The Nation’s Capital
A Unique Place for African Americans
Nineteenth-century Washington was a unique place for African Americans in a number of ways. It was a southern city, located between Maryland and Virginia, both slaveholding states. But the fact that it was the Nation’s Capital made it special.

Congressmen from all over the United States lived in Washington when Congress was in session. Businessmen and merchants came from many places, and officials from other countries came as well. The influence of so many people from other places was important. Their disapproval of slavery created a less restrictive atmosphere for the enslaved people of Washington and probably encouraged some slave owners to free their enslaved people in their wills, or even during their lifetime. Manumission (the freeing of an enslaved person) was relatively common in Washington.

The practice of “hiring-out” enslaved people was common in 19”-century Washington, and that is another reason why the Nation’s Capital was a unique place for African Americans. After tobacco prices fell and local plantations began growing wheat and other grain crops instead of tobacco, the need for enslaved labor decreased. To offset costs of owning slaves, owners began hiring-out their workers when they were not needed on the plantation. Owners often allowed their workers to keep a part of what they earned, and many enslaved people were able to buy their freedom.

Frequent manumissions and the ability of enslaved people to earn money to buy their freedom created a large, successful community of free blacks in Washington, and that is a third way in which the city was unique. The Free Black community naturally attracted other African Americans, and between 1800 and 1850 the percentage of free blacks increased from 19 percent of the total Black population to 73 percent. These people worked as domestic servants and laborers, started businesses, and began to acquire property. They opened schools for their children and built churches to worship in.

Free Blacks were required to carry Certificates of Freedom, or freedom papers. Generally, these papers were respected and kept free blacks safe from slave catchers. Sometimes, however, dishonest bounty hunters would kidnap a Free Black and sell that unfortunate person to a slave owner in a distant state. Free Blacks had to be very careful.

Free blacks outnumber slaves.

A distinguishing feature of the free black community was the degree of support and cooperation among the people in it. They worked for the freedom of all African Americans and created kin networks to help in emergencies, such as the death of a spouse or parent. When necessary people would risk their own safety to provide refuge for someone in need, and they often chipped in to buy the freedom of an enslaved friend or family member. Washington became a city of hope and possibilities for both the Free Black and enslaved population.

In 1830, the number of enslaved blacks and free blacks were roughly equal according to unofficial census data at that time, about 6,100 persons in each category. However in just one decade, the number of free blacks in 1840 was twice as large as the enslaved population.

African Americans build the White House and the Capitol
Two of Washington, DC’s most famous buildings, the White House and the United States Capitol, were built in large part by enslaved African Americans….

In 1791 Pierre L’Enfant, who planned the City of Washington, leased African American slaves from their masters to clear the sites for the “President’s House” and the Capitol. Once the land was cleared, Washington’s three-man Board of Commissioners, who oversaw the new city’s construction, tried to recruit laborers from Europe and America to build the two structures.

Unable to find as many workers as they needed, the commissioners turned to African American slaves. Most slaves hauled building materials and sawed lumber, but others performed skilled labor such as carpentry, stonecutting, and bricklaying. A list of persons who were employed to build the Capitol and White House, between 1795 and 1800, contains 122 names labeled “Negro hire.”

Wage rolls preserved at the National Archives list the African Americans who worked on these projects as carpenters and brick makers. One such roll is a 1795 “Carpenter’s Roll” for the President’s House. The document lists four slaves, “Tom, Peter, Ben, [and] Harry,” two of whom were slaves owned by James Hoban, the architect of the President’s House. The rolls record the number of days worked and the rate at which each person was paid. A slave’s wages were paid directly to the slave owner who signed the rolls as receipt of payment.

A second document is a 1795 promissory note from the commissioners to Jasper M. Jackson for the hire of his slave, “Negro Dick at the Capitol, from 1st April to 1st July 1795, 3 Months, at 5 Dollars per Month.” Little is known about the lives of the men who, like “Negro Dick,” built the Capitol. Most of them lived in shacks on the building site, where they received medical care, food, and occasionally, a small incentive payment above what was given to their masters.

Slavery in the White House
In the 19th century, Presidents were personally responsible for the cost of staffing the White House. The White House was a big house, and it took about 16 servants to run it. In addition, it was politically valuable for the president to invite important people to dinners and other social events. The government provided a small allowance for domestic expenses, but mostly the President had to pay out of his own pocket. How could a President afford such expense?

President John and Mrs. Adams, who were the first to live in the White House, decided they could not afford it. They were northerners who did not believe in slavery and so did not do what later southern Presidents would do—bring enslaved workers from their plantations to serve them in Washington. Abigail Adams defended her refusal to entertain lavishly by saying they were not rich like George Washington. (Although Washington never lived in the White House, he did bring enslaved domestic workers to the presidential mansions in New York and Philadelphia during his Presidency and entertained in style.) Thomas Jefferson staffed the White House with enslaved people from Monticello. James Madison, under some pressure to try to hold off war with England, entertained extensively, using the White House as a place where people could meet and talk. He brought slaves from Montpelier, his Virginia estate. Presidents James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, John Tyler, James K. Polk, and Zachary Taylor also used enslaved people in the White House. Both Jackson and Polk replaced paid White House servants with enslaved people they either brought from home or bought locally.

African Americans who worked in the White House did not sleep in the attic rooms that had been built as servants’ quarters. People worried too much about being trapped there in case of fire. Instead, they had rooms on the ground floor. They slept on cots, with sheets and blankets, and their rooms usually had a pine table and benches or chairs. Sadly, this furniture was not always in good condition.

The kitchen was also on the ground floor, as was the servants’ hall. A bell system was used, which meant that servants did not need to stand around the upstairs rooms waiting to be called. They could be more comfortable, and do chores, while waiting in the servants’ hall until summoned by the ring of a bell.