Another interesting note is that Washington's slaves were to be freed only
after the death of Martha Washington. However, poor Martha supposedly feared
that a rebellious slave would "do her in", and freed the slaves herself
sometime later. Ole' George didn't think his immancipation act through,
IMHO. And, left his wife in quite a predicament. I often wonder how Martha
managed to continue to run her plantation after she freed all the slaves.


----- Original Message -----
From: "James P. Lynch" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2001 11:59 AM
Subject: Washington's slaves


> It would be interesting to learn what happened to Washington's slaves
> and their descendants.  Has such a study been done?
>
> Henry Wiencek wrote:
> >
> > ..... Washington was not a racist, at least at the end of his
> > life.  Washington came to believe that the apparent deficiencies in
> > blacks were not innate but the result of their enslavement.  One very
> > powerful indication of this is to be found in Washington's will, in
> > which he freed his slaves and specified that the orphan children and the
> > children of parents unwilling or incapable of providing for them should
> > be bound out to masters and mistresses until age 25 for proper care and
> > education in a trade.
> --
> James P. Lynch
> [log in to unmask]
>
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