Presidents Washington and Adams on Slavery

Presidents Washington and Adams on Slavery. . , Caught between his private doubts about slavery and his public responsibilities as president, George Washington navigated a nation deeply divided over slavery. Privately, George Washington often expressed discomfort with the institution and a desire to see it abolished. Yet as a Virginia plantation owner, his wealth and livelihood were deeply tied to it., In 1774, Washington helped draft the Fairfax Resolves at Mount Vernon. These condemned the slave trade as “wicked,” “cruel,” and “unnatural” and called for putting “an entire Stop to it.” Over time, he became increasingly committed to the gradual abolition of slavery., When he and First Lady Martha Washington moved to the President’s House in Philadelphia, they brought enslaved servants from Mount Vernon. Most were Martha’s dower slaves, people she had inherited from her first marriage, while others were enslaved individuals owned directly by Washington., Washington rotated enslaved persons into and out of the state in acknowledgment of a Pennsylvania law requiring slaves to be set free after six months of residence. Slaves living in the President’s House experienced a greater modicum of autonomy than elsewhere in the South such as to explore the city and sometimes even attend the theater, with Washington buying the tickets., As President, he signed legislation that both upheld and limited slavery. In 1793, he approved the Fugitive Slave Act, passed by a two-thirds majority of Congress, which allowed slaveholders to recapture those who had escaped and penalized anyone who assisted them. He also signed measures restricting slavery’s expansion, including the 1789 Northwest Ordinance, which banned slavery in the Northwest Territory, and the 1794 Slave Trade Act, which barred the participation of American ships in the transatlantic slave trade., Although Washington placed national unity above immediate abolition, he hoped for gradual legislation that would eventually bring slavery to an end.,

“There is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it, but there is only one proper and effectual mode by which it can be accomplished, and that is by Legislative authority.” , , George Washington , Letter to Robert Morris (April 12, 1786)

, Washington did take steps to reduce slavery in his own household. He opposed buying and selling enslaved people and sought ways to decrease their number at Mount Vernon. In the 1790s, he explored selling or leasing land to finance emancipation and even considered purchasing Martha’s dower enslaved workers so he could free them. These efforts were never realized., In his last will, Washington freed his personal enslaved workers and made provisions that the elderly and sick be supported by his estate for the rest of their lives. He also directed that formerly enslaved children be taught to read, write, and work at a useful trade. The enslaved servants who were part of Martha’s dower could not be freed by either George or Martha Washington, according to Virginia law. Instead, they were returned to the estate of Martha’s first husband, Daniel Parke Custis., Among all of the Founders, Washington carried out the largest manumission of enslaved people. In death, George Washington committed his most public and personal anti-slavery act., Enslaved Members of Washington’s Household , Between 1790 and 1797, nine enslaved people lived and worked at the President’s House at various times., Christopher Sheels: The teenage personal attendant to George Washington. He helped the president dress and assisted with his personal needs. He attempted to escape to freedom in 1799. Later, he was present at Washington’s deathbed., Hercules: The chef in charge of preparing the executive dinners hosted at the President’s House. Hercules was famous in Philadelphia for his culinary skills. He escaped to freedom in 1797., Richmond: Hercules’ 11-year-old son. He worked as a scullion in his father’s kitchen in Philadelphia for one year before being returned to Mount Vernon., Moll: A nursemaid for Martha Washington's two grandchildren., Austin: Hercules’s 11-year-old son. He worked as a scullion in his father’s kitchen in Philadelphia for one year before being returned to Mount Vernon., Joe Richardson: A postillion for the presidential carriage. He joined the household after Austin’s death. In 1796, Joe’s wife and their children were freed by Washington’s will. The family took the name Richardson., Paris: A young stable hand. He was returned to Mount Vernon in 1791 because of his “unsatisfactory behavior.” , ,br> Giles: A postillion and stable hand. He drove the presidential coach. Giles was injured in an accident during President Washington’s tour of the Southern states and returned to Mount Vernon in 1791. He died there soon after., Ona ("Oney") Judge: The personal maidservant and seamstress of Martha Washington. She ran away from the President’s House and escaped to freedom in 1796. She settled in New Hampshire, married a free black sailor, and had three children before passing away in 1848., John Adams and Slavery , The next occupants of the President’s House were John and Abigail Adams. They never kept slaves while in the presidential household. Adams later called slavery “an evil of colossal magnitude” and a “foul contagion in the human character.”, In a letter to two Quaker abolitionists in January 1801, Adams stated that he had “always employed myself in this business [abolition] and labored” and never owned a slave in his life. He argued that careful, gradual emancipation was the best means to end slavery; he believed that an immediate abolition of slavery would lead to violence, and potentially, slave rebellion. This hope for abolition was not realized gradually but rather by force of arms or a Constitutional Amendment., John Quincy Adams, son of John Adams and 6th President of the United States, argued that his father and other Founders believed “that before the principles of the Declaration of Independence, slavery, in common with every mode of oppression, was destined sooner or later to be banished from the earth.”, Slavery in the U.S. During Washington's and Adams' Presidencies

1790. Total U.S. Population: 3,929,214 , Free African Americans: 59,150 (1.5%) , Enslaved African Americans: 694,280 (17.67%), 1800. Total U.S. Population: 5,308,483 , Free African Americans: 108,500 (2.04%) , Enslaved African Americans: 893,602 (16.83%)

, [Captions:] , George and Martha Washington lived in the President's House with her grandchildren Nelly Custis and "Wash" Custis. This portrait also shows an enslaved person on the right wearing a livery uniform., Oney Judge was born about 1773 at Mount Vernon in Virginia. Much is known about her experience due to interviews she gave to abolitionist newspapers in the years before her death., A published copy of "An oration delivered before the inhabitants of the town of Newburyport, at their request, on the sixty-first anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1837" by John Quincy Adams.