Paul Finkelman has commented on the difference between Jefferson's and Washington's attitudes toward African-Americans and their innate capabilities, and I would like to make one brief point. Unlike Jefferson, 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. Here is his language on this point: "The Negros thus bound, are (by their Masters or Mistresses) to be taught to read & write; and to be brought up to some useful occupation, agreeably to the Laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, providing for the support of Orphan and other poor Children. and I do hereby expressly forbid the Sale, or transportation out of the said Commonwealth, of any Slave I may die possessed of, under any pretence whatsoever." Clearly, Washington believed that blacks had a right to freedom; that formerly enslaved blacks were quite amenable to education and training; furthermore, he clearly believed that they had some just claim to education and decent work; finally, he seems to have believed that with education and training the freed children of slaves could immediately take a fruitful and productive place in Virginia society as free people because he emphatically specified that no one should be exiled. His position was vastly different from Jefferson's. Henry Wiencek Charlottesville To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html