George Washington's Changing Views on Slavery
In the 18th century, Virginia was known for its tobacco plantations. Tobacco is an extremely time-consuming plant to grow, and because of this, there was a high demand for workers to care for the plants. These tobacco planters relied heavily on the use of slave labor in order to make their plantations a successful one. Slavery was ingrained into economic and social life in Virginia during this time period. As a young tobacco planter in Virginia, Washington seemed to have no concern for owning slaves. Even before Washington became a tobacco planter, he inherited several enslaved people from his father’s estate at just eleven years old. Washington would continue to expand the number of enslaved he had through purchasing, renting, and inheriting them through various friends, family members, and neighbors. For the next twenty years, there is no change in Washington’s attitude towards slavery, and it is not until the Revolutionary War that Washington’s views start to change.
During the Revolutionary War, Washington is introduced to the Marquis de Lafayette, Alexander Hamilton, and John Laurens, all of whom are opposed to slavery. These men start to introduce antislavery ideas to Washington, and it appears to work, for in 1778, Washington writes privately his first documented expression of his desire to no longer own slaves. After the Revolutionary War, Washington continues to write about Lafayette’s efforts in the abolition of slavery in Virginia. Although his views are starting to change, Washington is still utilizing slave labor to his benefit. A majority of the work that was done on the outlying farms, and the work done in and around the mansion was done by the enslaved people. Washington still punishes one slave by sending him down to the West Indies to dispose of him, condones one of his overseers for lashing an enslaved woman, and even signs the Fugitive Slave Law Act. Later on, however, he does sign the Slave Trade Act, which prohibits American ships from participating in the slave trade but allows foreign ships to continue to bring slaves over but does not allow them to export them.
When George Washington died in 1799, he had a clause in his will that stated that upon his wife’s death all of the enslaved people that he personally owned would be set free. At the time of his death, Washington owned a total of 317 slaves, 123 that belonged to him personally, 41 which had been rented from a neighbor, and 153 belonged to the estate of Martha Washington’s first husband. Because of these three groups and laws of the time, Washington was only able to free the enslaved people that belonged to him. The 41 he had rented would go back to his neighbor and the 153 that belonged to the Custis estate would be split between Martha Washington’s four grandchildren. Washington’s decision to free his enslaved people was a rather unusual option for a plantation owner. Washington’s decision to set free his enslaved comes from his lifelong struggle with his changing views on slavery. After Washington’s death, seventeen pieces of literature that relate to slavery and the slave trade are found in his library. One of these pieces of literature is Thomas Clarkson’s Essay on the Impolicy of the African Slave Trade, it was one of six antislavery pamphlets that Washington had bound into a volume entitled “Tracts on Slavery.” It is believed among many historians that Washington’s views changed from those of a slave owner to those of a lukewarm abolitionist.[1] One historian even suggests that Washington’s view lined up with transatlantic abolitionists and that Washington had more of a hand in abolition and slavery than previously thought.[2] Mary Thompson argues that Washington’s changing views on slavery is a way of educating future generations.[3]
REFRENCES
[1] Fritz Hirschfeld, George Washington and Slavery: A Documentary Portrayal (University of Missouri Press, 1997), 3.
[2] François Furstenberg, “Atlantic Slavery, Atlantic Freedom: George Washington, Slavery, and Transatlantic Abolitionist Networks,” William and Mary Quarterly 68, no. 2 (2011): 247 – 286.
[3] Thompson, Mary V., The Only Unavoidable Subject of Regret: George Washington, Slavery, and the Enslaved Community at Mount Vernon (University of Virginia Press, 2019), 28.