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The Founding Fathers and the Institution of Slavery
The institution of slavery was a subject of fierce debate during the time of the Founding Fathers. Division over the system threatened the stability of the emerging nation. Some argued that slavery was necessary for economic success, while others believed it to be a violation of the values upon which the country was established. Tensions were high among the population, and the history of those years is filled with shifting views and contradictions. Even the Founding Fathers were somewhat inconsistent in their position regarding slavery. The views of men such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson evolved and changed significantly throughout their lives and each man encountered the institution of slavery on a personal level.
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George Washington was a slave owner throughout his life. He owned several slaves of his own before gaining others upon the death of his father, his marriage to Martha Custis, and his inheritance of Mount Vernon after the death of his brother and sister-in-law. At the time of his death, George Washington owned 316 slaves. In a flier printed in 1761, Washington offered a reward for his runaway slaves, establishing his support of and participation in the institution of slavery. |
Life of George Washington - The Farmer
Junius Brutus Stearns
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This text shows how George Washington's position regarding slavery evolved over time. Although he owned many slaves throughout his life, Washington experienced a turning point in his views on slavery during the French and Indian War. Throughout the war, Washington traveled to many places around the country in which slavery had been abolished. His experiences there gave him hope that slavery could one day be abolished in the south without destroying the economy. The fact that many of Washington's fellow Army officers supported abolition only further encouraged his shift in beliefs.
By the end of the war, Washington supported the abolition of slavery for several reasons. First of all, Washington was strongly against the separation of slave families that occurred so often within the trade. Also, through his travel and experiences during the war, Washington began to see how slavery was a violation of person liberty. In 1786 Washington swore to never again "possess another slave by purchase." As time went on, he began to desire "to see some plan adopted, by the legislature, by which slavery in this country may be abolished by slow, sure, and imperceptable degrees." Despite his strong views on slavery's abolition, however, Washington was greatly concerned with its threat on the economy and the state of the Union. All of Washington's slaves were freed upon his death in 1799. In his writing entitled Reflections on Slavery, Washington, contemplated his time as a slaveholder and stated that "the unfortunate condition of the persons, whose labour in part I employed, has been the only unavoidable subject of regret.." |
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Benjamin Franklin was a slaveholder for many years. However, near the end of his life he began to support the views of abolitionists. Franklin was such an ardent supporter of abolition that he became the President of the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery and even wrote An Address to the Public on November 9, 1789 to defend his cause.
In An Address to the Public, Franklin states that slavery is "an atrocious debasement of human nature." He argues that slavery reaps horrible effects, robbing individuals of the "power of choice," the influence of "reason and conscience," and "the social affections of the heart." Franklin also expresses his belief in the need for "attention to emancipated black people" and discusses the importance of their acceptance and assimilation into the rest of society. On February 3, 1790, as President of the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery, Benjamin Franklin wrote a petition for abolition that was presented to Congress later that month in which he argued for "the relief of those unlawfully held in bondage." The evolution of Benjamin Franklin's views on slavery throughout his life was significant. The abolition of slavery was the last cause Franklin embraced before his death in 1790. |
An Address to the Public: Promoting the Aboliton of Slavery
Benjamin Franklin
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On the Slave Trade
Benjamin Franklin
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In his work, On the Slave Trade, Benjamin Franklin satirizes the popular rationales of the time for continuing with slavery. He relates the situation of the Divan of Algiers to that of slavery in the Union in order to draw attention to the absurdity of the popular arguments in favor of such an unjust institution. For example, Franklin discusses the common beliefs that abolition would result in economic consequences such as the loss of access to commodities, the loss of labor, the loss of land value, and, ultimately, recession. Franklin also includes the belief of white superiority, the fear of the burden of the emancipated population and its inability to assimilate, and the supposed benefits of slavery on those bound by its chains.
On the Slave Trade further affirms Franklin's position as an abolitionist and the evolution of his views on slavery throughout his life. Although he was once a slaveholder himself, Benjamin Franklin now condemns the system as unjust and inexcusable. |
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Thomas Jefferson owned many slaves throughout his life, and it is said that his views regarding slavery were very much influenced by the planter society in which he was raised.
In this text, Ann DuCille discusses the most controversial aspect of Jefferson's role as a slaveholder - his suspected relations with his slave and wife's half-sister, Sally Hemings. The first rumor that raised suspicion emerged in 1802 in the Richmond Recorder. James Thomson Callendar, a popular journalist at the time, wrote that Jefferson "keeps as his concubine one of his slaves." Since then, many more rumors have surfaced entertaining the idea that Jefferson fathered children with Hemings. DNA tests in recent years have indicated a strong probability that Jefferson fathered at least one of Hemings' children. Tom, Hemings' first son, is the child most suspected to belong to Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson's relations with Sally Hemings suggests a great deal about his views on slavery and race. Throughout his life Jefferson struggled to reconcile his opinions of African Americans with the values of the nation within which he lived. |
Where in the World is William Wells Brown? Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings, and the DNA of African-American Literary History
Ann DuCille
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Notes on the State of Virginia
Thomas Jefferson
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In Notes on the State of Virginia, the shift in Thomas Jefferson's position regarding slavery is most evident. In this text, Jefferson expresses his views against slavery as an institution. He argues that the presence of slavery in society negatively impacts white children by encouraging them "to learn to imitate" such values in their own lives. Jefferson also warns of the vengeance of a just God on a nation enforcing such an unjust system. He also states that "liberties are of the gift of God" and the presence of the institution of slavery within a country that emphasizes personal liberty and democracy is a strong contradiction.
Jefferson believed African Americans to be an inferior race to whites, yet through this text he argues against slavery as an institution. There also existed inconsistencies in Jefferson's opinions on how slavery should end. While he supported total emancipation, Jefferson also seemed to share the belief that upon the abolition of slavery the former slaves would need to leave the country or form their own separate from the Union. The contradictory nature of Thomas Jefferson's views on slavery is very evident within this text. |
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