Part 12 (2/2)

While in Richmond, Lafayette had a consequential encounter with Jaallantly assisted hi the war To help him sue for his freedom, Lafayette furnished hience from the enemy's camp were industriously collected and most faithfully delivered”17 Not only did Arislature (which also coratitude to James Armistead Lafayette Not only did Arislature (which also coratitude to James Armistead Lafayette

Since Lafayette was slated to return to France in Deceesture, volunteered to escort him to his shi+p in New York-the first time he had ventured out of state since the war When they reached Annapolis, however, the two men found themselves trapped in such a tedious round of receptions that Washi+ngton dreaded the ovations yet to come in Philadelphia and New York So one day in early Deceave each other an affectionate farewell hug and clies Afterward, in an affecting letter that showed his powerful, if often suppressed, need for intimacy and how he equated Lafayette with his own lost youth, Washi+ngton told Lafayette of his turbulent e: In the moment of our separation upon the road, as I traveled and every hour since, I felt all that love, respect, and attachth of years, close connection, and your es distended, whether that was the last sight I ever should have of you? And tho[ugh] I wished to say no, my fears answered yes I called tosince fled to return nothe hill I had been 52 years cliood constitution, I was of a short-lived faht soon expect to be entos darkened the shades and gave a gloo you again But I will not repine-I have had ton's pres proved correct: he never set eyes on Lafayette again

Back in France, Lafayette showered Washi+ngton with gifts, including seven hounds sent in the custody of John Quincy Adaales, which Washi+ngton had never seen before All the while, Lafayette perfected his manu speed He bought a large sugar plantation in Cayenne (French Guiana), on the South American coast, which caan to educate and eh to work, providing schooling for the children, and banning the sale of hu, Lafayette instructed his agent to keep on adding ratulating hiain shrinking from any firm commitment to a comparable project: ”The benevolence of your heart, my dear Marquis, is so conspicuous upon all occasions that I never wonder at any fresh proofs of it But your late purchase of an estate in the colony of Cayenne, with a view of eenerous and noble proof of your huenerally into theit”19 To set the slaves ”afloat” abruptly, he feared, would ”be productive of rees it certainly ht to be effected and that, too, by legislative authority” To set the slaves ”afloat” abruptly, he feared, would ”be productive of rees it certainly ht to be effected and that, too, by legislative authority”20 The news of Lafayette's feat ca prodded to take a public stand on abolishi+ng slavery Before the war it had required an act of the royal governor and his council to free a slave Then in 1782 a ne gave masters permission to free their own slaves, and hundreds manumitted at least a few Influenced by the Revolution, antislavery societies sprang up across Virginia In 1785 the Virginia legislature debated whether freed slaves should be perive their enslaved brethren seditious ideas-and abolitionist petitions were introduced Washi+ngton becan by abolitionists to enlist him in their cause When Elkanah Watson visited Mount Vernon in January 1785, he bore books on emancipation written by British abolitionist Granville Sharpe, founder of the African colony of Sierra Leone And then there were people such as Robert Pleasants, a Virginia Quaker who liberated seventy-eight of his slaves and proclaiton's failure to follow suit would leave an everlasting stain on his reputation

That May, Thomas coke and Francis Asbury, two eht to Mount Vernon an emancipation petition that they planned to introduce in the Virginia legislature Although Washi+ngton refrained froainst slavery,” Asbury recorded in his diary, and pro the ton's ambivalent approach to slavery in the 1780s: he privately made no secret of his disdain for the institution, but neither did he have the courage to broadcast his views or act on the abolition, he shunted direct action onto other shoulders A debate, the coke-Asbury petition failed in the Virginia House of Delegates that Noveton, ”A motion was made to throw it under the table, which was treated with as nation on one side, as the petition itself was on the other” This typified Washi+ngton's ambivalent approach to slavery in the 1780s: he privately made no secret of his disdain for the institution, but neither did he have the courage to broadcast his views or act on the abolition, he shunted direct action onto other shoulders A debate, the coke-Asbury petition failed in the Virginia House of Delegates that Noveton, ”A motion was made to throw it under the table, which was treated with as nation on one side, as the petition itself was on the other”22 Such fierce eton, if he harbored any unspoken thoughts about a future return to the political arena Such fierce eton, if he harbored any unspoken thoughts about a future return to the political arena

Washi+ngton's quandary over slavery was thrown into high relief by a visit on April 9, 1786, from a local slave owner, Philip Dalby, who had recently traveled to Philadelphia with his slave, a mulatto waiter named Frank After Frank was spirited away by a team of Quaker abolitionists, Dalby filed suit in the Pennsylvania assembly and, to drum up support, placed a shrill ad in the Alexandria newspaper, warning planters about the ”insidious” work of Philadelphia Quakers23 Incensed over the incident, Washi+ngton dashed off a strongly worded letter to his Philadelphia friend Robert Morris that expressed no sy instead their ”acts of tyranny and oppression” Incensed over the incident, Washi+ngton dashed off a strongly worded letter to his Philadelphia friend Robert Morris that expressed no sy instead their ”acts of tyranny and oppression”24 Unless these practices ceased, he warned, ”none of those whose Unless these practices ceased, he warned, ”none of those whose misfortune misfortune it is to have slaves as attendants will visit the city if they can possibly avoid it, because by so doing they hazard their property or theyservants of another description for the trip” it is to have slaves as attendants will visit the city if they can possibly avoid it, because by so doing they hazard their property or theyservants of another description for the trip”25 This wasn't the only titon talked of slavery as a curse visited This wasn't the only titon talked of slavery as a curse visited on on hie enforced hie enforced by by hiton suddenly rehteous indignation about the Quaker actions: ”I hope it will not be conceived from these observations that it is my wish to hold the unhappy people who are the subject of this letter in slavery I can only say that there is not aishes more sincerely than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it [slavery], but there is only one proper and effectual islative authority And this, as far as ”26 Of course, Washi+ngton lacked a vote in the state legislature and took refuge in a position that was largely symbolic The idea that abolition could be deferred to some future date when it would be carried out by cleanly incre the founders, since it shi+fted the burden onto later generations It was especially attractive to Washi+ngton, the country's foremost apostle of unity, who knew that slavery was potentially the country's ton lacked a vote in the state legislature and took refuge in a position that was largely symbolic The idea that abolition could be deferred to some future date when it would be carried out by cleanly incre the founders, since it shi+fted the burden onto later generations It was especially attractive to Washi+ngton, the country's foremost apostle of unity, who knew that slavery was potentially the country's most divisive issue

Historians often quote a Septeton to John Francis Mercer as signaling aon slavery: ”I never mean (unless some particular circumstance should co aislature by which slavery in this country rees”27 But this noble state hard pressed by two debts-to retire one of which, ”if there is no other resource, I e” But this noble state hard pressed by two debts-to retire one of which, ”if there is no other resource, I e”28 In other words, in a pinch, Washi+ngton would trade slaves to settle debts Clearly, the abolition of slavery would have exacted too steep an econoton to conteton made a comment that narrowed the scope of his possible action: ”It is well known that the expensive mansion in which I am, as it were, involuntarily compelled to live will admit of no diminution of ton would trade slaves to settle debts Clearly, the abolition of slavery would have exacted too steep an econoton to conteton made a comment that narrowed the scope of his possible action: ”It is well known that the expensive mansion in which I am, as it were, involuntarily compelled to live will admit of no diminution of my income”29 In other words, for all his rhetorical objections to slavery, Washi+ngton found it impossible to wean hiate spending and a baronial lifestyle, he was in no position to act forcefully on his principled opposition to slavery until the very end of his life In other words, for all his rhetorical objections to slavery, Washi+ngton found it impossible to wean hiate spending and a baronial lifestyle, he was in no position to act forcefully on his principled opposition to slavery until the very end of his life

It has long been debated whether Washi+ngton's growing aversion to slavery resulted from moral scruples or froain, in which masters paid more for slaves' upkeep than they reaped in profit frohed on him in the mid-1780s, when the failure of his corn crop, the principal food for his slaves, slashed the profitability of his operations Though he probably never read it, Washi+ngton would have agreed with Adam Smith's theory in The Wealth of Nations The Wealth of Nations (1776) that slavery was a backward system because workers lacked econorew especially inefficient for Washi+ngton after he switched frorain production, leaving him with surplus hands In February 1786 he sat down in his study to tote up the nuure of 216 He must have been alarmed to discover that the nu 92, or nearly half the slaves, a figure that guaranteed that his slave population would burgeon from natural increase (1776) that slavery was a backward system because workers lacked econorew especially inefficient for Washi+ngton after he switched frorain production, leaving him with surplus hands In February 1786 he sat down in his study to tote up the nuure of 216 He must have been alarmed to discover that the nu 92, or nearly half the slaves, a figure that guaranteed that his slave population would burgeon froton discussed slavery with other planters, the inefficiency of the systeton sounded as if he wereto Mercer in late 1786, he indicated that he felt burdened by more slaves than he could profitably employ: ”For this species of property, I have no predilection nor any urgent call, being already overstocked with so ness to take six e for three hundred pounds of debt Mercer evidently declined, because Washi+ngton replied, ”I a the Negroes The reeable to led with Mercer over settling ness to take six e for three hundred pounds of debt Mercer evidently declined, because Washi+ngton replied, ”I a the Negroes The reeable toto Henry Lee, Jr, on February 4, 1787, Washi+ngton again announced that he was ”in a great degree principled against increasing my number of slaves”; then in the next breath, he told Lee to buy him a slave, a bricklayer, whose sale was advertised in the newspaper Writing to Henry Lee, Jr, on February 4, 1787, Washi+ngton again announced that he was ”in a great degree principled against increasing my number of slaves”; then in the next breath, he told Lee to buy him a slave, a bricklayer, whose sale was advertised in the newspaper32 Washi+ngton declared he would drop the deal if the slave had a faton accepted another thirty-three slaves at Mount Vernon in settlement of a debt related to the estate of Martha's brother Bartholoton declared he would drop the deal if the slave had a faton accepted another thirty-three slaves at Mount Vernon in settlement of a debt related to the estate of Martha's brother Bartholoton's conflicting stateins to sense that he had developed a split personality on the issue On the one hand, his views still reflected his acquisitive prewar personality that had few, if any, ethical qualms about slavery His business behavior had always been his least attractive side, showing the imprint of early hardshi+p On the other hand, another part of his personality reflected the countless years of conversations with Lafayette, Laurens, Ha aides inflamed by Revolutionary ideals, when he was headquartered in the North and uprooted from the southern plantation culture With a politician's instinct, Washi+ngton spoke to different people in different voices When addressing other Virginia planters, he spoke in the cold, hard voice of practicality, whereas when dealing with Revolutionary co better illustrated his humanitarian views on slavery than a faland poet who resided at Mount Vernon while working on his authorized biography At soton , state qualed over the issue: ”The unfortunate condition of the persons whose labor in part I eret Tothem as easy and as conorance and improvidence would adeneration for a destiny different from that in which they were born, afforded some satisfaction toto the justice of the Creator”33 The passage ton's ious beliefs The question remains: Did he really make life for the adult slaves ”as easy and as comfortable” as possible and prepare the slave children for a different destiny? The passage ton's ious beliefs The question remains: Did he really make life for the adult slaves ”as easy and as comfortable” as possible and prepare the slave children for a different destiny?

Whether froton prided himself on his treatment of his slaves: ”It has always been my aim to feed and clothe [the slaves] well and be careful of theton wished to educate his slaves, we do know that Lund Washi+ngton's wife, Elizabeth, a devout wo them-an activity that would have been considered taboo on ton took sexual advantage of his slaves, although one French visitor noted that many house servants were ht as ours” While we have no proof that Washi+ngton wished to educate his slaves, we do know that Lund Washi+ngton's wife, Elizabeth, a devout wo them-an activity that would have been considered taboo on ton took sexual advantage of his slaves, although one French visitor noted that many house servants were ht as ours”35 In recent years a controversy has raged as to whether Washi+ngton ht have fathered a mulatto slave named West Ford, as born in the iue reseton clan The controversy first surfaced in 1940 but gained a new lease on life in 1998, when DNA tests strongly pointed to Tho had children with his slave Sally Hes This dramatic discovery lent fresh credence to the oral history of mixed-race fa founders

The son of a slave naton's brother Jack and his wife, Hannah, and grew up on their plantation, Bushfield, in Westled out West Ford as the only slave to receive his freedoed status was further confirmed when Jack and Hannah's son Bushrod, ould inherit Mount Vernon, gave hi the estate Beyond such undeniable evidence of partiality, legend passed down through two branches of Ford descendants that Venus had identified George Washi+ngton as the little boy's father and that he had attended church with Washi+ngton and even gone hunting and riding with him

While historians have learned not to repudiate such stories with knee-jerk rigidity, George Washi+ngton's paternity of West Ford seeht havea trip that her mistress, Hannah, ton didn't visit Bushfield during the years in question) Where the Sally He Jefferson's lifetime and her son Madison later published a memoir about it, the West Ford story slumbered suspiciously for a century and a half With Mount Vernon invaded by visitors after the Revolutionary War, Washi+ngton constantly regretted his lack of privacy, and he would not likely have ga with a visiting slave There is also the probleh the proble childrenevidence against Washi+ngton being West Ford's father is that, in this abundantly docule conte this le reference to Venus or West Ford in his voluminous papers By contrast, one notes how frequently the ubiquitous Billy Lee pops up in Washi+ngton's papers or in conteton fathered West Ford, hehi to hounds with hiton'shis presidency would not have dredged up this da episode to discredit hiular status is that he was sired by Jack Washi+ngton or one of his three sons, Bushrod, Corbin, or Williaton's most coes, which enjoyed no standing under Virginia law In April 1787, needing a bricklayer, he bought a slave named Neptune from a John Lawson When Neptune showed up at Mount Vernon, Washi+ngton was dis separated froton at once infors of anyone I shall therefore, if agreeable to you, keep him a while to see if I can reconcile hi her now and then), in which case I will purchase hi matters into his own hands, Neptune escaped from Mount Vernon and returned to Lawson's plantation and a reunion with his wife Interestingly enough, Neptune wasn't punished for this reed to a coton on amatters into his own hands, Neptune escaped from Mount Vernon and returned to Lawson's plantation and a reunion with his wife Interestingly enough, Neptune wasn't punished for this reed to a coton on a ton's respect for the inner life of slaves was his constant solicitude for Billy Lee, whom he endoith the fancy title ”Valet de Chambre” after the war37 Leeoff in the shadows of Edward Savage's fa off in the shadows of Edward Savage's faton Faroup portrait, Washi+ngton sits at a table with Martha, unfurling a ton, while Nelly and Washy stand beside thenified presence in a gray jacket with one hand thrust into a red waistcoat, his black hair falling straight over his collar If Lee is the slave depicted, it would certainly attest to his special place in the Washi+ngton household coton sits at a table with Martha, unfurling a ton, while Nelly and Washy stand beside thenified presence in a gray jacket with one hand thrust into a red waistcoat, his black hair falling straight over his collar If Lee is the slave depicted, it would certainly attest to his special place in the Washi+ngton household

During the war Lee had entered into a roaret Thoton's staff, and they considered the to Mount Vernon, Lee sank into a funk because of his separation fro froreed to reunite theton didn't care for Thomas but submitted to the pleas of the one slave he found it hard to deny Contacting his Philadelphia friend Clearet Thomas had been ”in an infirm state of health for some time and I had conceived that the connection between the to h] I never wished to see her more, yet I cannot refuse his request (if it can be complied with on reasonable ter and followed ton asked Biddle to track down Tho with a free black couple, Isaac and Hannah Sills, who also worked as cooks in Philadelphia Biddle was instructed to pay Thoinia by coach or shi+p We don't knohat happened to Margaret Thomas, and no evidence exists that she ever made it to Mount Vernon Without question, a free black oralone to a slave state such as Virginia, even under the auspices of George Washi+ngton At the very least, as a Mount Vernon cook, she would have been forced to live and ith slaves, while retaining the rights of a free person-hardly a comfortable situation for all involved One wonders exactly how Washi+ngton planned to negotiate this delicate situation Did he expect Billy Lee to continue as a slave while married to a resident cook and free woman? And hoould the other Mount Vernon slaves have reacted to the subversive presence of a free woton's favorite slave? Washi+ngton asked Biddle to track down Tho with a free black couple, Isaac and Hannah Sills, who also worked as cooks in Philadelphia Biddle was instructed to pay Thoinia by coach or shi+p We don't knohat happened to Margaret Thomas, and no evidence exists that she ever made it to Mount Vernon Without question, a free black oralone to a slave state such as Virginia, even under the auspices of George Washi+ngton At the very least, as a Mount Vernon cook, she would have been forced to live and ith slaves, while retaining the rights of a free person-hardly a comfortable situation for all involved One wonders exactly how Washi+ngton planned to negotiate this delicate situation Did he expect Billy Lee to continue as a slave while married to a resident cook and free woman? And hoould the other Mount Vernon slaves have reacted to the subversive presence of a free woton's favorite slave?

What we do know is that, by the standards of ton remained uncommonly attentive toward Billy Lee In April 1785 he was surveying land with Lee, as carrying one of the chains when he slipped and broke his knee, an injury so severe that Washi+ngton had to order a sled to transport hiain and broke the second knee, turning him into a cripple We know that Lee had an alcohol problem, but we don't knohether it was the cause or an effect of these injuries When two broken knees left Lee incapacitated, Washi+ngt