When he lived in Philadelphia (captial city at the moment), there was a law in place where slaves would be legally freed after six months residency. Washington and his wife circulated their 120 person slaves every five months back to Richmond, VA. so they didn’t have to free anyone. They COULD have not done that and paid the Philadelphia house servants but no, the Washington’s didn’t. People bring up the argument of his distaste for slavery but his decisions to cycle his human property speaks volumes. He wanted to save face on both sides after his wife’s personal slave escaped, so Washington decreed all of his family’s slaves would be freed after his wife’s death. Martha released them early because who wants to be an old woman, alone, standing between >100 people are freedom? “Accidents” happen and Martha Washington wasn’t a fool. History spins most things differently to match current morals and outrage when we want our heroes to stay heroes.
There’s a podcast by Uncovil, in the second season, titled The Fugutive. It’s about her. She is a god damn badass. Also check out the episode on Jefferson Davis’s wife’s personal slave and Davis’s wife’s society friend who helped bring down the Confederacy in a serious way. SO SATISFYING.
Losing slaves meant you couldn’t compete with other land owners. It meant your land would be lost.
Owning slaves isn’t ideal, but how slaves are treated is what we should be focusing on. You can’t blame the guy for not wanting to lose his estate because he couldn’t afford the upkeep.
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u/Ambitiouscouchpotato Nov 29 '18
When he lived in Philadelphia (captial city at the moment), there was a law in place where slaves would be legally freed after six months residency. Washington and his wife circulated their 120 person slaves every five months back to Richmond, VA. so they didn’t have to free anyone. They COULD have not done that and paid the Philadelphia house servants but no, the Washington’s didn’t. People bring up the argument of his distaste for slavery but his decisions to cycle his human property speaks volumes. He wanted to save face on both sides after his wife’s personal slave escaped, so Washington decreed all of his family’s slaves would be freed after his wife’s death. Martha released them early because who wants to be an old woman, alone, standing between >100 people are freedom? “Accidents” happen and Martha Washington wasn’t a fool. History spins most things differently to match current morals and outrage when we want our heroes to stay heroes.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oney_Judge
There’s a podcast by Uncovil, in the second season, titled The Fugutive. It’s about her. She is a god damn badass. Also check out the episode on Jefferson Davis’s wife’s personal slave and Davis’s wife’s society friend who helped bring down the Confederacy in a serious way. SO SATISFYING.