What is Washington's regret?
Answers
General Washington's Regret formerly known as The State of Nova Scotia In 1776, Nova Scotia was a frontier colony, ...
Explanation:
As foreign as it may be to our modern North American sensibilities, George Washington, perhaps the premier founding father of a country which has come to symbolize freedom and liberty to the entire world, was born into a society in which slavery was a simple fact of life. As abhorrent as it may be to us, people in 18th century Virginia routinely inherited, made presents of, bought, sold, auctioned, and lotteried off other human beings, as if they were livestock or inanimate objects. Unlike most of his contemporaries, however, Washington's views on the subject of slavery did a complete turnabout over the course of his life. In the few minutes available to us, we will explore the institution of slavery, Washington's role as a slave owner, and look more closely at the incredible transformation he underwent in the space of a very short 67 years.
Everything around the young Washington would have reinforced the concept that God and society saw slavery as something which was only right and natural. His parents and neighbors owned slaves. Both the Bible and classical works from ancient Greece and Rome, which served as textbooks for young scholars of the period, contain numerous references to slaves and the institution of slavery and detail laws governing the practice of slavery in those societies. By the time of Washington's birth, slavery had been a fact of Virginia life for almost a century and was a seemingly indispensable part of the economic, social, legal, and political fabric of the colony. By the time George Washington took control of the Mount Vernon property in 1754, the population of the surrounding county, known as Fairfax, was about 6,500 people, of whom a little more than 1,800 or about 28% were slaves of African origin. The proportion of slaves in the population as a whole rose throughout the century; by the end of the American Revolution, which brought the new United States freedom from England, over 40% of the people in Fairfax County were slaves.1
Young Martha Washington (Mount Vernon Ladies' Associates)
Washington himself became a slave owner at the age of 11, when his father died and left him the 280 acre farm near Fredericksburg, Virginia, upon which the family was then living, and ten slaves. As a young adult, he purchased at least eight slaves, including a carpenter named Kitt, acquired for £39.5.0 in 1755, four other men, two women, and a child. It was after his marriage to Martha Dandridge Custis in January of 1759 that Washington's slaveholdings increased dramatically. His young bride was the widow of a wealthy planter, Daniel Parke Custis, who died without a will in 1757; her share of the Custis estate brought another 84 slaves. Then, in the sixteen years between his marriage and the beginning of the Revolution, Washington acquired slightly more than 40 additional slaves through purchase.2 Most of the subsequent increase in the slave population at Mount Vernon occurred as a result of the large number of children born on the estate.
The over-riding fact that comes through in all the surviving documentation about life at Mount Vernon is that George Washington was, by no means, an easy man to work for. He was a picky, detail-oriented boss, who continually looked over the shoulders of those who served him, could always find a better way to have done a job, and was not above blowing up at a servant, white or black, who didn't meet his standards. Balancing these managerial shortcomings was a sense of humor, a thoughtfulness which softened the rough edges of his temper, and the fact that he would listen to, seriously consider, and bother to investigate the problems brought to his attention. He could also be counted on to give support and encouragement to those who were trying to overcome personal problems. In all these things he was consistent, exhibiting the same personality traits toward, and expecting the same behavior from, both free men, whether they were of his own social class or not, and slaves alike.
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