Lee’s remaining slaves at Arlington were freed when the war ended. amazing that Grant even had slaves.
The USA was founded and the Constitution ratified only because the southern STATES were assured that they could continue to own slaves.
Abolitionists forced the war and let loose a scourge that plagues the nation to this day.
Interestingly enough, the black population has held steady at 13% since the late 1700’s.
With all of the abortion going, on the black population should be dwindling one or two points every generation, but the communists have figured out a way to subsidize out of control reproduction by the lowest IQ element, stealing money from taxpayers and giving it away in exchange for votes since the 1960’s nearly 60 years now.
That percentage would be down to less than 10% and still falling if not for the American Communists.
The slaves at Arlington were not Lee’s. They belonged the his father law, George Washington Parke Custis. He died in 1857. Lee was appointed executor of the Custis will. Lee was required to free the Custis slaves within 5 years of Custis’s death or whenever the estates bills and legacies had been paid off. Lee freed the last remaining Custis slaves in Dec.1862.
Lee’s slaves were those of his wife. She inherited them upon the death of her father, George Washington Parke Custis. The slaves were largely descendants of Martha Washington’s slaves. George Washington’s slaves were freed upon his death but Martha’s were not. GWP Custis was Martha’s grandson, but he had been raised by George and Martha after his father’s death.
GWP Custis’ will instructed Lee to free the slaves within five years of his death. The Arlington estate was in debt and the slaves could be claimed by the creditors if the debt wasn’t paid off. So they were worked until the debts were paid off, which happened a few months prior to Lincoln issuing the Emancipation Declaration.