American Presidents Who Owned the Enslaved

 Did American Presidents Own Slaves?

America is known to many as the "land of the free" and the "home of the brave". This saying has spread across the world for centuries, but is it factual? Of course slavery is a major contradiction of this and it makes it even more strange once the truth comes out that past American Presidents had owned slaves. We will dive deep into three of the twelve Presidents who owned slaves, what time of their lives did they own slaves, who brought slaves with them to the White House and the legacy of each President who owned slaves. For some, it makes sense that they owned them and for others, it comes as a surprise to many historians.

George Washington:

George Washington was America's first President of the United States. Before his presidency, he was born in a Virginia plantation in 1732. George Washington would be the first President to not only hold office, but also to have slaves at his plantation, Mount Vernon. During his life, he would own 577 enslaved Africans. Washington's slaves would have a hand in building Mount Vernon and they would work there for years. Washington would be just like any other perceived plantation slave owner in the South around the late 1700s. Washington was someone who would punish his slaves if they were to refuse to do their work or run away. 47 slaves would try to run away during Washington's life. As he states, "if any of the servants will not do their duty by fair mean- or are impertinent, correction (as the only alternative) must be administered." George Washington's farm manager, Anthony Whitting, would also agree with his violent way of discipline, "I am determined to lower her spirit or skin her back" referring to a female slave who was not listening. Washington was someone that believed in punishing his slaves by any means necessary and he thought that it would make them listen more. Washington's last resort for a slave who did not listen was to sell them which was emotionally damaging to the slaves who had family members on the plantation. Washington was also known for buying slaves' teeth. He in total, bought 9 teeth from a negro according to a ledger of Washington's No one ever knew if he used the teeth on himself or relatives, but speculation of his awful dental health leads experts to believe that he used them on himself. After fighting the Revolutionary War, Washington began questioning slavery and the justification of it. He felt so guilty of it, in his will, he would set his slaves free by the time his wife's death. Unfortunately, only a few slaves were freed by the time his wife died. His grandchildren would take many of the slaves with them. By the time that he died, he would have 317 slaves on his plantation.

Thomas Jefferson:

Thomas Jefferson was America's third President. Jefferson also owned slaves in his life. He would go on to own 600 slaves through his life. According to Monticello's website, "400 people were enslaved at Monticello; the other 200 people were held in bondage on Jefferson’s other properties. At any given time, around 130 people were enslaved at Monticello." The amount of slaves that Jefferson owned was astronomically large. Though there is not any evidence of Thomas Jefferson beating his own slaves, slaves were beaten at the discretion of the overseers. Jefferson thought that there should not be slavery, yet owned many slaves in his lifetime.  This is due to his thoughts of black people being subpar compared to white people. Jefferson was also guilty of bringing some of his slaves with him when he lived at the White House. Jefferson only freed ten people out of all of the 600 slaves he had, two during his life and the other eight in his will. Thomas Jefferson is also known to have children with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings. They would have many children together though some of those children would die, they would share four children together. This was controversial because during the time of slavery, it was frowned upon to have children with slaves even though you were allowed to do whatever you wanted to do with your slaves, even as far as to rape them as much as you could. We may never know the extent of their relationship, whether it was love or rape, all we have the proof of is that Jefferson shared children with a slave. After Jefferson died, the only slaves he would free were two of his children. 

Andrew Jackson:

Andrew Jackson was the 7th President of the United States. He was one of the most controversial Presidents that America has had. From the Trail of Tears to his racist redirect, Jackson was not liked among minorities. What does not come as surprising is that Jackson owned slaves. Jackson during his lifetime would own over 300 slaves. At the time of his death, he would own 150 slaves. Jackson would also bring some of his slaves to the White House with him. His plantation named, The Hermitage, would be the evidence that current archeologists would use to see how many slaves lived on or near the plantation. The majority of wealth that Andrew Jackson obtained would be thanks to his enslaved workers. Like other slave owners, Jackson encouraged slaves to mingle with one another to procreate. The more slaves that he had, the more workers that he would have which would make him more money. Unfortunately, not much is really known about the slaves who lived on the plantation nor how strict Andrew Jackson was when it came do discipline but if he was anything like the other slave owning Presidents, he may have not been against it.

 

Two out of the four Presidents on Mount Rushmore owned slaves. Twenty-six percent of American Presidents owned slaves. 75 percent of Presidents who were President during the years of slavery owned slaves. These numbers are huge compared to what was taught to Americans in school. What does this make of the legacy of many American Presidents? Does it change the way you feel about American Politics? This makes the legacy of the Constitution also have to come into question as well. These facts cannot be ignored in American public schools any longer. African Americans and White Americans have the right to learn the truth about their American government. Learning about the past puts into perspective why America was built on a foundation of disrespect of African Americans as well as laws that still to this day, affect the life and liberties of African Americans. Americans cannot ignore their past, they can only learn from it and until Americans learn from their ancestor's mistakes, they will never learn and grow from it.

We are here to educate the masses. We will learn and grow from our past transgressions by reconstructing the narrative and reconstructing the facts. 

https://www.whitehousehistory.org/slavery-in-the-presidents-neighborhood-faq

https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/biography/
 https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/slavery/resistance-and-punishment/

https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/health/washingtons-teeth/george-washington-and-slave-teeth/

 https://www.monticello.org/slavery/slavery-faqs/property/

 https://www.monticello.org/sallyhemings/

https://thehermitage.com/learn/mansion-grounds/slavery/