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A Weekly Column By Walter B. Hoye II

Conflict Of

Interest

In the abortion debate, is there a "Conflict of Interest"within the Black community and among her leaders?

Subscribe Unsubscribe Forward Archives Issue No.: 2012.128

Environmental Products (1)

George Washington And Slavery

Was Slavery A Product Of Its Environment?

Slavery In The General's House (1775-1783)

"It is foremost in my thoughts, to desire you will be particularly attentive to my Negros in their sickness; and to order

every Overseer positively to be so likewise; for I am sorry to observe that the generality of them, view these poor

creatures in scarcely any other light than they do a draught horse or Ox; neglecting them as much when they are

unable to work; instead of comforting & nursing them when they lye on a sick bed. I lost more negros last winter

than I had done it 12 or 15 years before, put them altogether. If their disorders are not common, and the mode of treating

them plain, simple and well understood, send for Doctor Craik in time. In the last stage of the complaint it is unavailing to do

it. It is incurring an expense for nothing." George Washington, a letter written to Anthony Whitting, his Mount Vernon
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plantation manager in 1792. 1

George Washington was a slave-owner

for the majority of his life. Early in life

Washington inherited ten (10) slaves when

he was an eleven (11) year old boy. 2 By the

date of his death he owned more than 300

slaves at his Mount Vernon residence

including forty (40) leased from his neighborand not including the 153 "dower slaves"

which belonged to Martha by way of first

husband, Daniel Parke Custis. 3 Like all other plantation owners that had large

sums of money invested in slavery, Washington's slaves worked all day unless

they were injured or ill 4. Legally Washington's slaves could be whipped for trying

to escape or for any other violation of the law. 5 "Bottom-Line Economics"

demanded that slaves were fed, clothed, and housed as inexpensively as

possible, in conditions that can only be described at best as meager.

Slavery In The President's House (1790-1797)

"When a slave named Paul ran away in March 1795 with a neighbor's slave, George Washington, concerned about his name

surfacing in northern papers, advised William Pearce (his plantation manager) to avoid any publicity and wrote: "It is highly

probable Paul has left these parts (by water or land). If Mr. Dulany is disposed to pursue any measure for the purpose of

recovering his man, I will join him in the expence so far as it may respect Paul; but I would not have my name appear in any

advertisement, or other measure, leading to it." George Washington, his March 22, 1795 Philadelphia letter to William

Pearce. 6

Slavery was legal in all thirteen (13) of the

American Colonies before the American

Revolutionary War. 7 Slaves were considered

valuable property and as a large plantationowner Washington had large sums of money

invested slave labor. 8 However, by 1780 and

largely by the efforts of the Pennsylvania

Abolition Society (PAS), 9 Pennsylvania

became the first former colony to abolish

slavery. While the law did not free slaves

immediately, it did offer gradual

emancipation. By law slaves were registered

as property, so the children born of a

registered Pennsylvania slave mother after

the law was in force had the legal status of

indentured servants when they reached the

age of twenty-eight (28). 10 So legal slavery continued in Pennsylvania until

1847. 11 As the first President of the United States of America, George

Washington lived in Philadelphia in the President's House from 1790 to 1797. 12

To avoid having Pennsylvania laws apply to his slaves, Washington maintained

his residency in Virginia by making sure that neither he nor his slaves spent the

six (6) continuous months necessary to establish legal residency in


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Philadelphia. 13

Slavery In The President's Politics (1790-1797)

"I wish from my soul that the legislature of this State could see the policy of a gradual abolition of slavery." George

Washington, in a letter to his nephew and private secretary, Lawrence Lewis. 14

After the American Revolutionary War

George Washington personally rejected the

institution of slavery, yet while serving as thePresident of the United States he supported

the 1790 Naturalization Act approved by the

First Congress 15 that incorporated foreigners

as United States citizens, but provided for

naturalization only of whites 16 and authorized emergency financial and military

relief to French slave owners in Haiti to suppress the slave rebellion of1791. 17

Washington also signed the compromise Northwest Territory Act that banned

slavery in that territory, but did not free those that were already slaves. Further

still, in 1793 Washington signed the Fugitive Slave Law that gave slaveholders

the right to recapture runway slaves even in free states that had abolished

slavery. 18

!Yes, slavery was indeed a product its environment!

Was George Washington A Product Of His Environment?

"Prior to the great Revolution, the great majority of our people had been so long accustomed to the practice andconvenience of having slaves that very few among them even doubted the propriety and rectitude of it." George

Washington, to the English Anti-Slavery Society in June 1788

19

"Were it not that I am principled against selling Negroes I would not in twelve months from this date be possessed of oneas a slave." George Washington, in a letter to Alexander Spotswood on Sunday, November 23rd, 1794. 20

"It is demonstratively clear that on this Estate (Mount Vernon) I have more working Negroes by a full [half] than can beemployed to any advantage in the farming system." George Washington, in a letter to Robert Lewis on Sunday, August

18th, 1799. 21

"[H]alf the workers I keep on this estate would render me greater net profit than I now derive from the whole." GeorgeWashington, in a letter to Robert Lewis on Sunday, August 18th, 1799. 22

"To sell the overplus [of slaves] I cannot, because I am principled against this kind of traffic in the human species. To hirethem out is almost as bad because they could not be disposed of in families to any advantage, and to disperse [break up] the

families I have an aversion." George Washington, in a letter to Robert Lewis on Sunday, August 18th, 1799. 23


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George Washington was born into a wealthy

family that profited from the slave labor on

their tobacco plantations. By 1732, the

provincial gentry of Colonial Virginia was little

more than a slave society, a world where the

right to own slaves was protected and the

right to emancipate slaves was prohibited by

law. 24!Yes, George Washington was a

product of his environment, however, while

Washington was a slave-owner, he was also

a devoted husband to Martha, a decorated

general who fought for freedom in the service

of Virginia's provincial militia, a commander-

in-chief who "wrenched the rights of all

Americans from the tyrannical grasp of the British" 25 in the service of the

Continental Army, a skilled facilitator who presided over the writing of the our

Constitution and a widely respected leader who became our first President. 26

Above all George Washington was a praying man, wholly committed to his

Christian faith, however, therein lies the crux of the matter. With the

blessings that come from having a wife,

family and friends, Washington chose to work

within a government whose majority

embraced or at the very least, tacitly

consented to, the incontestable evil of

slavery. With a career that can only come

from the blessings of a divine appointment,

Washington retired from serving a system

entirely based on the "art of compromise"where in the "final solution" 27 participants are expected to resign their

conscience in the interest of practicality, profit and peace. !Yes, George

Washington was indeed a product of his environment, but frankly, so are

we. So long as profits trump purpose, power trumps peace, politics trumps

people, victory trumps values, race trumps religion and preservation trumps

principle we are all the products of our environment.

"Be Of Good Cheer; It Is I; Be Not Afraid!"

"And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking onthe sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying,

Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the

water. And He said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But

when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately

Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And

when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased." Matthew 14:25-32 (King James Version) 28


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Like it or not, there is such a thing as evil.

Lurking in the depths of our souls is an evil

that pushes us beyond the white sandy

shores of safety into the dark, deep and

dangerously cold and open waters of

uncertainty, vagueness and soul searching

questions. Questions such as Will God

save us, if we nonviolently resist a law that is

immoral, as in the case of the abolitionist

resisting the 1793 Fugitive Slave Law 29 by

refusing to turn over escaped slaves to

authorities? Will God take care of us, if we

nonviolently resist laws in order to physically

lay claim to God-given rights, such as

freedom, equality and life itself, as in the case of Black Americans illegally

protesting during the Civil Rights movement? 30 Will God protect us, if we

nonviolently resist laws in order to change immoral policies endorsed by our

government such as slavery, segregation, euthanasia and abortion on demand?

These are the kind of questions that flood our minds and invade our very soul as

we choose to live out our faith in Christ on earth.

Today, we're at a point where our babies are

dismembered in their own mother's womb on

demand, our elderly are gravely threatened

with euthanasia and our religious freedom is

at stake. What is it going to take for us torealize that the "art of compromise" is not

the means to a righteous end? The Bible

says Peter walked on water, but when the

waters got high and the lightning started to flash and the winds began to blow

Peter feared for his life and cried out "Lord save me!" The Bible also says "and

immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him." In my opinion,

even though the troubled waters of our world are deep and dark, like Peter,

Christ is bidding us to walk on water with Him. I believe it's time for us to stop

being afraid of the deep and the dark, so the Holy Spirit can move us far

beyond the "art of compromise" as an expression of our holy and righteous

indignation. I believe God is calling us to join Him walking on the water. If we

resist civil government: Will God save us? Will God take care of us? Will God

protect us? Well, He's already caught Peter and saved him, so that answers my

question. What answer are you waiting for?

Brothers, we really need to talk.

Note(s):


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Many, many thanks to David Barton of Wallbuilders. "WallBuilders is an organization dedicated to presenting America'sforgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on the moral, religious, and constitutional foundation on which America was

built a foundation which, in recent years, has been seriously attacked and undermined. In accord with what was so

accurately stated by George Washington, we believe that 'the propitious [favorable] smiles of heaven can never be

expected on a nation which disregards the eternal rules of order and right which heaven itself has ordained.'" You

can visit Wallbuilder's highly recommended website by clicking here: http://bit.ly/8y4Ga.

Reference(s):

01. "George Washington, "The Writings of George Washington: 1790-1784," by Goeorge Washington (http://bit.ly/IaI9Q6).

See also Anthony Whitting, October 14th, 1792, Washington Papers, Library of Congress. "That Species of Property",

Washington's Role in the Controversy Over Slavery by Dorothy Twohig (http://bit.ly/I1CXtd).

02. George Washington And slavery, "Early Life," Wikipedia (http://bit.ly/IsrIJO).

03. Ibid.

04. Ibid.05. Ibid.

06. John C. Fitzpatrick, ed. "The Writings of George Washington," Washington, D.C., 1931-44., Volume 34:154. Letter to

William Pearce, March 22, 1795. (http://bit.ly/IAL7w8).

07. Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge, "The Sequel to the National Book Award Finalist "Chains", (http://bit.ly/JJZSMO).

08. Edward Lawler, Jr., "Slavery in the President's House" (http://bit.ly/Ik3CY8).

09. Richard S. Newman, "The Pennsylvania Aboliton Society Restoring a Group to Glory" (http://bit.ly/IfmlDZ).

10. Edward Lawler, Jr., "Slavery in the President's House" (http://bit.ly/Ik3CY8).

11. Ibid.

12. Ibid.

13. Ibid.

14. Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, Vincent Harding, "Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos Or Community?,"

The King Legacy in association with Intellectual Properties Management, Inc., page 80. (http://bit.ly/JK2IRZ).

15. Naturalization Act of 1790, Wikipedia (http://bit.ly/8GoYy8). See also "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S.

Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875" (http://1.usa.gov/IfrLgn).

16. Ibid.

17. George Washington And slavery, "Early Life," Wikipedia (http://bit.ly/IsrIJO).18. Ibid.

19. David Barton, "George Washington, Thomas Jefferson & Slavery in Virginia," Wall Builders (http://bit.ly/JyB9xQ).

20. Ibid.

21. Ibid.

22. Ibid.

23. Ibid.

24. George Washington, Wikipedia (http://bit.ly/12RYyN). See also Peter Kolchin, American Slavery, 1619-1877, New York:

Hill and Wang, 1993, page 28. (http://bit.ly/JqrfvZ).

25. George Washington And slavery, "Early Life," Wikipedia (http://bit.ly/IsrIJO). See also George Washington, Wikipedia

(http://bit.ly/12RYyN).

26. Dorothy Twohig, The Papers of George Washington, "'That Species of Property' Washington's Role in the

Controversy Over Slavery" (http://bit.ly/IsUGu7).

27. The "Final Solution," Wikipedia (http://bit.ly/KTkRL).

28. Matthew 14:25-32 (http://bg4.me/It0e6I).

29. George Washington And slavery, "Early Life," Wikipedia (http://bit.ly/IsrIJO).

30. African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968), Wikipedia (http://bit.ly/c3fu2Y).

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