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| President James Madison |
President James Madison inherited over 100 slaves and Montpelier estate when his father died in 1801. As Madison moved to Washington, D.C. to become secretary of state, he relied on the labor of these enslaved individuals to run his household, as was common among the elite families of the time.
The Madisons brought enslaved people from Montpelier and hired additional labor from D.C. slave owners, paying them directly. In one instance, Madison entered into an agreement with Benjamin Orr that Plato, a slave, would serve Madison under his direction for five years. While five years was an uncommonly long term of hire, such arrangements were quite common. The flexibility of hiring out enslaved workers was particularly important in urban areas with changing labor demands like D.C. Madison, like many of his contemporaries, continued to use this system throughout his lifetime.
Elizabeth Dowling Taylor
Elizabeth Dowling Taylor described James Madison as a "garden-variety slaveholder," adhering to Virginia's social norms for the treatment of his enslaved household. These norms involved long hours of labor that extended from dawn to dusk, six days per week, with just one day off on Sunday. Though Madison maintained control over his enslaved people, he did not engage in excessive cruelty that might have drawn the disapproval of his peers. Like many others of his time, Madison was anxious about the possibility of slave revolts. A Richmond uprising in 1800 led to after-effects of a mass slave uprising and the British's willingness to take in fugitives during the War of 1812, only heightened these fears. Nevertheless, Madison generally accepted slavery as a way of life. Unlike his wife's father, a Quaker who released his enslaved people after the Revolution, Mrs. Madison did not seem to share her father's belief in the immorality of slavery.
A letter to his friend and former secretary Edward Coles offers some insight on Madison’s attitudes toward slavery. Coles had been a slave owner himself, but after leaving Madison’s employ he moved to Illinois, freed his enslaved people, and bought enough land to give each freed family a farm. Madison praised this effort as “a fair experiment for their happiness,” but wrote that unless Coles could change “their colour as well as their legal condition,” the freedmen would lack the “moral rank” and “social blessings” to truly take advantage of their newfound freedom. Coles later confided to his sister that he believed Madison would similarly free his own enslaved workforce when he died, as President George Washington had done. He, however, was mistaken. Madison specified in his will that “none of [the enslaved people] should be sold without his or her consent,” to keep the families together, but he left them to his wife instead of freeing them. A letter to his friend and former secretary Edward Coles offers some insight on Madison’s attitudes toward slavery. Coles had been a slave owner himself, but after leaving Madison’s employ he moved to Illinois, freed his enslaved people, and bought enough land to give each freed family a farm. Madison praised this effort as “a fair experiment for their happiness,” but wrote that unless Coles could change “their colour as well as their legal condition,” the freedmen would lack the “moral rank” and “social blessings” to truly take advantage of their newfound freedom. Coles later confided to his sister that he believed Madison would similarly free his own enslaved workforce when he died, as President George Washington had done. He, however, was mistaken. Madison specified in his will that “none of [the enslaved people] should be sold without his or her consent,” to keep the families together, but he left them to his wife instead of freeing them. His instruction not to sell enslaved people without consent was not legally binding, and Dolley Madison would go on to sell most of those enslaved people to alleviate her financial troubles later in life.
Thomas Freeman
During his presidency, most of the enslaved individuals at Montpelier remained there while President Madison brought some to the White House as household staff. One of the enslaved men already serving at the White House when the Madisons arrived was Freeman who primarily worked as a dining room servant. He had been hired and later purchased by Thomas Jefferson during his presidency. Following the end of Jefferson’s second term, Freeman resisted returning to Virginia as it would have meant leaving his family behind. Consequently, Jefferson agreed to sell Freeman to the incoming President, James Madison, which allowed him to stay. Freeman was released in 1815 according to the terms of his original sale contract. He went on to purchase a home, raise eight children, and become an essential figure in D.C.’s free black community.
Joseph Bolden
Joseph Bolden, an enslaved man, like John Freeman, was brought to the White House in bondage. However, he left as a free man. Bolden was responsible for caring for the Madison family's horses and carriages. According to Mary Cutts, a niece of Dolley Madison, who lived with the family at the time, Bolden managed to free himself "with his own wages." Although details of his wages were not provided, it is assumed that either the Madisons paid him a stipend or Bolden worked for other families while he was free. Despite gaining his freedom, Bolden's wife, Milley, remained a slave. She was owned by Francis Scott Key, who would later compose what would become the national anthem. In 1810, Key wrote to Dolley Madison, expressing his servant's desire to buy his wife's freedom. Mrs. Madison agreed to lend the couple $200 to buy Milley and her child's freedom, provided that they worked for the Madisons to repay the debt. A deal was struck, and Joseph and Milley Bolden continued to work as hired servants at the White House for the rest of Madison's presidency.
Paul Jennings
One of the most well-documented members of President Madison's enslaved household was Paul Jennings who, at ten-years-old, became a footman at the White House. In D.C., Jennings was introduced to a significant free black community for the first time, and was witness to momentous events like the burning of the White House and Capitol Building by the British in 1814. When Madison's term ended, Jennings returned to Montpelier as Madison's valet, and married Fanny, an enslaved woman who lived nearby. Despite their separation due to slavery, they raised a family together. When James Madison passed away, Dolley Madison brought Jennings back to Washington, where his knowledge and connections within the free black community were useful in securing his freedom with the assistance of Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster in 1847. Jennings went on to write A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison, the first memoir of its kind about life inside the White House.
Paul Jennings worked in proximity with the Madisons for decades, as he recounted in his memoir. He had even shaved Mr. Madison every other day for sixteen years until his death. Though the family valued his service, they exploited his labor, with Coles lamenting President Madison's failure to free Jennings upon his death. In an attempt to escape to New York, Jennings had forged freedom papers for enslaved people and perhaps even helped orchestrate the escape of nearly eighty others on the Pearl schooner.
Sukey
During her time at the White House, Sukey (possibly short for Susan) was Dolley Madison's lady's maid. Much like her peer, Paul Jennings, Sukey was a teenager at the time of her employment. She was responsible for assisting Mrs. Madison in various everyday activities, from dressing to bathing to hairstyling. Despite this, Mrs. Madison's letters indicated a growing tension between her and Sukey, fueled by a combination of personal clashes, dependence, and allegations of theft. In an 1818 letter to her sister, Anna Payne Cutts, Mrs. Madison noted that Sukey "has made so many depredations on everything, in every part of the house that I sent her to Black Meadow last week but find it terribly inconvenient to do without her, & suppose I shall take her again." Even though Mrs. Madison believed that Sukey was stealing from her, she realized that she was heavily dependent on Sukey's labor and couldn't function without it. "I must even let her steal from me, to keep from labor myself," she told her sister.
Sukey spent her teenage years in the White House before returning to Montpelier with the Madisons, where she raised five children. In the aftermath of James Madison’s death, Sukey returned to Washington D.C with Dolley Madison. Unfortunately, the financial difficulties faced by the former First Lady began to take their toll on Sukey's family. In 1843, Madison sold Sukey's eighteen-year-old son Ben and sent him to Georgia. The rest of Sukey's children were either sold or died by 1848, except for her youngest daughter Ellen, who was just fifteen at the time. However, Ellen was soon to suffer the same fate as her siblings when Dolley Madison threatened to sell her as well. In a desperate attempt to escape, Ellen found a willing accomplice in the form of Paul Jennings, and they attempted to flee on the Pearl. Despite their efforts, Ellen was eventually captured along with the other fugitives. However, her freedom was eventually secured thanks to the tireless efforts of abolitionists who raised the funds to buy her freedom and find her work in Boston.
Ben
Ben, who had spent five years in Georgia, wrote a heartfelt letter to Dolley Madison pleading with her to purchase him back or sell him to another buyer in Virginia so that he could return home. Despite promising to be a loyal and devoted servant, his letter went unanswered. Unbeknownst to Ben, his family had already been sold; making a reunion impossible. However, Ben eventually returned to Washington after the Civil War and acquired a job as a tour guide at the U.S. Capitol. He would often regale visitors with tales about the Madisons. He later purchased a house on L Street, only one block away from the residence of Paul Jennings.
Henry Moncure
The enslaved community at Montpelier was fractured permanently, with Henry Moncure purchasing some of the enslaved people while Dolley Madison and her son Payne Todd kept others. Many of the retained individuals were sold to different purchasers at a later stage.
I was a slave! Ellen Stuart!
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