American Agriculture History Minute: George Washington on Both Sides of the Coin

I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute.

George Washington had a complicated relationship with slavery during his lifetime. He controlled a cumulative total of over 577 slaves forced to work on his farms and including his house in Philadelphia.

As president, though, he signed laws by Congress that both curtailed slavery but also protected it. But his will said one of his slaves, William Lee, should be freed upon his death, and the other slaves work for his wife until her death and then be freed.

She freed them all during her lifetime, she said, to remove any incentive for hastening her death.

That’s today’s American Agriculture History Minute. I’m Mark Oppold. Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next time.