided with a basic daily food ration of one US quart (0.95 l) or more of cornmeal, up to eight ounces (230 g) of herring and occasionally some meat, a fairly typical ration for the enslaved population in Virginia that was adequate in terms of the calorie requirement for a young man engaged in moderately heavy agricultural labor but nutritionally deficient. [12][13] On his marriage in 1759 to Martha Dandridge Custis, Washington gained control of eighty-four dower slaves. It's common to hear that George Washington was kinder to his slaves than most other elite planters in Virginia, and that claim largely seems to be true. He was concerned that such a move would prompt the British to do the same, leading to an arms race in which the Americans would be at a disadvantage, and that it would promote discontent among those who remained enslaved. [17][18] He scaled back significantly his purchasing of enslaved workers after the American Revolution but continued to acquire them, mostly through natural increase and occasionally in settlement of debts. Africans who had been baptised before arriving in Virginia could be granted the status of indentured servantuntil 1682, when an… [265], Historian Joseph Ellis writes that Washington did not favor the continuation of legal slavery, and adds "[n]or did he ever embrace the racial arguments for black inferiority that Jefferson advanced....He saw slavery as the culprit, preventing the development of diligence and responsibility that would emerge gradually and naturally after emancipation. [48], Washington instructed his overseers to treat enslaved people "with humanity and tenderness" when sick. George Washington was the first President of the United States and one of the founding fathers, but he was also a slave owner. Because General Washington—the universally acknowledged hero of the Revolutionary War—in the postwar period uniquely combined the moral authority, personal prestige, and political power to influence significantly the course and the outcome of the slavery debate, his opinions on the subject of slaves and slavery are of crucial importance to understanding how racism succeeded in becoming an integral and … [281] He forbade the sale or transportation of any of his slaves out of Virginia before their emancipation. The list of Mount Vernon slaves which GW drew up, probably some time in June 1799, included those slaves owned by him outright, those who were controlled by him as part of Martha Washington’s dowry, and a number who were rented by him in 1786 by contract with Mrs. Penelope French at the time he acquired her life rights to land that she owned on Dogue Run. [156] After 1782, inspired by the rhetoric that had driven the revolution, it became popular to free slaves. Wiencek bases his argument on the fact that the passage was written in the past tense and appears in Humphreys' notebook amid drafts Humphreys had written for public statements Washington was to make about assuming the presidency. The sources are contradictory on Washington's negotiations to accept slaves from Mercer in settlement of a debt. [103][104][105], Jessie MacLeodAssociate CuratorGeorge Washington's Mount Vernon[106], Washington used both reward and punishment to encourage discipline and productivity in his enslaved population. This book examines George Washington's evolving views about slavery over his lifetime. It marks, Wiencek believes, a moral epiphany in Washington's thinking, the moment he decided not only to emancipate his slaves but also to use the occasion to set the example Lafayette had urged in 1783. Towards the end of the 17th century, English policy shifted in favor of retaining cheap labor rather than shipping it to the colonies, and the supply of indentured servants in Virginia began to dry up; by 1715, annual immigration was in the hundreds, compared with 1,500–2,000 in the 1680s. 2 During Washington’s presidency, at least ten enslaved … [107] In one case, he suggested "admonition and advice" would be more effective than "further correction", and he occasionally appealed to an enslaved person's sense of pride to encourage better performance. George Washington freed all the enslaved individuals that he personally owned in his will, but with the stipulation that that freedom would come when Martha Washington died. An Inventory of the … Treatment of Slaves. [79] Although the slave condition made it impossible to adhere to the Five Pillars of Islam, some slave names betray a Muslim cultural origin. "[186], Henriques identifies Washington's concern for the judgement of posterity as a significant factor in Washington's thinking on slavery, writing, "No man had a greater desire for secular immortality, and [Washington] understood that his place in history would be tarnished by his ownership of slaves. [81] The three religions advocated abolition, raising hopes of freedom among the enslaved, and the congregation of the Alexandria Baptist Church, founded in 1803, included enslaved people formerly owned by Washington. [73][74] Children were born into slavery, their ownership determined by the ownership of their mothers. Discover the Home of George and Martha Washington, Database of Mount Vernon's Enslaved Community. [29], Although Washington employed a farm manager to run the estate and an overseer at each of the farms, he was a hands-on manager who ran his business with a military discipline and involved himself in the minutiae of everyday work. 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