Prominent Figures - Slavery in the U.S.

Prominent Slave Owners

Many prominent figures in U.S history were slave owners. Some of the most prestigious U.S leaders that participated in slave ownership included Presidents - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, James Madison, General Ulysses Grant, and Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry- irony "Give me liberty or give me death!", Alexander Hamilton, just to name a few.

President George Washington often beat, whipped, and separated families as a consequence of rebellion. He also went after escaped slaves and tried to get around laws and rules for nearby states that secured the freedom of the enslaved workers that fled to their state.

Thomas Jefferson had an affair with his slave Sally Hemings and had brought her from Paris where she could earn her freedom, to America where she could not. Andrew Jackson had owned approximately 150 slaves at the time of his death. Benjamin

Benjamin Franklin had quite great relationships with his slaves. Instead of maintaining farms, or tending to animals, Franklin had his two slaves serve as his house servants before releasing them later on in his life. He felt they were unnecessary and a violation of the rights and liberties in the constitution. The ideals of the U.S. President George Washington wasn't as kind toward his slaves as Franklin.

Patrick Henry who famously quoted "Give me liberty, or give me death," was known to be a religious man. While he believed in the "ideals of freedom", and was outspoken on abolishing slavery, he never released his own slaves, even after his death.

Freedom Fighters

Harriet Tubman was a significant figure in African American Slave History. She was a slave and helped her family and others escape to freedom in the north. She was a leader of the “Underground Railroad”. The underground railroad originally started as a secret organization created to help protect escaped slaves from bounty hunters who were paid to track down these runaway slaves. Around 1838 they expanded their operations to not only protect these runaway slaves but also guide them to the north, where they could be granted their freedom.

Nat Turner was an African American abolitionist, who successfully led the only effective and helpful slave rebellion. He lived a short life of only 31 years. He was sentenced to death and hanged in Jerusalem, Virginia, yet his efforts still are remembered today.

Frederick Douglass was one of the nation’s most significant abolitionists. After posing as an African American Sailor, and borrowing someone else’s free sailor’s protection pass, he escaped slavery himself. After that, he continued to make efforts to free other slaves in Philadelphia and work toward the outlawing of slaves nationally.