[hanamizu]

that he requested that his slaves be freed upon his passing.

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He did better than that. He provided pensions for his freed slaves. No one thinks about it now, but freeing a slave who has been dependent on you for years is a cruelty, unless you provide them some means of support.

[OttawaFreeper]

When I visited Monticello, I enjoyed learning about how Thomas Jefferson had his slaves learned important and skilled trades so they could be self sufficient upon being freed. The wisdom of these men (Washington, Madison, Jefferson, and Monroe) and othersreally was fascinating to learn about even more during my trip last month.