Supporting the "purchase of slaves" - photo 1

Supporting the "purchase of slaves"

Lot 144
27.01.2023 10:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
$ 32 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
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ID 887922
Lot 144 | Supporting the "purchase of slaves"
Estimate value
$ 40 000 – 60 000
WASHINGTON, George (1732-1799). Autograph letter signed (“Go:Washington”) to Carter Braxton and the Trustees of Colonel Bernard Moore], Colchester, 23 January 1771.

One page, 170 x 183mm (mounted to another sheet of paper, losses to top and right margins affecting last two letters of Washington’s signature and portions of three additional words of text in body, minor soiling). With transmittal panel, 70 x 178mm, mounted below the letter, and addressed in his hand.

George Washington arranges for the purchase of enslaved people for the support of a friend's family. A letter concerning one of the most tragic dimensions of Washington's life: his personal involvement in the perpetuation of chattel slavery. Washington writes Braxton in the latter's capacity as the Trustee of Colonel Bernard Moore, who had been “endeavouring to make a Sum of Money to purchase slaves for the immediate support of his Family…” Washington assures Braxton “to become answerable” for “the sum of One hundred pounds Curr[enc]y payable a year henc[e.]" Washington was making yet another attempt to support the insolvent Moore (1720-1775), who had already been indebted to Martha Custis at the time of her marriage to Washington. (Papers, Colonial Series, 7:467) The same day Washington wrote to Carter Braxton, he also wrote to Moore explaining that while he would have liked to have contributed more money, he too had significant debts to pay and it was out of his power to do more. The following year, Moore's estate was sold off in in a vain attempt to extinguish his many debts. (Moore to GW, 11 May 1772, in Papers, Colonial Series, 9:44)

All the enslaved people in Moore's estate were sold when his estate was liquidated in 1772, but several were "purchased by my friends for my use…" he wrote Washington, whom he thanked again for his part in providing that assistance while also assuring him that "everything proper will be done to secure you, and my other friends who was so kind to assist me." (Ibid, 9:44) The sale of the estate did little to satisfy Moore's debt to Martha Custis, and by 1773 the debt had grown from £1,200 to nearly £1,750 including over £400 in unpaid interest. (Ibid, 7:467, fn 3). The fate of the people who remained on Moore's estate is currently unknown, let alone of those who were sold in the 1772 bankruptcy sale. It is hoped that further research may reveal more about their lives and struggles. The present letter stands an important record of Washington's personal role in deciding the ultimate fate of the lives of enslaved people, as well as a testament to how interwoven slavery had become in the fabric of the colonial Atlantic world in the eighteenth century. Letters and documents from George Washington concerning any aspect of slavery seldom appear at auction. Published in Papers, Colonial Series, 8:429, but transcribed from the autograph draft in Washington’s letter book at the Library of Congress.
Artist:George Washington (1732 - 1799)
Place of origin:USA
Auction house category:Letters, documents and manuscripts
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
13.01.2023 – 27.01.2023
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
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Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

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