9 in 10 PERSONS FAIL THIS TEST. WOULD YOU?

Name this famous historical figure:  He was born and raised in Virginia.  He had a military background and fought in what many called a "rebellion" against the government. He advocated the right of states to govern themselves. This man inherited 12 slaves when he was only ten years old and in his later years his plantation in Virginia had as many as 316 slaves living there. For many years he participated in the selling or trading of slaves. His long-time personal assistant was a slave named William Lee.  Who was this man?

9 out of 10 people incorrectly identified this person as Robert E. Lee.

The correct answer is George Washington.

While Robert E. Lee emancipated his family's slaves when he inherited them, Washington was a slave owner all of his life.  He did not emancipate a single slave during his lifetime.  He was the only 1 of 7 Founding Fathers who finally emancipated his slaves in his will.

"Political Correctness is a very, very strange business." 

Washington did not speak against the institution of slavery before the American Revolution.  In 1778, however, he did stop selling slaves, saying that he didn't want to break up their families. Historical accounts differ as to how Washington treated his slaves.  It is documented that he left written orders for his overseers to whip his slaves whenever they "needed it."

As president, Washington owned hundreds of slaves at his plantation at Mount Vernon.  During his tenure as president, George Washington authorized emergency financial and military aid to suppress a slave rebellion in Haiti in 1791.  His administration approved the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 to permit slave owners to recapture slaves in free states that had abolished slavery.  Washington even signed the Slave Act of 1794 that permitted foreign vessels to trade slaves in US ports.

At the time of Washington's death there were 316 slaves living at Mt. Vernon.  123 were personally owned by Washington.  40 additional slaves were being leased from a neighboring plantation for Washington's use.  Washington also left an additional 153 dower slaves to his wife, Martha.  (A dower is the lifetime interest in property that is left by a husband to his wife).  One year after Washington's death, in January 1801, Martha freed the 123 slaves that had belonged to her husband.  She did not, however, emancipate any of her own slaves and when she died on May 22, 1802, she left all of them to her heirs.

In fairness, George Washington did nothing that was not common among Virginia plantation owners of his era.  It may not be fair to judge him by the standards of our day.  However, nobody today hates Washington because he owned hundreds of slaves.  Nobody is calling for Mount Vernon to be abolished because it is a "monument of racism and slavery."  Why not?  Because we have been programmed not to think of Washington that way.  We have been re-educated to think of Washington as a great man, almost without fault, and we have been re-educated to think of Robert E. Lee and other southern leaders (the old "confederacy") as the villain. 

You will not see politicians or any political caucus calling for the destruction of Mount Vernon or the pulling down of statues of George Washington.  (And correctly so).  The irony is that when modern man compiles a list of great Virginians, they will to the last man omit the name of Robert E. Lee but will always place George Washington at the top of the roll of honor.  Political correctness is a very, very strange business.