...the only one of the Founding Fathers who actually freed his slaves?
2007-02-22 05:46:15 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
Hang on.........lets put a little context in place for this.
1. He stopped selling slaves without their consent because he did not want to break up slave families.
2. He was the only one of the Founding Fathers to release his slaves.
BUT
3. Although he may have expressed a dislike of slavery in private, he never spoke out about it in public.
4. He actually brought 9 slaves with him to Pennsylvania from Mount Vernon.
5. The law in Pennsylvania was that slaves had to be freed after 6 months, but Washington rotated his slaves between Penn and Mt Vernon to avoid this.
6. He didn't actually release any slaves during his own lifetime, but put a provision in his will to release them on the death of his wife, Martha, who also owned some of the slaves at Mt Vernon.
Anyone heard the expression "Having your cake and eating it" ?
2007-02-22 06:10:33 · answer #1 · answered by the_lipsiot 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, I did not. However, not all of the founding fathers owned slaves to begin with.
Chow!!
2007-02-22 07:02:56 · answer #2 · answered by No one 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not surprising. Back then, most of those white Founding Fathers were hypocrites.
A better country my a**.
2007-02-22 05:53:36 · answer #3 · answered by Jennifer 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
That actually does surprise me. HYPOCRITCAL AMERICANS!
PS: I am a British girl
2007-02-22 05:54:40 · answer #4 · answered by I know everything... 2 · 2⤊ 3⤋
And that matters now, I think not.
2007-02-22 05:53:50 · answer #5 · answered by ? 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋