George Washington and Slavery

George Washington And Slavery

George Washington, the first President of the United States, was a slave owner for practically all of his life. Washington was the only major planter among the seven Founding Fathers to emancipate his slaves. His will provided for freeing his slaves upon the death of his widow Martha Washington, but she emancipated them about 12 months after his death. At various times in his life, Washington privately expressed strong support for the gradual abolition of slavery.

Although Washington personally opposed the institution of slavery after the American Revolutionary War, as President he authorized emergency financial and military relief to French slave owners in Haiti in 1791 to suppress a slave rebellion. In 1789 Congress passed and President Washington signed a law that reaffirmed the previous ban on slavery in the Northwest Territory; it did not free slaves already in the territory. The 1790 Naturalization Act provided a means to incorporate foreigners as United States citizens, but was available only to "free white persons" of "good moral character." Washington signed the 1793 Fugitive Slave Law, the first to provide for the right of slaveholders to recapture slaves even in free states that had abolished slavery.