Resistance and Freedom

NARRATOR: In November 1845, Thomas Adams traveled the winding rural roads to the small town of Greenland, New Hampshire. The town was at that time considered small but bustling, with a population of about 720 people situated just a few miles outside the town of Portsmouth.

Adams was a traveling reverend. Originally from Maine, he had gone so far as Ohio to preach. But the word of God wasn't the only thing that Adams was interested in spreading. In addition to being a reverend, Adams was also an abolitionist and a frequent contributor to the abolitionist newspapers around New England. In Greenland, Adams was chasing a story, a story of courage and resistance, a story of defiance against the most powerful man in America.

The Story of a young enslaved woman named Ona Maria Judge. Judge had been 20 years old when she walked out the doors of the presidential mansion one day and never returned. When Adams found her, she was around 70 weakened by several attacks of palsy, but still strong in spirit. Writing for the newspaper, The Granite Freeman Adams wrote:

THOMAS ADAMS: Never shall I forget the fire that kindled in her age-bedimmed eye, or the smile that played upon her wearied countenance. I felt that were it mine to choose, I would not exchange her possessions, rich in faith and sustained, while tottering over the grave, for all the glory and renown of him whose slave she was.[1]

NARRATOR: "He whose slave she was" referred to George Washington. Washington had a complicated history with slavery and abolition.

Over the course of his life, Washington enslaved over 500 men, women, and children at his plantation Mount Vernon. Yet over the years, he became more open to the idea of gradual abolition, the slow incremental process by which the institution of slavery could be dismantled.

But Judges self- emancipation in 1796 would publicly test Washington's commitment to this ideal. Just a few years before, Washington had signed the Fugitive Slave Act, which allowed enslavers to forcibly seize enslaved people who had escaped. How was a President, especially one who had fought for liberty in the United States, supposed to contend with the enslavement of human beings in that same country?

ONA JUDGE: A total thirst for freedom was my only motive.[2]

NARRATOR: This is Inventing the Presidency, Episode 7: Resistance and Freedom.

On February 12, 1793, Washington signed into law the Fugitive Slave Act. The act was designed to quell the tensions between states where slavery was legal and states where it was not. There were a few states where slavery was outright illegal, and others that had begun the slow process of gradual abolition.

When enslaved people decided to self-emancipate, that is, to escape their bondage and declare their own freedom, they would often run north to states where slavery was illegal. The Fugitive Slave Act allowed enslavers to seize these people and force them back into slavery in their home states. Any children born to fugitive slaves, as they were known, would also be able to be forced into slavery if captured, even if they had been born into a free state.

The act was unpopular in certain states where abolitionist sentiment was quickly rising.

BRUCE RAGSDALE: There is the emergence of a much broader abolition movement coming out of the American Revolution era. And especially right afterward, this is happening in the United States, in Great Britain and in France. And the abolitionists in those three countries are in close correspondence with one another.

NARRATOR: This is Bruce Ragsdale, author of Washington at the Plow. Washington's own beliefs about slavery would change over his lifetime. As a plantation owner, his wealth and livelihood depended on the forced labor of those 577 men, women, and children who worked the five farms at Mount Vernon. At the same time, with the encouragement of Lafayette and others, Washington had been introduced to abolitionist philosophies.

BRUCE RAGSDALE: Washington is very familiar with this new abolition movement. One of the most ardent advocates is his comrade and dear friend Lafayette, and it's Lafayette who is really the first person to appeal to Washington to support some form of abolition, to support this new movement. He thinks that this would be the most rewarding thing that Washington could do as he moves from military to civic service.

And Washington also met any number of other abolitionists who appealed directly to him. Lafayette's friend, Jacques Pierre Brissot, another French abolitionist, comes to Mount Vernon, encourages Washington to establish an abolition society in Virginia. Washington also met with Methodist clergy to British clergymen from the Methodist Church who come to Mount Vernon to ask him to support their petition to the Virginia Assembly to abolish slavery.

So Washington not only is aware of this new movement, but he has personal interaction with them. Many of these people, particularly like Lafayette, Brissot and even some of the great English abolitionists who he knew about through books that he had in his library, based their arguments against slavery largely on principles of natural rights, that somehow abolition should be the next step in the struggle for liberty that had been embodied in the American Revolution.

And that's why they think that the great hero of American liberty, what Brissot calls the savior of America in Washington.

NARRATOR: The issue of slavery was a contentious one. It had been a central question during the Revolution and at the Constitutional Convention. Recall that during the negotiations for the Jay Treaty, Southern constituents demanded the compensation of enslaved people who had fled to the British during the Revolution.

Slavery imbued almost every political dimension and aspect of daily life of the United States in the 1790s. Scholars have debated the extent of Washington's beliefs about slavery. While Washington did provide provisions for emancipation in his will, those provisions would only go into effect after both he and his wife died.

Furthermore, while Washington had made promises to never purchase another enslaved person again, he did continue in certain circumstances to sell and buy human beings. Washington was careful not to express strong sentiments publicly on the matter, which is why the story of Ona Judge and her journey to freedom tested his commitment to gradual abolition on the national stage.

Ona Maria Judge was born at Mount Vernon in 1775. She was the daughter of Betty, an enslaved seamstress, and a British- born white tailor named Andrew Judge. The nature of her parents relationship is unknown. Considering the similarity of their jobs, they likely worked together-- although there is no way to tell if the relationship was coerced or consensual.

Some scholars have noted that Andrew Judge's indenture completed in 1781, but he remained at Mount Vernon for another three years, but we cannot say for certain the reason for him remaining or for his eventual departure.

Somewhat unusually for an enslaved woman on a plantation, Judge had both a middle name and a surname which she inherited from her father, and she likely knew her father for the first decade of her life.

But when she was 10 years old, Andrew Judge left Mount Vernon for reasons unknown. Even if he had wanted to take her with him, he would be unable to as Ona inherited her enslaved status from her mother. Her father had no parental rights over her.

Betty had known such disruptions in her life already. She had belonged to the estate of Martha's first husband, Daniel Parke Custis, and arrived at Mount Vernon after the Washington's marriage.

Just as would happen when Ona was sent to Philadelphia, Betty had no choice in the decision to go to Mount Vernon. She arrived with her son Austin, then a baby, and would go on to have four more children: Tom and Betty Davis, whose father was likely a white weaver named Thomas Davis, and Ona and Philadelphia, or Delphy, Judge.

Ona grew up in this close knit family. At age ten, just as she had lost her father, she was assigned to work in the mansion. Most enslaved children at Mount Vernon received work assignments between the ages of eleven and fourteen. This means that Ona started working early compared to some of her peers.

It was a big role for such a young girl. Within the mansion house, as it was called, Ona Judge was Martha's ladies' maid, responsible for dressing, bathing, and attending to the First Lady. The Washingtons called her Oney, and she quickly proved her prowess with a needle. Her skills were so valuable that Washington admitted later on it would be difficult to replace her in the role.

As Martha's ladies maid, Judge spent considerable time with the First Lady. As one of the more visible members of the enslaved household, she would have been given beautiful clothing to wear, not as a gift from the Washingtons, but as a way for them to demonstrate their wealth and prestige to guests.

Later descriptions of her would describe her as elegant and delicately formed, but she never received any education from the Washingtons. They never taught her to read, nor did they provide any religious instruction, which Judge would grow to resent.

Working in the mansion meant that Judge had little privacy or free time. During parts of her life, she would sleep in the same room as members of the family and would always be on call to assist Martha and her granddaughters when needed. Martha was known to be a strict supervisor. She once had Judge's sister in law, Charlotte, whipped for not working up to her standards.

Judge was 16 when Washington was elected President, and she and her brother, Austin, were chosen to accompany the family to New York, and eventually, Philadelphia, to serve the presidential household. Neither Judge nor her brother had any say in the matter. Austin would be separated not only from his mother and siblings, but from his wife Charlotte and children as well.

Like Austin's mother, Charlotte worked as a house servant and spinner at Mount Vernon. And in the 1786 Census of the Enslaved at Mount Vernon, she is listed as having two children, Timothy and Billy, both of whom would be without their father for the foreseeable future.

According to Washington's nephew, Robert Lewis:

ROBERT LEWIS: After an early dinner and making all necessary arrangements, it brought us to three o'clock in the afternoon when we left Mount Vernon.

The servants of the house and a number of the field negroes made their appearance. Numbers of these poor wretched seemed greatly agitated, much affected.[3]

NARRATOR: The departure of their friends and family was devastating for the enslaved community, and it must have affected Judge strongly. How could it not?

She was leaving her mother, most of her siblings, her sister in law, and nephews behind as she traveled to a new unknown life in Philadelphia. In the presidential mansion, Judge joined eight other enslaved workers. In addition to her brother Austin, this also included Moll, Giles, Paris, Christopher Sheels, Hercules Posey, and Richmond Posey.

Judge and Moll shared a room with the Custis grandchildren. In addition to serving Martha, it would be Judge's responsibility to help care for the children at night.

The Presidential household was an anomaly in Philadelphia during the 1790s. In 1796, the year of Judge's self emancipation, there were fewer than 100 Enslaved individuals in the city.

That meant that Washington's household alone made up roughly 10 percent of the enslaved population. In comparison, there were over 1400 non- white free people listed in the 1790 census for Philadelphia. By 1800, this number would nearly quadruple.

The free black community had taken an increasingly prominent role in the social and cultural life of Philadelphia. Recall how in Episode 5, the Free African Society led the efforts to treat the ill during the Yellow Fever epidemic.

Here is Ramin Ganeshram, journalist, food historian, and executive director of the Westport Museum for History and Culture.

RAMIN GANESHRAM: So Philadelphia was a really interesting city, not just in the 1790s, but prior to that.

And while of course, today we think of New York as the quintessential American city and very much Philadelphia was neck and neck, if not more prominent. The New York in this period of time, a bulk of the Caribbean imports into the country came through the port of Philadelphia. And what that meant was that there was a great access to a wide variety of goods from around the world: the Caribbean, Europe, and so on.

And so what this meant was that in that sense, it was a fairly sophisticated city. And we definitely see this. It's also in terms of how Penn planned out the city originally.

At that period of time in Philadelphia, which was very much a free thinking city, very much an abolition city. Washington levied quite a bit of criticism. We have some of our best descriptions of his personal behavior, as well as political criticism of him during this period of the presidency. At the same time, there was a lot of criticism for him having enslaved people in his household with him. There was a lot of criticism of him for not supporting the French revolution and the influx of the Haitian planter immigrants into the city.

So he wasn't uniformly loved by the time he became President, at least in the city of Philadelphia. I mean, certainly there were cases where protests against the Jay treaty were so great that he and Jay were burned in effigy outside of the president's house. He was barricaded in the house watching these protests.

NARRATOR: Pennsylvania had long been a hotbed of abolitionist advocacy. One of the most prominent abolition groups, the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, was founded in Philadelphia in 1775. You might recognize their most famous president: none other than Benjamin Franklin.

As early as 1780, the Pennsylvania General Assembly had passed the Gradual Abolition Act. The act required enslavers to register their enslaved population each year and created pathways for those born into slavery to gain their freedom. Here is Bruce Ragsdale again.

BRUCE RAGSDALE: The gradual abolition law that was passed by Pennsylvania in 1780, again in large part through the influence of a large Quaker population there, the Quakers being the leading anti- slavery advocates at the time, and this law provided that anyone born into slavery in Pennsylvania would on a certain timetable, and that does get changed over the years, but initially it was that they would be indentured servants until they were a certain age in their 20s, so a significant part of their life would continue to be enslaved, and then they would be freed.

It provided for other gradual transitions of younger people. It also had a provision which would become quite notable for Washington was that that law in 1780 provided that. Anyone who brought an enslaved person into Pennsylvania, that that individual would be free if they remained more than six months.

And the law made an exception for the enslaved servants of members of the Continental Congress or the enslaved servants of diplomats, but when the federal government was organized in 1789 and moves to Philadelphia a year later, it's not clear whether or not that exemption for the Continental Congress applies to the federal officials who came.

And the Attorney General, Edmund Randolph, determines that it does not apply, and so that anyone coming with the federal government, any federal officials, any enslaved persons they brought would, under Pennsylvania law, be free after six months residence.

NARRATOR: When the act first passed, Washington expressed support for it. He wrote to John Francis Mercer in 1786:

GEORGE WASHINGTON: I never mean, unless some particular circumstance should compel me to it, to possess another slave by purchase. It being among my first wishes to see some plan adopted by the legislature, by which slavery in this country may be abolished, by slow, sure action in imperceptible degrees.[4]

NARRATOR: Despite his claim to never purchase another enslaved person, Washington did continue to buy and sell human beings. In 1791, while president, he sold a man named Jack to the Caribbean.[5] Furthermore, while Washington wrote his support for gradual abolition, it became clear that he would not abide by the Pennsylvania law himself.

The Gradual Abolition Act allowed enslaved individuals who had resided in the state for six months to claim their freedom. When the enslaved members of Attorney General Edmund Randolph's household emancipated themselves, Randolph quickly wrote the Washingtons to warn them. Washington later wrote to his secretary, Tobias Lear:

GEORGE WASHINGTON: I know not, and therefore beg you will take the best advice you can on the subject, and in case it shall be found that any of my slaves may or, any for them shall attempt their freedom at the expiration of six months. It is my wish and desire that you would send the whole, or such part of them as Mrs. Washington may not choose to keep, home. As all except Hercules and Paris are dower negroes, it behooves me to prevent the emancipation of them.

Otherwise, I shall not only lose the use of them, but may have to pay for them. If, upon taking good advice, it is found expedient to send them back to Virginia, I wish to have it accomplished on a pretext that may deceive both them and the public. Request that these sentiments and this advice may be known to none but yourself and Mrs. Washington.[6]

NARRATOR: The Washingtons would begin rotating the members of the enslaved household out immediately. Shortly after Washington wrote this letter, Austin was sent to Mount Vernon. The purpose of this trip was to circumvent the law in Philadelphia, but the Washingtons found reasons to send them back that would not raise eyebrows.

According to Martha:

MARTHA WASHINGTON: Austen is come home to see his friends. When the Muslin borders are done, be so good as to send them back to me by Austen when he comes, as his stay will be short indeed. I could but illy spare him at this time, but to fulfill my promise to his wife.[7]

NARRATOR: It was on one of these trips in 1794 that tragedy struck.

MAN: Presuming, sir, that you have heard something of the calamitous accident which befell your man Austin on his passage from this to Baltimore, I shall inform you that he expired yesterday, about one o'clock.[8]

NARRATOR: On his way home to Mount Vernon, Judge's brother, Austin, died in a riding accident while trying to cross a full stream.

MAN: This morning before sunrise, your mulatto man, in attempting to cross the run by this place between this and Abingdon, fell from his horse and went a small distance down the stream. A negro man of Mrs. Stiles' who keeps the public in at this place and went with him to see him cross the run got him out speechless.[9]

He was taken to Mrs. Stiles and a physician procured immediately, but nothing could save his life. He expired at about the middle of the day. I thought if my duty to inform you by first post. I'm sorry that I should have occasion, so to do. A coffin is bespoke and I expect he'll be buried tomorrow.

NARRATOR: It was unclear whether Austin had a medical event that caused his fall or if the fall from the horse had killed him.

When he died, he was carrying gifts back for Charlotte. The tragic accident left Charlotte widowed. Timothy and Billy lost their father. Betty lost a son. And Judge lost her brother. Austin would be buried in Maryland, close to where he died. His family would never be able to visit his grave.

Then in 1795, Betty, Judge's mother, died as well.

Imagine Judge's grief in this moment, completely separated from her family in the presidential mansion, and grieving alone. She may have depended on the seven others occupying the mansion with her. This included Hercules Posey, the chef who had attended plays and other diversions in the city with Judge and her brother Austin.

Posey's story would become intertwined with Judge's in ways that neither likely realized at the time.

RAMIN GANESHRAM: So Hercules Posey was a cook enslaved by George Washington. He had been obtained by Washington as payment for a forfeited loan by his neighbor, John Posey, who couldn't pay the money back and had to forfeit 25 people of whom Hercules was one as a young boy.

At some point after the time he came to Mount Vernon, he was brought into the kitchens where he apprenticed with the older cooks and clearly was skilled enough that by 1790, Washington sent for him to come to Philadelphia to function as the chief cook while he is there. And so he's there throughout the majority of the time, Washington is there. There is a period of time when his young son, Richmond, is also brought up to Philadelphia to assist Hercules, not because he seemed to have any proclivity for the work, but because interestingly, Washington writes, Hercules wanted him there.

So it's a really interesting, complex juxtaposition. This enslaved man whom he owns is nonetheless petitioning Washington to bring his son up to Philadelphia and the president agrees. He was what we call a Georgian cook. He was cooking essentially English food that had evolved in America to use American ingredients.

So this was still very much a high-end manner of cooking,

NARRATOR: Known as the General's Cook, Posey became renowned in Philadelphia for his cooking. Guests visiting the presidential mansion could expect roast beef, veal, turkey, ducks, fowl, hams, puddings, jellies, oranges, apples, nuts, figs, and raisins, all prepared under Posey's oversight.

Posey's chef skills played an important role in presenting Washington as a dignified president, without overstepping into royal extravagance.

RAMIN GANESHRAM: We have to remember that when Washington was president, he was creating an office that had never been fulfilled before. And he was trying to be very careful to have the same level of authority and dignity as what many of his constituents were accustomed to, which was royalty, right?

They had been ruled over by a king without being a king. He did not want to be seen as if he was trying to be royalty. So he had to strike this delicate balance where everything he did bespoke elegance and sumptuousness, but did not go too far. So Hercules had this very fine line to walk where he had to prepare these dishes that were plentiful, that were skilled, and that were elegant, that demonstrated the variety and bounty of America to visitors who were not American by using ingredients from around the country, but yet didn't go too far.

And so I believe, it is my opinion, that in creating the system of our past that allowed people to really observe the elegance of the Washington table without going too far. And we know that food is absolutely an entry point to conversation to meeting of the minds. Breaking bread is a wonderful way to further discussion. I think this was very deliberate on the part of Washington to create these environments that would bring people together. Although he himself wasn't the great conversationalist and further the work of the Republic.

NARRATOR: Posey's reputation in Philadelphia grew. Here is the description of Posey by Washington's step grandson, George Washington Parke Custis.

WASHY: The chief cook would have been termed in modern parlance a celebrated artiste. He was named Hercules and familiarly termed Uncle Harkless. Trained in the mysteries of his art from early youth and in the palmy days of Virginia, Uncle Harkless was, at the period of the first presidency, as highly accomplished, a proficient in the culinary arts as could be found in the United States.

He was a dark brown man, little, if any, above the usual size, yet possessed of such great muscular power is to entitle him be compared with his namesake of fabulous history. The chief cook gloried in the cleanliness and nicety of his kitchen. Under his iron discipline, woe to his underlings if speck or spot could be discovered on the tables or dressers, or if the utensils did not shine like polished silver.[10]

NARRATOR: Hercules was, among other things, a disciplined cook, a cleanly and neat person, and according to Washy, extremely stylish. Washy described him as

WASHY: One of the most polished gentlemen of nearly 60 years ago, his linen was of the unexceptionable whiteness and quality. Then black silk shorts, ditto waistcoat, ditto stockings, shoes highly polished with large buckles covering a considerable part of the foot. Blue cloth coat with velvet collar and bright metal buttons. A long watch chain dangling from his fob, a cocked hat, and a gold headed cane.

NARRATOR: Hercules could afford his fine clothing by selling leftovers from the President's kitchen. But he was still enslaved. Such little pleasures could be seized at a moment's notice for the smallest suspected infraction.

He could be whipped or beaten. Like others in the household, he was sent periodically to Virginia to avoid his emancipation. When Hercules first discovered the plan to send him back to Virginia, he was outraged. Here is the account left by Washington's Secretary, Tobias Lear:

TOBIAS LEAR: When he was about to go, somebody, I presume, insinuated to him that the motive for sending him home so long before you was expected there was to prevent his taking the advantage of a six month's residence in this place.

When he was possessed of this idea, he appeared to be extremely unhappy, and although he made not the least objection to going, Yet, he said he was mortified to the last degree to think that a suspicion could be entertained of his fidelity or attachment to you. And so much did the poor fellow's feelings appear to be touched that it left no doubt of his sincerity.[11]

NARRATOR: Martha Washington allowed him to stay in Philadelphia for a while longer, and Hercules did not claim his emancipation. But Philadelphia opened the doors to a new way of life for both Judge and Posey. It was a city with a significant free black population in a state with strong abolitionist sympathies.

Judge would later say that she had friends within the free black community of Philadelphia. Posey doubtless also had close connections with this community.

RAMIN GANESHRAM: At Mount Vernon at this period of time comprised five farms, it was a much vaster estate than it is now. And these large plantations were effectively self contained worlds.

Everything one needed for the most part was at the plantation. Certainly the enslaved people at Mount Vernon sometimes went into Alexandria on errands or to sell their own goods on a Sunday. One assumes Hercules may have done that as well, but largely it was a rural life. Interaction was with other enslaved people on the five farms and every manner of quote unquote profession was there: field workers, barrel makers, blacksmiths, and so on.

In Philadelphia, it was different. There were only at any given time nine enslaved people in the house. Hercules worked in the kitchen. He primarily was in charge of the kitchen. His support came from paid workers, indentured workers, largely white. At Mount Vernon, he worked in the kitchen with other enslaved cooks.

There were not hired white cooks in that kitchen. And the aspect of the people who were doing manual labor, those individuals were clearly not present. Philadelphia was a city. There was no field labor right in the city. And other people like blacksmiths and so on were hired work. In Philadelphia, Hercules had the same access to this vast cultural, urban realm, that Washington and Martha and their grandchildren and the secretaries had.

It was also permitted to go out in the evenings. At one period of time, he went and bought himself boots at considerable cost, the household accounts show, and he was very much considered a dandy and he went to shows and he sort of promenaded around the town. So it's a very different life. And he was seeing free African Americans going about their business and living their life in this city that had so much to offer.

NARRATOR: Empowered by her community and grieved by the loss of her brother, Judge began to feel the calling of freedom. She may have begun with small acts of resistance, such as avoiding her assigned duties or feigning illness-- little rebellions meant to disrupt the conveniences of her enslavers. But it was news shared by Martha Washington that would spur her to act.

JOHN ADAMS: I have a great deal of news to tell you. Mrs. Washington told me last time I dined at the President's that Betsy Custis is to be married next month to Mr. Law, the English East Indian nabob. The good lady is as gay as a girl and tells the story in a very humorous style.[12]

NARRATOR: This is a letter written by John Adams to his wife, Abigail, about the engagement of Eliza Parke Custis.

Betsy, or Eliza as she was known, was the eldest grandchild of George and Martha Washington. At 19 years old, she had already earned a reputation as a fiery, somewhat tempestuous character. And now, she was to marry. Despite the humor implied in Adam's letter, the Washingtons were deeply concerned about Eliza and her marriage.

The news came as a complete surprise to them, and they worried that law would take Eliza to England. Nonetheless, they consented to the match. Martha likely wanted to ensure that her granddaughter was taken care of in her new stage of life. Ona Judge was also concerned about the marriage for Martha Washington had decided to give Judge to her granddaughter after her death.

Judge had good reason to fear transition to Eliza's custody. Eliza was known to have a temper. The family spoke often of her eccentricities. But that was not the only reason why Judge feared the transition.

JOHN ADAMS: Mr. Law says he is only 35 years of age, and although the climate of India has given him an older look, yet his constitution is not impaired beyond his year.

NARRATOR: Law was actually 40 years old, 20 years Eliza's senior. Born in England, Law had made his fortune in the East India Trade Company before arriving in the United States, where he bought and developed plots in the new federal city. He brought with him his two sons who were born out of wedlock to an Indian mother.

Enslaved women were in constant threat of sexual attack by the men who claimed power over them. Women had no way to defend themselves against these attacks. Judge knew Eliza well and likely knew her betrothed, too. While we have no way of knowing exactly why Judge feared being sent to Eliza and her future husband, she was clear that this was what sparked her journey to self emancipation.

As she would say to Reverend Adams in the 1840s,

ONA JUDGE: I wanted to be free. I understood that after the decease of my master and mistress, I was to become the property of a granddaughter of theirs by the name of Eliza Custis. I was determined never to become her slave. I knew that if I went back to Virginia, I should never get my liberty.[13]

NARRATOR: So Judge quietly made her plans. The risk was extraordinarily high. When Tom, an enslaved farmer tried to run away in 1766, Washington sold him to a sugar plantation on St. Kitts. In 1772, he sent Will Shag to Haiti for the same reason. Enslavement in the Caribbean was comparatively brutal, and the life expectancy after arrival for an enslaved person was typically seven years. Washington used this threat to discourage others being enslaved from attempting the same. But Judge was determined to be free.

ONA JUDGE: Whilst they were packing up to go to Virginia, I was packing to go. I didn't know where. I had friends among the colored people of Philadelphia, had my things carried there beforehand, and left while they were eating dinner.[14]

NARRATOR: To the Washingtons, it was as if she had just disappeared into thin air. Washington speculated that a Frenchman had seduced her, but there was no Frenchman. Washington feared that she was pregnant and abandoned, but these suspicions were unfounded. In the events that followed, Judge was clear to all authorities that it was purely a desire for freedom that led her to take her destiny into her own hands.

Her friends in Philadelphia hid her until they could convince a ship captain to take her north. It was Captain John Bolles who agreed to the task.

ONA JUDGE: I never told his name till after he died, a few years since, lest they should punish him for bringing me away.[15]

NARRATOR: The risk for both Judge and Bolles was significant.

It was illegal for a captain to knowingly transport an escaped enslaved person. Bolles could have been prosecuted under the Fugitive Slave Act. As a woman traveling alone, she was likely to attract attention. Judge likely switched out of her beautiful finery into plainer clothing to avoid suspicion.

The ship sailed away and carried her to freedom. No one in the Washington household knew where she had gone. The response from Washington was swift and vigorous. He would do anything to get Judge back.

NEWSPAPER: Absconded from the household of the President of the United States. Oney Judge, a light, mulatto girl, much freckled, with very black eyes, and bushy black hair. She is of middle stature, slender, and delicately formed. About 20 years of age.[16]

NARRATOR: This is an advertisement published by Washington's steward, Frederick Kitt, just two days after judges escaped from the presidential mansion.

At this point, she may have still been hiding in the city.

NEWSPAPER: She has many changes of good clothes of sorts. As there was no suspicion of her going off, nor provocation to do so, it is not easy to conjecture whither she has gone or fully what her design is. But as she may attempt to escape by water, all matters of vessels are cautioned against admitting her into them.

Although it is probable she will attempt to pass for a free woman, and has, it is said, wherewithal to pay her passage. $10 will be paid to any person who will bring her home, if taken in the city or on board any vessel in the harbor, and a reasonable additional sum if apprehended at and brought from a great distance and in portion to the distance.

NARRATOR: Washington was desperate to recapture Judge. But he knew he faced stiff opposition to slavery in Philadelphia. Although he posted a few advertisements in newspapers, Washington decided to pursue the matter privately. He would write to agents and others to ask them to quietly pursue Judge on his behalf.

He wanted Judge to return not to sympathetic Philadelphia, but south to Alexandria, Virginia, where there was less risk of

JOSEPH WHIPPLE: Exciting a riot or a mob or creating uneasy sensations in the mind of well- disposed citizens.

NARRATOR: But no one knew where Judge had gone. It took a few months before there was a sighting.

Elizabeth Langdon, a close friend of his granddaughter Nelly, recognized Judge in the streets of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Langdon had spent some time with Nellie in the presidential mansion and knew Judge well. Langdon tried to stop and speak to Judge. Alarmed by this encounter, Judge quickly brushed her off and disappeared into the crowds.

Now, Washington knew where she was. He asked Oliver Wolcott to assist him in recovering Judge. His hope was that it could be done quietly. Walcott worked with a customs agent named Joseph Whipple in Portsmouth to locate her residence. Whipple was able to find and speak to Judge. He even made plans to lure her to his home so that he could smuggle her on board a waiting ship.

These plans did not go through. He wrote to Washington:

JOSEPH WHIPPLE: Having discovered her place of residence, I engaged a passage for her in a vessel preparing to sail for Philadelphia, avoiding to give alarm by calling on her until the vessel was ready. I then caused her to be sent for as if to be employed in my family.

After a cautious examination, it appeared to me that she had not been decoyed away by a Frenchman, as had been apprehended, but that a thirst for complete freedom, which she was informed would take place on her arrival here or Boston, had been her only motives for absconding. It gave me much satisfaction to find that when uninfluenced by fear, she expressed great affection and reverence for her master and mistress, and without hesitation declared,[17]

ONA JUDGE: I may be willing to return to the president and his lady should promise be made that I would be freed on their decease, but I should rather suffer death than return to slavery and be liable to be sold or given to any other persons.[18]

NARRATOR: Escaping the president's house had already been an extraordinary act of resistance. Judge knew that Washington legally could kidnap her and return her by force to Virginia. So. Her attempt to negotiate for her freedom further demonstrated her courage and defiance of the brutal system of slavery.

Washington was outraged by the idea that Judge should try to negotiate with him for her eventual freedom. He saw her departure as an act of betrayal, and he did not want to reward it with the idea of her eventual freedom. Likely because he did not want to encourage other enslaved people to try the same thing. He wrote to Whipple:

GEORGE WASHINGTON: I regret the attempt you made to restore the girl, Oney Judge, as she called herself while she was with us and who without the least provocation, absconded from her mistress should have been attended with so little success. To enter into such a compromise, as she has suggested to you, is totally inadmissible, for reasons that must strike at first view.

For how a well disposed eye might be to a gradual abolition, or even to an entire emancipation of that description of people. If the latter was, in itself, practicable at this moment, it would neither be politic nor just to reward unfaithfulness with a premature preference, and thereby discontent beforehand the minds of all her fellow servants, who by their steady adherence are far more deserving than herself of favor.[19]

NARRATOR: Whipple hesitated. He admitted to Washington in a later letter that he thought it better if she could be convinced to go on her own. But he also worried about being able to coax her onto the ship willingly. Although he tried to coerce her into entering a waiting ship, Judge and her acquaintance discovered the plot and the plan failed.

Washington became nervous about the remaining members of the enslaved household. He had traveled to Virginia as planned with his family, but he would not return with all nine of the enslaved workers from the presidential household. When Richmond Posey was accused of stealing from a white member of staff, Washington became fearful that Hercules and his son were trying to escape.

Hercules was forbidden to return to Philadelphia, and he was no longer allowed to work as a cook. Instead, the most polished gentleman in Philadelphia was assigned to back breaking labor, making bricks and digging ditches. The move was meant to punish Hercules. If Hercules felt empowered by his celebrated position as a chef, then Washington wanted to ensure that there were no thoughts of emancipation.

When Washington did return to Philadelphia only Moll and Joe Richardson were allowed to accompany him back, but if Washington thought he could suppress the desire for freedom, he was wrong.

RAMIN GANESHRAM: He leaves Hercules at Mount Vernon when he goes back in September, and for the remainder of that fall and into the winter, Hercules is doing hard labor.

He's breaking rocks to mix into the paint to create that rock facade of the house. He is working in the garden. He's digging ditches. And it's my opinion that that was very much to put him in his place. This went on from September, 1796 to February of 1797.

On Washington's birthday, February 22nd, 1797, the enslaved community is given rum to toast the president on his birthday. Washington is in Philadelphia, attending a variety of what's called birth night balls in his honor. It's going to be the last birthday during the presidency while that was happening. Hercules walks off the plantation and disappears. So that is how he self- emancipated.

Within a matter of a couple of weeks, they are back in Virginia. So Washington is writing back to his former steward in Philadelphia and saying essentially, find him wherever he is. I bet he's there in Philadelphia. And if you have to hire somebody to find him, and this is going on. Actually, for years, so the first letter to Kitt is in January of 1798 and continues.

But prior to that, he's writing to different people saying it's really inconvenient that Hercules ran away. In fact, he says because he ran away, I feel that I might have to buy another slave to cook for us, which I really don't want to do. I have resolved not to buy any more slaves, but I fear I must break this resolution, specifically because Hercules runs away.

It's interesting that though he writes these letters, he does not pursue Hercules with the vigor that he pursued Ona Judge. He really pursued her, and in fact tried to press upon officials in New Hampshire, where she ultimately fled to return her. And I read that as because he didn't want to pay back the custody estate for her.

But he owned Hercules, so it was perhaps a loss that eventually he was willing to, and was forced to, accept.

NARRATOR: Posey made his way to New York, where he worked as a cook for several years before he died. End Documentary evidence shows that Posey was able to get enough work as a chef to sustain him. Despite his promise never to purchase an enslaved human being again, Washington did just that.

He wanted to replace Posey and in his letters he lamented that he could not find anyone as skilled as the General's Cook.

As for Ona Judge, she married a free man named Jack Staines. By 1799, they had one child, Eliza, and would go on to have two more. Deeply inspired by the preacher Elias Smith, she likely attended his church in Portsmouth.

Finally having access to the education she yearned for, Judge learned to read and found comfort in her Christian faith. While she had arrived in New Hampshire without any connections or family, she had quickly made new friends. In 1799, after Washington had left the presidency, he tried one last time to forcibly return Judge to Mount Vernon.

While traveling to New Hampshire on business, Washington's nephew, Burwell Bassett, Jr., was tasked with finding Judge and taking her. While Washington had asked Bassett not to use unpleasant or troublesome methods, Bassett had other plans.

Bassett tried to convince her that if she returned to Mount Vernon, Washington would immediately grant her freedom. To which Judge replied,

ONA JUDGE: I am free now and choose to remain so.[20]

NARRATOR: So Bassett made plans to kidnap her. Fortunately for Judge, Bassett announced these plans to seize Judge forcibly while at dinner with John Langdon, the father of the woman who had originally recognized Judge. Langdon knew the Washington family, but he also sympathized with Judge's plight.

Knowing time was of the essence, Langdon immediately sprang into action. While he occupied Bassett at his home for several hours, Langdon had a message secretly sent to Judge's home.

LANGDON: Leave town at twelve o'clock tonight and retire to a place of concealment.[21]

NARRATOR: Judge gathered up her one year old daughter in her arms and fled to safety in the dark of the night.

Her husband was still at sea and she was all alone. She knew that if captured, both she and her baby would be forced back into slavery. She managed to hire a carriage to take her eight miles away to the home of Nancy Jack, a free black woman living in Greenland, New Hampshire. Bassett never found her. He returned to Virginia without her.

Just a few months later, in December 1799, Washington died. In his will, Washington stipulated that all of the enslaved people belonging to him would be freed at Martha's death. A year later, fearing an uprising, Martha manumitted these people early.

But recall that Judge was not Washington's. Rather, she belonged to the estate of Martha's first husband.

Delphy, her surviving younger sister was not emancipated. Instead, she was sent to the household of Eliza Parke Custis Law-- the same fate that Judge had fought so hard to avoid. Judge would never see Delphy again. But she would finally know some peace. With Washington's death, the attempts to recapture her had ended.

She was around 70 when Adams met her to interview her for the abolitionist newspaper, The Granite Freeman, in 1845. Although she was in poor health and good spirits, Adams remarked on how strong and composed she appeared. At the time, Judge was living with Nancy Jack, the same woman who had sheltered her when Bassett came for her so many years before.

The house was cold and Judge was impoverished. Her life had been hard, beset by tragedy, having lost all three children and her husband. She no longer had the fine clothes given to her by the Washingtons or lived in a mansion. But when Adams asked her if she regretted escaping, she said, without hesitation:

ONA JUDGE: No, I am free. And have I trust been made a child of God by the means.[22]

NARRATOR: In the final episode of Inventing the Presidency, after eight years and two terms, Washington decides to retire by doing so, he makes one of the most important precedents of his presidency: the term limit. We'll take you through the famous Farewell Address and discuss the lasting legacy of his leadership.

Inventing the Presidency is a production of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association and CD Squared Productions. This episode was written and directed by Dr. Anne Fertig. Audio production was done by Curt Dahl of CD Squared Productions. Production assistant was Jacob Cameron. Narration by Tom Plott, with additional voice acting by Dan Shippey, Matt Mattingly, Timbila Kabre, James Anderson, and Adam Erby.

Additional fact checking was performed by Dr. Alexandra Montgomery. Our logo was created by Kaitlin Prange. We would like to thank all our contributing scholars to this episode. Ramin Ganeshram and Dr. Bruce Ragsdale. To hear more great podcasts from Mount Vernon and the George Washington Presidential Library, visit George Washington podcast.com or go to www.mountvernon.org.

Notes

[1] T.H. Adams "Washington's Runaway Slave,” The Granite Freeman, May 22, 1845.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Robert Lewis, Journal of a Journey from Fredericksburg, Virginia to New York, 1789, https://catalog.mountvernon.org/digital/collection/p16829coll22/id/2453/rec/23

[4] “From George Washington to John Francis Mercer, 9 September 1786,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/04-04-02-0232.

[5] Credit entry, Dec. 3, 1791, Ledger Book 2, 1772–93, George Washington Papers, 1741–99, Series 5: Financial Papers, 1750–96, Library of Congress, Washington, DC folio 336R (image 671) memory.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/gwseries5.html.

[6] “From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 12 April 1791,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-08-02-0062.

[7] “To Fanny Bassett Washington (Lear), April 19, 1791,” The Papers of Martha Washington, ed. Jennifer E. Stertzer et. al. (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2022), 210. 

[8] “To George Washington from William Pearce, 15 February 1795,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-17-02-0354.

[9] “To George Washington from William Pearce, 15 February 1795,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-17-02-0354.

[10] George Washington Parke Custis, Recollections and Private memoirs of Washington, New York: Derby and Jackson, 1860: 422-424

[11] “To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 5 June 1791,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-08-02-0172. 

[12] “To Abigail Adams, February 23, 1796,” Adams Family Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

[13] Adams "Washington's Runaway Slave,” The Granite Freeman

[14] Ibid.   

[15] Ibid.

[16] Frederick Kitt, “Advertisement,” Philadelphia Gazette, May 23, 1796.

[17] “Joseph Whpple to Oliver Wolcott, Jr, 4 October, 1796” in Richard Peters, ed. The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845 . . .. 8 vols. Boston, 1845-67: 18–19.

[18]Ibid.

[19] “From George Washington to Joseph Whipple, 28 November 1796,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-21-02-0116. 

[20]Adams "Washington's Runaway Slave,” The Granite Freeman

[21] Adams "Washington's Runaway Slave,” The Granite Freeman

[22] Ibid.