George Washington: Slavery and the Hypocrisy of the War for Liberty Essay Example

the manor: They work all week, not having a single day for themselves except holidays…General Washington treats his slaves far more humanely than do his fellow citizens of Virginia…The management of negroes was a great obstacle…they will not do without harsh treatment…I have never seen the Blacks sad…I noticed that all spoke very good English. Washington didn’t start to act on his opinion on slavery until after the American Revolution.

His actions spoke louder than words. By the end of 1779, Washington decided against selling his slaves without their permission because he didn’t want to break up their families. He thought they would be less likely to try to escape if they felt a sense of security. Historian Henry Wiencek has a theory that Washington’s perspective of slavery may have changed because of an emotional raffle in which he purchased slaves and separated them from their families. He witnessed the terror and horror first hand and may have felt some guilt towards the anguish he caused the slaves.

In 1782, the Virginia Manumission Law was passed which allowed slave owners to voluntarily free their slaves while alive or in their wills. Despite this new law that was put into effect, Washington didn’t initially free his slaves. It wasn’t until he made provisions in his last will and testament that requested his slaves be freed upon the death of his wife, Martha. He chose not to free them until her death due to the intermarriages of his slaves and the dower slaves; he would not be able to include the dower slaves in his will because he did not hold them in his own right.

He also requested that

the younger and elderly slaves who were unable to support themselves “be comfortably clothed & fed” by his heirs. The younger slaves whose parents had passed or were unable to provide for them would “be bound by the Court until they shall arrive at the age of twenty-five years” and “be taught to read and write; and to be brought up to some useful occupation. ” After my examination of George Washington and slavery, I have concluded that Washington’s choice not to speak up for what he believed was very unfortunate.

Had he chosen to voice his opinions of slavery more directly, instead of neutrally, he might have changed the morale of the United States as we know it today. Although when another great president, Abraham Lincoln, spoke out against slavery, he was assassinated, Washington may have had more luck on the issue, in my opinion, because even though the nation was new and could be easily divided, it was also more impressionable and might have accepted the idea of abolishing slavery. All in all, Washington transformed from a conventional slaveholder into a lukewarm abolitionist by the time of his death in 1799.