George Washington and Slavery

George Washington was the first political president of the United States. So despite having been an active slave owner for about 56 years, George Washington felt his desire to end the practice of slavery. When he died Washington made a bold move and set all his slaves free in his will in 1799. I will start from the beginning though. At the age of 11, George Washington was a slaveholder. When Washington’s father, Augustine died in 1743, Washington was given his family’s 280 acre farm near Fredericksburg, Virginia. Also in his father’s will Washington was given 10 slaves and when he got older he purchased at least 8 more slaves. Then, Washington purchased more slaves in 1755, including four men, two women, and a child.

After marrying Martha Dandridge Custis in January of 1759, George Washington's slaves increased dramatically. Martha was widow of a wealthy planter who died without a will in 1757, so Martha's share of the Custis estate brought another eighty-four slaves to Mount Vernon. When George Washington took control of the Mount Vernon property in 1754, the population of Fairfax County was around 6,500 people, of whom a little more than 1,800 or about 28% were slaves of African origin. By the end of the American Revolution, over 40% of the people living in Fairfax County were slaves.

Sources offer differing insight into Washington's behavior as a slave owner. On one end of the spectrum, Richard Parkinson, an Englishman who lived near Mount Vernon, once reported that "It was the sense of all his neighbors that he treated [his slaves] with more severity than any other man." Conversely, a foreign visitor traveling in America once recorded that George Washington dealt with his slaves "Far more humanely than do his fellow citizens of Virginia." What is clear is that Washington frequently utilized harsh punishment against the enslaved population, including whippings and the threat of particularly taxing work assignments. Perhaps most severely, Washington could sell a slave to a buyer in the West Indies, ensuring that the person would never see their family or friends at Mount Vernon again. Washington conducted such sales on several occasions. Also Mount Vernon's enslaved community took opportunities, when possible, to physically escape their enslavement. As a result, Mount Vernon's enslaved population frequently resisted their bondage through a variety of methods while working on the plantation. Over the years slaves at Mount Vernon were accused of stealing a wide variety of objects, including tools, fabrics, yam, raw wool,wine,