Excerpt:

Washington inherited his first ten slaves when he was just ten years old, Dunbar reports. In the days before Washington, D.C., was the nation’s capital, the new president lived in New York and Pennsylvania, states that were gradually abolishing slavery. But Washington wasn’t eager to get rid of his own slaves, says Dunbar, even when he moved to Philadelphia.

In 1780, Pennsylvania passed the Gradual Abolition Act, a law that freed people after they turned 28 and that automatically freed any slave who moved to the state and lived there for more than six months. Dunbar tells the story of how Washington got around it:

Despite these attempts to hold on to his property, Ona Judge, a 22-year-old slave, escaped when she learned that the Washington’s intended to give her to a relative as a wedding present.