Washington's Law-Breaking: A President's Legal Legacy

George Washington, the Founding Father and first President of the United States, is often called the Father of His Country. While he is known for his military and political career, Washington's legacy is marred by his ownership of slaves.

Washington inherited his first ten slaves when he was just ten years old. By the time he died, he owned nearly 150 slaves. While Washington claimed to oppose slavery, he used legal loopholes to avoid freeing his slaves. For instance, he would send them back to Mount Vernon every six months to circumvent Pennsylvania's Gradual Abolition Act, which freed slaves living in the state for more than six months.

Washington's complex relationship with slavery raises important questions about his legacy and how we remember historical figures who broke the laws of their time.

George Washington's ownership of slaves

George Washington inherited his first 10 slaves at the age of 11, in 1743, when his father, Augustine Washington, died. In 1751, Washington's half-brother Lawrence, who had been a father figure to him, died, and Washington inherited his estate, Mount Vernon, along with 18 slaves. In 1759, Washington married Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy widow, and gained control of 84 "dower" slaves—slaves that he did not legally own but controlled as part of his wife's inheritance.

In total, Washington owned at least 577 slaves throughout his life, and at the time of his death, there were 317 slaves living at Mount Vernon. Washington was dependent on slave labour to build and maintain his household and plantation, and he separated families, housing enslaved men close to the mansion and keeping their wives and children on outlying farms, miles away. He fed, clothed, and housed his slaves poorly, and he approved harsh punishments for even minor offences.

Washington's views on slavery evolved over time. As a young man, he accepted slavery and, like his peers, made full use of enslaved labour, buying, selling, and raffling off slaves. However, after the Revolutionary War, he began to question the morality of slavery and grew increasingly opposed to it. He never made a public anti-slavery statement, but in his private correspondence, he expressed his support for a gradual, legislative end to slavery. In his will, he ordered that his slaves be freed upon his wife's death. Washington was the only southern Founding Father to free all his slaves.

Washington's role in the French and Indian War

George Washington's role in the French and Indian War was extensive and significant.

Washington's military experience began in the French and Indian War, where he was commissioned as a major in the militia of the British Province of Virginia. In 1753, Washington was sent as an ambassador from the British Crown to the French officials and Indians as far north as present-day Erie, Pennsylvania. The following year, he led another expedition to assist in the construction of a fort at present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

During this expedition, Washington and his men, along with Mingo allies led by Tanacharison, ambushed a French scouting party, killing its leader. This act of aggression is seen as one of the first military steps leading to the global Seven Years' War. The French responded by attacking Washington's fortifications, forcing his surrender.

In 1755, Washington participated as a volunteer aide in the expedition of General Edward Braddock, where he distinguished himself in the retreat following the Battle of Monongahela. He served from 1755 until 1758 as colonel and commander of the Virginia Regiment, directing provincial defences against French and Indian raids, and building the regiment into one of the best-trained provincial militias of the time.

Washington gained valuable military skills during the war, including tactical, strategic, and logistical military experience. His military exploits, though they included some notable failures, made his reputation in the colonies such that he became a natural selection as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army following the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in 1775.

Washington was an ambitious young man who wanted to pursue a military career. He was a young and ambitious 21-year-old when he volunteered to be Britain's emissary to the French frontier. His actions reflected his lack of experience, but his ambition helped determine the course of the war.

Washington's war experiences taught him valuable lessons about command and politics, and caused him to re-examine his professional and personal goals. He emerged from the war as a less naive person, and his involvement in the conflict would later inform his role in the American Revolutionary War.

His involvement in the American Revolution

George Washington's involvement in the American Revolution was extensive and multifaceted. As commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, he played a leading military role in the war, and was also responsible for designing the overall strategy of the war in cooperation with Congress.

In the early years of the war, Washington was often in the middle of the action, directing the siege of Boston to a successful conclusion, before losing New York City and almost losing New Jersey. He then won surprising and decisive victories at Trenton and Princeton at the end of the 1776 campaign season.

In 1777, Washington was again defeated in the defence of Philadelphia, but sent critical support to Horatio Gates, which made the defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga possible. Following a difficult winter at Valley Forge and the entry of France into the war in 1778, Washington followed the British army as it withdrew from Philadelphia back to New York, and fought an ultimately inconclusive battle at Monmouth Court House in New Jersey.

From late 1778 to 1780, Washington's activities were more diplomatic and organisational, as his army remained outside New York, watching Major General Henry Clinton's army that occupied the city. He strategised with the French on how best to cooperate in actions against the British, leading to ultimately unsuccessful attempts to dislodge the British from Newport, Rhode Island, and Savannah, Georgia.

Washington's attention was also drawn to the frontier war, which prompted the 1779 Continental Army expedition of John Sullivan into upstate New York. When Major General Clinton sent the turncoat Brigadier General Benedict Arnold to raid in Virginia, Washington began to detach elements of his army to face the growing threat there. The arrival of Lord Cornwallis in Virginia after campaigning in the south presented Washington with an opportunity to strike a decisive blow. Washington's army and the French army moved south to face Cornwallis, and a cooperative French navy under Admiral de Grasse successfully disrupted British attempts to control the Chesapeake Bay, completing the entrapment of Cornwallis, who surrendered after the siege of Yorktown in October 1781.

Although Yorktown marked the end of significant hostilities in North America, the British still occupied New York and other cities, so Washington had to maintain the army in the face of a bankrupt Congress and troops that were at times mutinous over conditions and pay. The army was formally disbanded after peace in 1783, and Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief on December 23, 1783.

His presidency of the Constitutional Convention

George Washington's presidency of the Federal Constitutional Convention was a key moment in the formation of the United States. During the spring and summer of 1787, Washington provided guidance to 55 state delegates who gathered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to debate the future of the country. The delegates originally intended to revise the Articles of Confederation, which were seen as barely holding the new nation together. However, the convention ultimately scrapped the Articles of Confederation and created a new federal government.

Washington was not initially interested in being part of politics, but he was unanimously elected by the delegates to be the convention president on May 14, 1787. This was one of the few matters they agreed on, as the group included passionate federalists and anti-federalists. In presiding over the convention, Washington worked to forge consensus, demanding complete secrecy as the delegates embarked on the controversial task of drafting a new constitution.

Washington himself believed that America should have a strong central government and a single executive leader. However, he stayed relatively quiet during the debates and allowed the delegates to discuss the foundation of the Constitution among themselves. He mainly participated to keep order and provide a deciding vote on various proposals.

Washington's commanding presence played a pivotal role in achieving a final agreement. After four months of intense debate, the delegates reached a consensus, and on September 17, 1787, the United States Constitution was born. Washington's leadership united the delegates and the new nation behind the idea of a federal government, resulting in one of the world's greatest political documents.

His presidency of the United States

George Washington's presidency began on April 30, 1789, when he was inaugurated as the first President of the United States. He was elected unanimously by the Electoral College and served two terms, choosing to retire after eight years in office.

Washington's presidency was marked by a series of firsts. He established the tradition of a cabinet of advisors, which included four original members: Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of War Henry Knox, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph. He also signed the first United States copyright law, protecting the copyrights of authors.

Washington's administration was responsible for the following:

• Establishing the site of the permanent capital of the United States, which was named Washington, D.C., in his honour.
• Supporting Alexander Hamilton's economic policies, which included the federal government assuming the debts of the state governments and establishing the First Bank of the United States, the United States Mint, and the United States Customs Service.
• Congress passing the Tariff of 1789, the Tariff of 1790, and an excise tax on whiskey to fund the government and address the trade imbalance with Britain.
• Leading federalized soldiers in suppressing the Whiskey Rebellion, which arose in opposition to the administration's taxation policies.
• Directing the Northwest Indian War, which saw the United States establish control over Native American tribes in the Northwest Territory.
• Issuing the 1793 Proclamation of Neutrality to maintain peace with the European powers during the French Revolutionary Wars.
• Securing two important bilateral treaties: the 1794 Jay Treaty with Great Britain and the 1795 Treaty of San Lorenzo with Spain, which both fostered trade and helped secure control of the American frontier.
• Re-establishing the United States Navy with the Naval Act of 1794 to protect American shipping from Barbary pirates and other threats.
• Presiding over the admission of five new states into the Union: North Carolina (1789), Rhode Island (1790), Vermont (1791), Kentucky (1792), and Tennessee (1796).
• Signing the first Thanksgiving proclamation, making November 26 a national day of Thanksgiving for the end of the war for American independence and the successful ratification of the Constitution.
• Issuing a warning against "the baneful effects of the Spirit of Party" in his Farewell Address, which encouraged a focus on education and morality, cautioned against sectionalism within the nation, and admonished against entangling foreign alliances.

Washington's presidency was also marked by his attempts to hold rival factions together and prevent the emergence of partisan politics. He was concerned about the growing partisanship within the government and the detrimental impact it could have on the unity of the nation. Despite his efforts, debates over Hamilton's economic policy, the French Revolution, and the Jay Treaty deepened ideological divisions. Those who supported Hamilton formed the Federalist Party, while his opponents coalesced around Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and formed the Democratic-Republican Party.

Washington's presidency is generally viewed as one of the most successful in American history, and he is often considered to be one of the greatest presidents.

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