George Washington employed overseers and farm managers to supervise free, indentured, and enslaved laborers at Mount Vernon. Some outlying properties had enslaved overseers as well. White overseers and farm managers closely monitored enslaved people and their activities, as well as made decisions about their living and work arrangements. In addition to having overseers monitoring work on site, Washington had developed ideas about how to manage enslaved laborers and punish them for behaviors such as resistance or attempts to run away. He communicated with farm managers and overseers regularly about these instances.
Enslaved people resisted slavery in a multitude of ways. Types of resistance, such as working slowly, breaking tools, or feigning illness to not work were common. Since work as a house servant or skilled laborer was viewed as more desirable than agricultural labor, Washington could threaten to demote someone in that role and punish them to agricultural labor if they exhibited signs of resistance. This change in work assignment could also lead to family separation.
Beyond punishing someone with less desirable work assignments, violent, coercive measures were used as well, including whippings and beatings. Although one houseguest noted in his journal that George Washington prohibited the use of whips on those he enslaved, evidence in the historical record proves otherwise.1 In 1758, Washington, while serving in the French and Indian War, received a letter from his farm manager explaining that he had "whipt" the carpenters when he "could see a fault."2
In 1793, farm manager Anthony Whiting reported that he had "gave…a very good Whiping" with a hickory switch to the seamstress Charlotte. The manager admitted that he was "determined to lower Spirit or skin her Back."3 George Washington replied that he considered the treatment of Charlotte to be "very proper" and that "if She, or any other of the Servants will not do their duty by fair means, or are impertinent, correction (as the only alternative) must be administered."4 Washington instituted a system of review in order to determine when he deemed physical abuse as a punishment. As described by Washington's secretary Tobias Lear, "no whipping is allowed without a regular complaint & the defendant found guilty of some bad deed."5
Another form of punishment was selling an enslaved person who ran away for resisted. This often meant separation from family and established community, but also risks of travelling while being trafficked to another enslaver. In some instances, physical restraints were utilized to ensure that enslaved people would not run away. When Tom, the enslaved foreman at River Farm, was sold in the West Indies in 1766 as a punishment for being "both a Rogue & Runaway," Washington wrote to the ship's captain to "keep him handcuffd till you get to Sea."6
While changes in work assignment, physical punishment, and the threat of sale were the most profound attempts to curb resistance among the enslaved at Mount Vernon, Washington also attempted to incentivize labor. Additionally, better quality blankets and clothing were given out to enslaved people considered to be "most deserving."7 Also, enslaved people viewed positively by Washington had the opportunity to earn cash doing additional labor at Mount Vernon such as fishing or as an artisan, or potentially the opportunity to travel into Alexandria to sell handmade items to extra crops from personal gardens for money.
Those enslaved at Mount Vernon navigated the systems of supervision established by Washington to supervise and manage their time, labor, and activities. Those seen as subversive to these systems through resistance faced less desirable work, family separation, physical punishment, and sale. Beyond navigating those risk, those enslaved at Mount Vernon sough the ability to earn money and items to better their physical conditions.
Notes:
1. Louis Philippe, Diary of My Travels in America, (New York: Delacorte Press, 1977), 31-2.
2. “To George Washington from Humphrey Knight, 2 September 1758,” Founders Online, National Archives.
3. "Anthony Whiting to George Washington, 16 January 1793" and "Anthony Whiting to George Washington, 20 January 1793," The Papers of George Washington Digital Edition. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, Rotunda, 2008. Original source: Presidential Series (24 September 1788–3 March 1797), Volume 12 (16 January 1793–31 May 1793).
4. "Anthony Whiting to George Washington, 20 January 1793," The Papers of George Washington Digital Edition. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, Rotunda, 2008. Original source: Presidential Series (24 September 1788–3 March 1797), Volume 12 (16 January 1793–31 May 1793).
5. "Tobias Lear to William Prescott, 4 March 1788," The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution Digital Edition, ed. John P. Kaminski, Gaspare J. Saladino, Richard Leffler, Charles H. Schoenleber and Margaret A. Hogan. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009.
6. “From George Washington to Joseph Thompson, 2 July 1766,” Founders Online, National Archives.
7. “From George Washington to Anthony Whitting, 3 March 1793,” Founders Online, National Archives, “From George Washington to William Pearce, 29 November 1795,” Founders Online, National Archives.
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Morgan, Philip D. “‘To Get Quit of Negroes’: George Washington and Slavery.” Journal of American Studies, 39, no. 3 (December 2005): 403-29.
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