I shall now take out my cudgel and accuse Mr. Dixon of George Washington-bashing! (Kidding.) I have great respect for Mr. Dixon's knowledge of the law but here he is in error: "One post asserted that Washington waived this requirement that the slave leave Virginia after one year, which Washington had no authority to do." Washington died in 1799, the act requiring exile was passed in 1806. His other points about GW, the dower slaves, etc., are half right at best. For the third time I will now urge a list member to look at my book on GW and slavery: "An Imperfect God." I turned up a lot of new information, primary material never published before. GW's manumission seems to irritate Jefferson partisans because they can't explain it away and it DOES make TJ look bad by comparison. I was compelled to share a stage with the redoubtable Alf Mapp, who spluttered in genteel scholarly rage at the GW/TJ comparison. Facts are facts. Sorry! Henry Wiencek Charlottesville To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html