Slavery & the White House
Hi Friends!
Welcome to Issue 38 of this newsletter! This week’s topic is Slavery & the White House. Construction for the White House began in 1792. Apparently, the commissioners for the District of Columbia, charged by Congress to build the new city under the direction of President George Washington, initially planned to import workers from Europe to meet their labor needs, but soon decided relying on enslaved people for labor was a better (and surely cheaper) solution. After the White House was burned down in 1814 during a British invasion that was part of the War of 1812, slaves were once again used during reconstruction. The White House’s history is further complicated by the fact that 12 US presidents owned slaves during their lifetime, while 41 of the 56 founding fathers owned slaves upon signing the Declaration of Independence. The history of this country is marked and marred with the suffering and exploitation of human beings. Let’s get into it.
Let’s Get Into It
The Founding Father’s & Slavery
In his 1775 treatise, Taxation No Tyranny, British author Dr. Samuel Johnson rhetorically asked, “How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?” — He candidly pointed out the fact that many of the founding fathers who so avidly opposed British control continued to exploit, rape, murder and traffic human beings.
The institution of slavery had been a part of American society for more than 150 years when the Revolutionary War began in 1775.
It is estimated that nearly 10% of the Continental Army was African American at one point. This would be the only integrated American Army until the Korean War almost two hundred years later.
Slavery existed, and was protected by law, in all 13 American colonies when they declared their independence from Great Britain in 1776.
It’s estimated that 41 of the 56 founding fathers who signed the Declaration of Independence were slave owners.
Four of the first 5 presidents of the United States were slave owners. 7 presidents in total owned slaves while living there. (Plus George Washington though he didn’t bring his slaves to the White House). 12 presidents owned slaves at some point in their lives.
When Washington died, he made a statement to the nation and freed the slaves he owned in his will, the only founding father to do so. George Washington owned between 250 and 300 slaves during his presidency, according to the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies
Thomas Jefferson is one of the most criticized slave owner — as he should be. The man who wrote the very words, “All men are created equal,” constantly raped his slaves, impregnating Sally Hemings when she was only a child. Jefferson was the first to bring his slaves — a dozen of his household servants from Monticello — to 1600 Pennsylvania.
Ultimately, these contradictions and discrepancies lead to the Civil War in 1861.
The White House & Slavery
Construction on the President’s House began in 1792. The Capitol and other iconic buildings in Washington, D.C were also constructed by slaves.
The Commissioners of the Federal District paid regional plantation owners for use of their enslaved workforce; the owners pocketed the wages, while the commissioners provided housing, some medical care, and rations for slaves.
As of now, we can link 307 enslaved men, women and children to the building and staffing of the White House.
Wage rolls for May 1795 list five enslaved people, Tom, Peter, Ben, Harry and Daniel, four of whom were owned by White House architect James Hoban. Daniel was owned by Hoban’s assistant, Pierce Purcell.
Slaves were likely involved in all aspects of construction, including carpentry, masonry, carting, rafting, plastering, glazing and painting and slaves appear to have shouldered alone the grueling work of sawing logs and stones.
In addition to constructing the buildings, slaves also worked the quarries where the stones for the government buildings came from.
Enslaved individuals worked in a variety of positions in the president’s household, including as chefs, gardeners, stable hands, maids, butlers, lady’s maids, valets, and more.
Enslaved individuals working in the White House often slept in the attic or in the Ground Floor rooms which were damp and rodent infested.
Ironically, the Statue of Freedom that sits atop the Capitol dome was made with the help of Philip Reid, a man enslaved by sculptor Thomas Crawford, who was commissioned to build the statue. According to the Architect of the Capitol, Reid was paid $1.25 a day by the federal government for his contributions.
According to surviving documentation, at least nine presidents either brought with them or hired out enslaved individuals to work at the White House: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, James K. Polk, and Zachary Taylor.
The White House Historical Association’s website says the president’s salary at this time was $25,000 a year and “it was not enough to maintain the house properly, so there was no realistic way an individual president could afford to keep up the house without either enslaved staff or extensive personal wealth.” — I feel like this could have definitely been worded in a better way, this feels gross and like a justification for slavery (in my opinion).
The first child born at the White House was born into slavery. In November 1801, Ursula Granger Hughes, a fourteen-year-old enslaved cook, arrived at the White House from Monticello (Jefferson’s estate) to work in Thomas Jefferson’s presidential household. She gave birth to a child who soon died, likely named Asnet Hughes, in March 1802.
Abolitionists have juxtaposed the Capitol, the symbolic heart of American democracy and liberty, with the hypocrisy of slavery, writing: “Scenes have taken place in Washington this summer that would make the devil blush through the darkness of the pit, if he had been caught in them. SIXTY HUMAN BEINGS, were carried right by the Capitol yard to the slave ship!” Here, we are specifically talking about the Yellow House, an infamous slave prison owned by William H. Williams. The Yellow House was located just south of the National Mall. A flag waved atop this prision holding Black bodies waiting to be sold down the river in the nation’s very capital.
Learn More About The Capital’s Construction Here
The history of the United States of America is far from the simple fairytale we were taught in elementary school. It is vile, exploitative and shameful in many ways. When Michelle Obama said, "I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves,” the magnitude of that statement was not lost on me and even listening to it now bring tears to my eyes. I waiver between moments of hope and moments of sobering outrage when I think of this country. How do you feel about your America?
