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"There is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it. But there is only one proper and effectual mode by which it can be accomplished, and that is by Legislative authority: and this, as far as my suffrage will go, shall never be wanting."
—George Washington, letter to Robert Morris, 1786
Paradoxically, the same founding fathers of the United States who championed liberty were also famous slaveholders as well.
This list of founding fathers with enslaved people might shock you.
George Washington was the first President of the US and a lifelong enslaver who held hundreds of enslaved people at his Mount Vernon estate.
He implemented a system of rotating enslaved people between Mount Vernon and Philadelphia. This was to exploit a loophole in a Pennsylvania law to keep slaves indefinity.
As President, he signed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793. The law made it a federal crime to help a formerly enslaved person.
One of his slaves, Ona Judge, successfully escaped to New Hampshire in 1796.
At his death, he owned 317 enslaved people. However, he became uncomfortable with slavery later in life without speaking publicly about it.
In his will, he ordered all his slaves to be released when Martha died.
Thomas Jefferson authored the Declaration of Independence. He also owned hundreds of enslaved people.
He had a complex relationship with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings. Who bore several of his children.
It is said that Jefferson wanted to get rid of his slaves but could not. As he was deeply in debt.
James Madison, author of the Federalist Papers, owned 100s of enslaved people that he inherited from his father.
He lived with his slaves at his Montpelier plantation.
Madison's stance on slavery remained ambiguous. He was known for his public silence and inaction on the topic.
Madison did not free his slaves like other founding fathers when he died. His wife sold some of his slaves to pay off some debts.
Paul Jennings was his best-known slave and even wrote a memoir of his time in the White House.
James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States, owned many enslaved people.
Simultaneously, he supported efforts to repatriate freed slaves to Africa.
He helped create the American Colonization Society, which led to establishing Liberia and its capital. Monrovia is named in his honor.
In his early days, Benjamin Franklin had two slaves.
However, he would radically change his opinion later in life. He eventually freed his slaves and became a famous abolitionist.
He became the President of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. He would fight for the freedom of slaves until he died.
John Hancock was a founder who owned two slaves. Records show their names were Molly and Cato.
In 1768, Hancock advertised for the sale of a slave in the Boston Gazette.
Hancock eventually changed his position on the subject and wanted the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts.
In 1777, Hancock signed a bill that banned the importation of slaves into Massachusetts. It did not become law.
Hancock freed his slave, Cato, in 1781.
Patrick Henry said, "Give me liberty or give me death," in his famous speech, but he owned up to 90 slaves.
He later would call slavery repugnant in a letter from 1773.
Despite the letter, he never actually freed his slaves. As he needed them to make a living.
In his will, he demanded that some of his slaves should be freed at his death.
George Mason owned a large slave plantation in Gunston Hall in Fairfax County, Virginia, where he had around 100 slaves until his death in 1792.
Mason became outspoken against the slave trade and the institution of slavery itself. Claiming that slavery was a "slow poison" infecting the colonies. At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Mason argued against allowing the slave trade to continue.
In his writing, he talked about the moral dilemma of owning slaves. He claimed he couldn't get rid of them for economic reasons.
Mason refused to sign the US Constitution. He would only sign it if it called for the abolition of slavery.
Mason never freed his own slaves during his lifetime or in his will.
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