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 "gar...