Twelve U.S. presidents owned slaves at some point in their lives; of these, eight owned slaves while in office. Ten of the first twelve American presidents owned slaves, the only exceptions being John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams, neither of whom approved of slavery. George Washington, the first president, owned slaves, including while he was president. Andrew Jackson was an interregional slave trader until at least the War of 1812. Zachary Taylor was the last one who owned slaves during his presidency, and Ulysses S. Grant was the last president to have owned a slave at some point in his life. Of these presidents who owned slaves, Thomas Jefferson owned the most over his lifetime, with 600+ slaves, followed closely by Washington. Woodrow Wilson was the last president born into a household with slave labor, though the Civil War and abolition concluded during his early childhood.[1]
Washington was a major slaveholder before, during, and after his presidency. His willfreed his slaves pending the death of his widow, though she freed them within a year of her husband's death. As president, Washington signed a 1789 renewal of the 1787 Northwest Ordinance, which banned slavery north of the Ohio River. This was the first major restriction on the domestic expansion of slavery by the federal government in US history.
Jefferson fathered multiple enslaved children with the enslaved woman Sally Hemings, the likely half-sister of his late wife Martha Wayles Skelton.[5][6] Despite being a lifelong slave owner, Jefferson routinely condemned the institution of slavery, attempted to restrict its expansion, and advocated gradual emancipation. As president, he oversaw the abolition of the international slave trade.
Madison occasionally condemned the institution of slavery and opposed the international slave trade, but he also vehemently opposed any attempts to restrict its domestic expansion. Madison did not free his slaves during his lifetime or in his will.[7]Paul Jennings, one of Madison's slaves, served him during his presidency and later published the first memoir of life in the White House.
Like Thomas Jefferson, Monroe condemned the institution of slavery as evil and advocated its gradual end, but still owned many slaves throughout his entire adult life, freeing only one of them in his final days.[8] As president, he oversaw the Missouri Compromise, which admitted Missouri to the Union as a slave state in exchange for admitting Maine as a free state and banning slavery above the parallel 36°30′ north. Monroe supported sending freed slaves to the new country of Liberia; its capital, Monrovia, is named after him.
Van Buren's father owned six slaves.[10] The only slave Van Buren personally owned, Tom, escaped in 1814, and Van Buren made no effort to find him.[11] In December 1824, A. G. Hammond of Berlin, New York, located Tom in Worcester, Massachusetts.[10] Van Buren tentatively agreed to sell him to Hammond for $50, provided Hammond could capture him without violence.[10][11] Hammond could not make the guarantee,[11] and was disinclined to pay because New York's gradual emancipation law guaranteed that if he was re-enslaved, Tom would be freed in 1827.[10] Tom remained free, as Van Buren probably intended.[11][a] Later in life, Van Buren belonged to the Free Soil Party, which opposed the expansion of slavery into the Western territories.[12]
Polk became the Democratic nominee for president in 1844 partially because of his tolerance of slavery, in contrast to Van Buren. As president, he generally supported the rights of slave owners. His will provided for the freeing of his slaves after the death of his wife, though the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution ended up freeing them long before her death in 1891.
Although Taylor owned slaves throughout his life, he generally resisted attempts to expand slavery in the territories. Taylor opposed the Compromise of 1850, which admitted California into the Union as a free state and banned the slave trade in Washington, DC, in exchange for allowing most of the remaining territory captured from Mexico to decide the issue of slavery locally and passing a federal fugitive slave law requiring state authorities to assist federal marshals in capturing and detaining escaped slaves. However, Taylor died in office before he could veto the bill, leading to its successful passage under his successor Millard Fillmore. After his death, there were rumors that slavery advocates had poisoned him; tests of his body over 100 years later have been inconclusive. Taylor did not free any of his slaves in his will.
Johnson owned a few slaves and was supportive of James K. Polk's slavery policies. As military governor of Tennessee, he convinced Abraham Lincoln to exempt that area from the Emancipation Proclamation. Johnson went on to free all his personal slaves on August 8, 1863.[17] On October 24, 1864, Johnson officially freed all slaves in Tennessee.[18]
Although he later served as a general in the Union Army, his wife Julia had control of four slaves during the American Civil War, given to her by her father. It is unclear if she actually was granted legal ownership of them or merely temporary custody.[20] All would be freed along with those freed by the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, although by choice, as the proclamation did not apply to her state of Missouri.[20] Grant personally owned one slave, William Jones, given to him by his father-in-law and freed by Grant shortly after being given title on March 29, 1859.[21]
Miscaptioned c. 1937 photo of William Andrew Johnson, who had been enslaved by Andrew Johnson, and was believed to be the last surviving person enslaved by a U.S. president.[22] Andrew Johnson bid $500 for William A. Johnson's mother Dolly Johnson[23]
In 1875, the St. Louis Globe published this interview with Moses Key, a former slave of James Monroe
Anna Judge, "nearly a hundred years old" and formerly enslaved by William Henry Harrison, died in a kitchen-fire accident in 1899
In 1862, Zachary Taylor's daughter requested financial compensation from the U.S. government for the value of Jane Webb, a formerly enslaved woman who had accompanied her father to the White House during his presidency[24]
Henry Hawkins (1819–1917) accompanied Zachary Taylor on his Mexican-American War campaigns, and was to be interred at the mausoleum of Dick Taylor in Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans (Natchez Democrat, July 6, 1917)
Madison's brother and fellow slave of Thomas Jefferson Eston Hemings moved to Wisconsin and changed his name to Jefferson; Eston's son John Wayles Jefferson (pictured) was a U.S. Army officer during the Civil War
Polk Taylor, reportedly owned by Zachary Taylor's daughter
Eva Bates, reportedly employed by both John Adams and James Monroe
Notes
^If Van Buren re-enslaved Tom, he risked alienating northern political supporters who opposed slavery. If he publicly refused to return Tom to slavery, he risked alienating pro-slavery supporters in the southern states. By taking no action, Van Buren eliminated the possibility of losing supporters from either side.
.jpg)
![Miscaptioned c. 1937 photo of William Andrew Johnson, who had been enslaved by Andrew Johnson, and was believed to be the last surviving person enslaved by a U.S. president.[22] Andrew Johnson bid $500 for William A. Johnson's mother Dolly Johnson[23]](File:William_Andrew_Jackson_b_1844_photographed_1938.jpg)
![In 1862, Zachary Taylor's daughter requested financial compensation from the U.S. government for the value of Jane Webb, a formerly enslaved woman who had accompanied her father to the White House during his presidency[24]](File:Ann_Margaret_Mackall_Taylor_Wood_request_for_compensation_for_value_of_three_enslaved_people.jpg)
.jpg)
