Day 2- President's House

When our country first began and Washington D.C. was getting built, our countries first capital was Philadelphia.  Not too far away from Independence Hall was where President Washington lived.  Today you can go and see where his house was and peek into some excavation archeologist have done to find out more about his home.

One story that people have given about his home is that President Washington had a window and he would open it for an hour once day.  As long as people were polite, they could walk by and talk to him about any concerns or grievances that had.  Do you think our President today would be able to do that?!

Was George Washington nice to his slaves?

This was a question that many students have asked.  I am still finding out more information to fully answer this question, but here’s what I have found out so far.

Washington had a personal manservant (slave) who was his constant companion.  He even rode into battle with Washington and it’s recorded that they were very good friends.

But while Washington was President, he did have 8 slaves attempt to run away and 2 who did successfully.  In his diaries, Washington can be seen lamenting that one of his slaves, Hercules, he had treated “nicely” so he didn’t understand why he had run.

The truth of the matter is….they were still slaves.