George Washington: First in Freedom?

George Washington: First in Freedom?

What images pop into your mind when you hear the name of George Washington -- Father of our Nation, First President, Commanding General in the Revolutionary War, Slave-owner? Many people forget that Washington, a Virginian land-owner and farmer, owned more than two hundred slaves while he was fighting for American freedom and while shepherding our new nation based on the principle that “all men are created equal.”

As noted in Joseph Ellis’s brilliant biography, His Excellency, George Washington, Washington suffered from a moral dilemma. As the symbol of American democracy and freedom, he confronted an ethical oxymoron: Americans must be allowed to live in the “natural” state of freedom, but slaves (who were considered to be property) must not. America was not a “free” nation.

During the Revolution, Washington had reluctantly accepted free blacks into the Continental army. When soldiers were needed, John Laurens, statesman from South Carolina, suggested arming slaves and offering emancipation to those who survived the war. Washington politely declined, stating that emancipating some would make “Slavery more irksome to those who remain in it.” 

After his retirement, Washington returned to Mount Vernon to find his plantation operating in the red. He realized that slave labor was less economically sound than hiring workers. He pondered selling, but decided against this measure because of what he felt were his “moral obligations.” First, many of the slaves were part of his wife Martha’s dowry and were legally bound to be inherited by her descendants. Second, many of the slaves were elderly and could not be sold profitably. Third, he did not want to break up families by selling some members and maintaining others. Selling his slaves was economically unsound, and, to Washington, unethical.

While admitting to his most trusted advisers and friends, the Marquis de Lafayette and financier Robert Morris, that “there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of [slavery],” Washington never took any public steps to act on his convictions, In fact, he actively pursued two of his slaves who escaped while he was in residence in Philadelphia as President. Despite his understanding that slave labor was less efficient and more costly than hired workers, he maintained the ownership of slaves until his death. 

Washington recognized that slavery was repugnant, but economic and cultural realities trumped his moral obligations. Urged by friends and Quaker abolitionists to champion the cause of emancipation, he remained silent. Since he could not sell or free his slaves, Washington decided that maintaining the slave families at Mount Vernon was the most honorable course. Washington felt that supporting general emancipation would lead to the dissolution of the infant nation because slaveholders would rebel if this “peculiar institution” was challenged.  Unable to take a stand for emancipation during his lifetime, Washington left instructions in his will that all slaves he personally owned should be freed. 

George Washington led our nation during troubled times. He provided a model for the presidency. He held the nation together during its first turbulent years. Looking though the cultural lens of today, more than two hundred years later, many condemn Washington for his “moral” decisions. Yet Washington must be judged by the mores of his time. He struggled to reconcile his personal principles with the realities of the times. Even Thomas Jefferson, the Author of American Liberty, never freed his slaves -- he couldn’t –- he had mortgaged them and was deeply in debt. Washington’s concerns, (to preserve the unity of the nation which rested on the economic standards of both North and South), overrode the pricking of his conscience.

No dogma supports slavery. No amount of rationalization can make the enslavement of any peoples correct. Yet, even today, economics remains the foundation for many of the decisions made by individuals and nations. Are we any more honorable than Washington? When making decisions about how to treat our fellow beings, do our personal economies and cultural traditions take precedence over our moral obligations? 

“First in war, first in peace, and first the hearts of his countrymen;” Washington’s moral struggles never left him. Until his final days he continued to consider the question of slavery. Washington’s legacy is one of integrity and struggle. We all struggle with moral dilemmas. What will our legacy be? 

(Quotations taken from His Excellency, George Washington by Joseph Ellis, 2004. First published in SENIORS! Page1Publishing)