RE: Among those who turned against slavery in the 18th century were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and other American leaders
But they did not free the slaves that they owned did they?
So what?
Actually many did - the problem was you couldn’t just “free” a slave and release them into society - they’d end up on the streets and homeless or subject to recapture. So the humane and responsible thing was to just treat them as part of the family and provide for them.
Washington did in his will, but I’m sure you knew that
The others did what they could, given the times they lived in and given that there was no real workable plan for emancipation
In the case of Jefferson, the big word is about Sally Hemmings. No, he did not release her because if he did, she would have had to leave the state of Virginia by law and he couldn’t have helped her. So the world still considered her a slave even though she was not treated like one and was protected by Jefferson.
rwood
Jefferson was known to ignore runaway slaves when he was assured that they were doing alright on their own.