No.
|
President
|
Approximate number of slaves held
|
While in office?
|
Notes
|
1st
|
George Washington
|
250
[2]–600+
[3]
|
Yes (1789–1797)
|
Washington was a major slaveholder before, during, and after his presidency. His
will
freed his slaves pending the death of
his widow, though she freed them within a year of her husband's death. As president, Washington oversaw the implementation 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.
See
George Washington and slavery for more details
|
3rd
|
Thomas Jefferson
|
200
[2]–600+
[4]
|
Yes (1801–1809)
|
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.
See
Thomas Jefferson and slavery for more details
|
4th
|
James Madison
|
100+
[2]
|
Yes (1809–1817)
|
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.
See
James Madison and slavery for more details
|
5th
|
James Monroe
|
75
[2]
|
Yes (1817–1825)
|
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.
See
James Monroe and slavery for more details
|
7th
|
Andrew Jackson
|
200
[2]
|
Yes (1829–1837)
|
Jackson owned many slaves. One controversy during his presidency was his
reaction to anti-slavery tracts. During his
campaign for the presidency, he faced criticism for being a slave trader. He did not free his slaves in his will.
See
Andrew Jackson and slavery for more details
|
8th
|
Martin Van Buren
|
1
[2]
[9]
|
No (1837–1841)
|
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, but not immediate
abolition.
[12]
See
Martin Van Buren and slavery for more details
|
9th
|
William Henry Harrison
|
11
[2]
|
No (1841)
|
Harrison inherited several slaves. As the first governor of the
Indiana Territory, he unsuccessfully lobbied
Congress to legalize
slavery in Indiana.
See
William Henry Harrison and slavery for more details
|
10th
|
John Tyler
|
29
[13]
|
Yes (1841–1845)
|
Tyler never freed any of his slaves and consistently supported slaveholders' rights and the expansion of slavery during his time in political office.
See
John Tyler and slavery for more details
|
11th
|
James K. Polk
|
56
[14]
|
Yes (1845–1849)
|
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.
See
James K. Polk and slavery for more details
|
12th
|
Zachary Taylor
|
300
[15]
|
Yes (1849–50)
|
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.
See
Zachary Taylor and slavery for more details
|
17th
|
Andrew Johnson
|
9
[16]
|
No (1865–1869)
|
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]
See
Andrew Johnson and slavery for more details
|
18th
|
Ulysses S. Grant
|
1
[19]
|
No (1869–1877)
|
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 by the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 (she chose to free them at that time even though 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]
See
Ulysses S. Grant and slavery for more details
|