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The history of George Washington and slavery reflects Washington's changing attitude toward the ownership of human beings. The preeminent Founding Father of the United States and a hereditary slaveowner, Washington became increasingly uneasy with it.
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Despite having been an enslaver for 56 years, George Washington struggled with the institution of slavery and wrote of his desire to end the practice. At the end of his life, Washington made the decision to free all of the enslaved people he owned in his 1799 will.
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George Washington became a slave owner at the early age of eleven, when his father died and left him the 280 acre farm near Fredericksburg, Virginia where the family was then living. In addition, Washington was willed ten slaves.
Of the nine presidents who were slaveholders, only George Washington freed all his own slaves upon his death. Before the Revolution, Washington, like most White Americans, took slavery for granted. At the time of the Revolution, one-fifth of the colonies’ population lived in bondage.
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George Washington first stated concerns about slavery in economic terms. Later, he added moral objections. Although Washington never identified his influences, many factors likely shaped his increasingly negative views of slavery.
Feb 8, 2017 · In 1796, a 22-year-old enslaved woman named Ona Judge fled President George Washington’s household for a life of freedom in New Hampshire.
May 3, 2024 · George Washington owned enslaved people from age eleven until his death, when his will promised his enslaved people freedom. His actions and private statements suggest a long evolution in his stance on slavery, based on experience and a possible awakening of conscience.
Jun 12, 2006 · At the age of 11, George Washington inherited 10 slaves from his father’s estate. Just as he was ever eager to expand his landholdings, to improve the productivity of his farms and to win election to public office, he steadily acquired more slaves during the next two decades.
Feb 23, 2015 · Speaking Thursday at the fourth annual George Washington Lecture—the intellectual component of GW’s recognition of its namesake’s birthday—Dr. Morgan called slavery a system “that enmeshed master and slave” and one Washington sunk further into as he aged, despite his personal desires to eliminate it from his life.
Feb 16, 2015 · George Washington owned slaves and relied on their labor—and, as Erica Armstrong Dunbar reports for the New York Times, he used legal loopholes to avoid freeing them even as Northern states...
