George Washington

As we commemorate the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., it is important to consider how our most
famous Founding Father viewed civil rights. Actually,
George Washington did not live during a period of equality for
all American citizens. In fact, he was born into a slaveholding
family, inherited 10 slaves at age 11, and had as many as
300 slaves at the time of his death. Yet, Washington’s views
on slavery changed dramatically during his lifetime. This
article contends that the turning point in GW’s views about
persons of color was the Revolutionary War.
At the outset of the Revolution against Britian in 1775, Washington removed free blacks from the Continental Army, but
allowed them to reenlist when the royal governor of Virginia
offered freedom to any Negro who joined the British military.
As the war progressed, black soldiers constituted as much as
one-fifth of the American military.
General Washington soon recognized that when fighting for
freedom, color was less important that courage. He
witnessed the willingness of black soldiers to fight and pay the
ultimate sacrifice for the American cause. Washington’s
nephew was saved by his slave during the Revolution. The Virginia Legislature voted to free French ally Marquis de Lafeyette’s slave after the Revolution. In a letter to the Committee of Congress in 1778, Washington made a positive
reference to using blacks as wagoners. Washington praised
operations such as the 1779 siege of Georgia, in which a
legion of black troops was utilized. Finally, Washington
clearly noticed that black soldiers served longer and for less
pay than Caucasian soldiers during the post-war period
of the 1780s.
Washington’s postwar correspondence demonstrated his
changing attitude on slavery. In a 1786 letter to friend
Robert Morris, Washington wrote that “there is not a man
alive who wishes more sincerely than I do for the abolition
of it.” In a 1787 letter to John Francis Mercer, Washington
wrote that he wanted to see “some plan adopted by which
slavery in this country may be abolished by slow, sure, and
imperceptible degrees.” Additionally, Washington chided
the South Carolina legislature for not ending the import of
slaves and expressed his hope that Virginia would gradually
abolish slavery.
Perhaps the most convincing evidence of Washington’s
change of heart on the slavery issue comes from his last
will and testament. It stated that all slaves owned by
his family would be freed upon the death of his wife Martha.
In fact, Martha released all of Mount Vernon’s slaves
before her death in 1800, and the Washington estate
supported black pensioners until 1833.
George Washington’s developing disapproval of slavery was
relatively unique among Southerners of the founding period.
Although Washington held other humans in bondage, his postwar
writings and actions showed his realization that slavery could
never permanently exist in a nation whose core principles are
liberty and equality.

Posted by: Dr. Samuel B. Hoff, Delaware State University
Source: Excerpts from “Founder Recoiled from Slavery,”
by Dr. Hoff, published in the WILMINGTON (DE) NEWS
JOURNAL, February 22, 2004