On March 1, 1780 Pennsylvania passed An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery. This law prohibited the importation of slaves into the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  The 1780 Act had exempted members of the U.S. Congress from prohibitions on the practice of chattel slavery.   When Philadelphia became the temporary national capital in 1790, there was confusion about whether or not the Pennsylvania law extended to all federal officials.  Washington argued privately that his presence in Philadelphia was solely a consequence of the city being the temporary national capital, and that he remained a citizen of Virginia and subject to its laws on slavery.  It is important to not that in 1788, two years before Washington moved to Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania assembly amended the Act to declare that enslaved individuals owned by people who intended to move or settle in Pennsylvania should be declared immediately free. Nonetheless, he was careful not to spend six continuous months in Pennsylvania, which might be interpreted as establishing legal residency. Litigating the issue might have clarified his legal status and that of other slaveholding federal officials, but it also would have called attention to his slaveholding in the President’s House and put him at risk of losing those slaves to manumission. 

Even though George Washington expressed his support of gradual abolition before becoming President and even announced, privately, his intentions to never purchase another enslaved person unless it was necessary in certain situations.   Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery jeopardized Washington’s status as a slave owner when he took up residence in Philadelphia, while serving as President of the United States.  He sought legal advice from Attorney General Edmund Randolph and based on Randolph’s advice began rotating his slaves between Mount Vernon and Philadelphia every six months to prevent their legal emancipation. These enslaved people included Washington’s cook Hercules, his valet Christopher Sheels, Martha Washington’s lady’s maid Ona Judge, and other house workers, including Moll, Austin, Giles, and Richmond.

On the afternoon of Saturday, May 21, 1796, one of Washington’s slaves Ona Judge slipped out of the house while the Washingtons enjoyed their dinner. The Washingtons tried several strategies to get Ona back. They placed newspaper ads requesting her return and sent Federal Agents to Portsmouth, New Hampshire to bring her back to Mount Vernon. Under the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793, Judge remained a fugitive until her death in 1848. Washington was never challenged for his disregard of Pennsylvania’s laws or his use of government agents (customs collectors) to find and attempt to apprehend his slave.

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