Slaves of President James Monroe of Virginia

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]

Contents 1 Westmoreland County, Virginia 2 Albemarle County, Virginia 3 Washington D.C. 4 Loudoun County, Virginia 5 Sources

Westmoreland County, Virginia

In 1782, James Monroe (1758-1831) was listed as owning 3 slaves in Westmoreland County ^[1]

Albemarle County, Virginia

Highland Plantation, Albemarle County, Virginia formerly Ash Lawn–Highland, located near Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, and adjacent to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, was the estate of James Monroe, a Founding Father and fifth president of the United States. Purchased in 1793, Monroe and his family permanently settled on the property in 1799 and lived at Highland for twenty-five years. Personal debt forced Monroe to sell the plantation in 1825. Before and after selling Highland, Monroe spent much of his time living at the plantation house at his large Oak Hill estate near Leesburg, Virginia.^[2]

Between 1807 and 1810, Monroe acquired thirty-three additional enslaved people.^[3] in 1810 he is listed as having 49 slaves at Highland.^[4]

The slaves from Highland were sold "Down the river" to Joseph Mills White at Casa Bianca Plantation Jefferson County Florida in 1828.^[5][6]

Washington D.C.

The 1820 census reveals that there were five enslaved men, one enslaved woman, two free African-American men owned by James Monroe in the District of Columbia.^[7] These were household servants that he brought with him when he was President.

Loudoun County, Virginia

Oak Hill Plantation, Loudoun, Virginia is a mansion and plantation located in Aldie, Virginia that was for 22 years a home of Founding Father James Monroe. The main mansion of the property was constructed in 1822 for Monroe, who subsequently split time between this estate and another home at Monroe Hill on the grounds of the University of Virginia after his term as president. Oak Hill was Monroe's only residence for three years, from 1827 to 1830, and it was one of his residences during 22 years. The mansion was built in 1820, during Monroe's presidency. Before that, Monroe's residence at the estate was the clapboard building known in recent years as the Monroe Cottage.^[8]

In 1823 Monroe estimated that he owned “about 60. or 70. young & old, male & female” slaves between his properties in Loudoun and Albemarle Counties. ^[9] in 1830, he is listed as having 66 total slaves in Loudon County:

Slaves - Males - Under 10: 7
Slaves - Males - 10 thru 23: 11
Slaves - Males - 24 thru 35: 4
Slaves - Males - 36 thru 54: 6
Slaves - Males - 55 thru 99: 6
Slaves - Females - Under 10: 13
Slaves - Females - 10 thru 23: 2
Slaves - Females - 24 thru 35: 5
Slaves - Females - 36 thru 54: 4
Slaves - Females - 55 thru 99: 8^[10]

Sources

1. ↑ http://genealogytrails.com/vir/westmoreland/1782slaveowners.html
2. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Highland (James Monroe house)," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Highland_(James_Monroe_house)&oldid=1110613633 (accessed September 20, 2022).
3. ↑ Daniel Preston, "James Monroe and the Practicalities of Emancipation and Colonization" in New Directions in the Study of African American Colonization, eds. Beverly C. Tomek and Matthew J. Hetrick (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2017), 133. While Monroe likely purchased most of these enslaved people, some came into his possession from the Joseph Jones estate.
4. ↑ https://highland.org/highland-and-slavery/; for the 1810 census, see Third Census of the United States, 1810. (NARA microfilm publication M252, 71 rolls). Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. 1810; Census Place: St Ann’s, Albemarle, Virginia; Roll: 66; Page: 166C; Image: 00183. See also https://www.archives.gov/files/research/census/presidents/images/monroe-1810.pdf
5. ↑ https://taketheminfamilies.com
6. ↑ “I send you a copy of my memoir, which has been reprinted in a pamphlet, under the direction of my friends in Albemarle. I have sold my slaves in that county, to Col: White of Florida, who will take them in families, to that territory. He gives me for them, (with the exception of a few sold there) five thousand dolrs., which are paid, by obtaining for me, a release in that amount, from J. J. Astor, for a loan obtain’d of him in the late war, offerd by himself, on hearing that I was pressd for money”. Monroe to Madison, Oak Hill, March 28th. 1828.
7. ↑ Fourth Census of the United States, 1820. (NARA microfilm publication M33, 142 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. 1820 U S Census; Census Place: Washington Ward 1, Washington, District of Columbia; Page: 3; NARA Roll: M33_5; Image: 10.
8. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Oak Hill (James Monroe house)," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oak_Hill_(James_Monroe_house)&oldid=1110613411 (accessed September 20, 2022).
9. ↑ James Monroe to Fulwar Skipwith, March 11, 1823, Monroe Papers, NN. Citation provided by the Papers of James Monroe Project.
10. ↑ Year: 1830; Census Place: Cameron, Loudoun, Virginia; Series: M19; Roll: 193; Page: 4; Family History Library Film: 0029672

• https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-enslaved-households-of-president-james-monroe
• https://www.leesburgva.gov/home/showdocument?id=8851