Not a great look for 'ol GW
5d 2m ago by thelemmy.club/u/Grumpus_Maximus in historymemes@piefed.social from thelemmy.club
The 1780 Act had exempted members of the U.S. Congress from prohibitions on the practice of chattel slavery.
Lmao. "Slavery is bad, but we still need our own slaves"
Some things never change huh. People in power will always look out for their own interests.
He rotated the slaves he and his wife had in Philadelphia, the temporary US capital during his presidency, out because it would have embroiled him in a broader legal issue of federalism when his top priority as the country's first president was avoiding scandals which would damage the office, including that of the deeply contentious issue of slavery.
You could argue that he should have freed all of his slaves immediately, and you wouldn't be wrong, but that ends up no different than any other aspect of the question of Washington owning slaves to begin with.
I shall not only loose the use of them, but may have them to pay for. If upon taking good advise it is found expedient to send them back to Virginia, I wish to have it accomplished under pretext that may deceive both them and the Public;
https://pressbooks.nvcc.edu/ushistory/chapter/washingtons-dilemma-over-gradual-emancipation/
"...the idea of freedom might be too great a temptation for them to resist."
What an arse.
If you research Ona Judge, you'll see with a complete asshole he could be.
That doesn't contradict what I said. Not sure why you chose to begin quoting mid-sentence, either.
No, it agrees with what you said and includes a source. The quote is from the letter.
Ah, sorry for the tone.
No issue amigo. People get all bent out of shape insulting Washington sometimes. I'm not one of those people. He was a cunt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Act_for_the_Gradual_Abolition_of_Slavery
He got to keep them enslaved
If I recall when he learned that some of the slaves were running away in order to obtain their freedom, he assumed that they must have been mentally ill or gone mad, because why else would they seek to flee his benevolent bounty?
What a prick.
I saw the title and wondered what heinous shit Games Workshop were up to now.
He did? Some tax-laws mitigation, most probably.
Brother, you're not a kick streamer, you don't need to wildly speculate based solely on your own predetermined biases. Good lord
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Act_for_the_Gradual_Abolition_of_Slavery
The capital was in Pennsylvania at the time, PA state law exempted Congress from slavery prohibitions, but it was legally unclear if that extended to other gov't employees, namely the president. He kept moving so that he was never in PA for more than 6 months at a time, so that he could never be considered a resident of PA. He did it to prevent having a lawsuit to settle the question if PA's law extended to his office, to avoid the appearance of a scandal, especially one so closely tied to the controversial subject of slavery.
sir this is a meme thread
thank you for the info though
I came into this thread to find out why. Thank you very very much for the excellent explanation and the link for more info, but please don't be harsh on people who don't know what you know.
I'm not being harsh cause they didn't know. Being harsh cause they speculated instead of looking for the information. We all have access to any knowledge we want, and the link had already been posted in this thread before I said. And the explanation already given, as well.
Nice podcast about his chef: