Source: Westmoreland County, Virginia : parts I and II : a short chapter and bright day in its history, by Wright, T. R. B. (Thomas Roane Barnes), 1842-; Washington, Lawrence, 1854-1920; McKim, Randolph H. (Randolph Harrison), 1842-1920; Beale, George William, 1842-. Published in 1912.
The Anti-Slavery Sentiments of President George Washington
President George Washington, writing in 1786, to Robert Morris, of Philadelphia, after alluding to an Anti-Slavery Society of Quakers in that city and suggesting that unless their practices were discontinued, "None of those whose misfortune it is to have slaves as attendants will visit the city if they can possibly avoid it," continues:
"I hope it will not be conceived from these observations that it is my wish to hold the unhappy people, who are the subjects of this letter in slavery. I can only say that there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it. But there is only one proper and effectual mode by which it can be accomplished, and that is by legislative authority; and this, as far as my suffrage will go shall never be wanting."
Writing in the same year to John F. Mercer, he said:
"I never mean, unless some particular circumstance shall compel me to it, to possess another slave by purchase, it being among my first wishes to see some plan adopted by which slavery in this country may be abolished by law." — Virginia's Attitude Toward Slavery and Secession. Munford, p. 83. The Writings of Washington, Marshall. Vol. IX., p. 159.
Extract from the will of George Washington, dated July 9, 1799, recorded in the clerk's office of Fairfax county:
"Upon the decease of my wife, it is my will and desire that all the slaves whom I hold in my own right shall receive their freedom. To emancipate them during her lifetime would, though earnestly wished by me, be attended with such insuperable difficulties on account of their intermixture by marriage with the dower negroes as to excite the most painful sensations, if not disagreeable conse-quences to the latter, while both descriptions are in the occupancy of the same proprietor; it not being in my power under the tenure by which the dower negroes are held to manumit them."
The will further provides that all the slaves who at the time of their emancipation are unable by reason of old age, bodily infirmities, or youth, to support themselves shall be cared for out of his estate, the testator declaring:
"I do moreover most pointedly and most solemnly enjoin it upon my executors hereafter named, or the survivors of them, to see that this clause respecting slaves and every part thereof be religiously fulfilled at the epoch at which it is directed to take place without evasion, neglect, or delay, after the crops which may then be in the ground are harvested, particularly as it respects the aged and infirm: seeing that a regular and permanent fund be established for their support as long as there are subjects requiring it." — Virginia's Attitude Toward Slavery and Secession, Munford. p. lO8. Life of Washington, Irving, Vol. V., p. 439.
Anti-Slavery Sentiment of Gen. Robert E. Lee
Owned No Slaves at Time of the War —
Gen. Robert E. Lee, writing in December, 1856, said:
"In this enlightened age there are few, I believe, but will acknowledge that as an institution, slavery is a moral and political evil in any country. It is useless to expatiate on its disadvantages. I think, it, however, a greater evil to the white than to the black race, and while my feelings are strongly enlisted in behalf of the latter, my sympathies are strongly for the former.
'"While we see the course of the final abolition of slavery is onward, and we give it the aid of our prayers and all justifiable means in our power, we must leave the progress as well as the result in His hands, who sees the end and chooses to work by slow influences." — Virginia's Attitude Toward Slavery and Secession, Munford, p. 101; Life of R. E. Lee, Fitzhugh Lee, p. 64.
Robert E. Lee never owned a slave except the few he inherited from his mother — all of whom he emancipated many years prior to the war. — Virginia's Attitude Toward Slavery and Secession, Munford, p. 156. Letter from his eldest son. Gen. G. W. Custis Lee, to the author, dated February 4. 1907, on file in Virginia Historical Society.
Comments of President James Monroe in Regard to Slavery
President James Monroe, speaking in the Virginia Constitutional Convention on the 2nd of November, 1829, said:
"What has been the leading spirit of this State ever since our independence was obtained? She has always declared herself in favor of the equal rights of man. The Revolution was conducted on that principle. Yet there was at that time a slavish population in Virginia. We hold it in the condition in which the Revolution found it, and what can be done with this population? . . . As to the practicability of emancipating them, it can never be done by the State itself, nor without the aid of the Union. . . . ''Sir, what brought us together in the Revolutionary War? It was the doctrine of equal rights. Each part of the country encouraged and supported every other part. None took advantage of the other's distresses. And if we find that this evil has preyed upon the vitals of the Union and has been prejudicial to all the States where it existed, and is likewise repugnant to their several State Constitutions and Bills of Rights, why may we not expect that they will unite with us in accomplishing its removal." — Virginia's Attitude Toward Slavery and Secession, Munford. Debates of Virginia Convention, 1829-30, page 149.
President James Madison’s Comments about Slavery
James Madison, in 1831, wrote concerning slavery and the American Colonization Society:
''Many circumstances of the present moment seem to concur in brightening the prospects of the Society and cherishing the hope that the time will come when the dreadful calamity which has so long afflicted our country and filled so many with despair, will be gradually removed, and by means consistent with justice, peace and general satisfaction; thus giving to our country the full enjoyment of the blessings of liberty, and to the world the full benefit of its great example." — Idem, p. 90. Life of James Madison, Hunt, p. 369.