Last Will and Testament of George Washington

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT

of

GEORGE WASHINGTON

In the name of God, Amen.

I GEORGE WASHINGTON of Mount Vernon, a citizen of the United States, and lately President of the same, do make, ordain and declare this Instrument; which is written with my own hand and every page thereof subscribed with my name, to be my last Will & Testament, revoking all others.

Item Upon the decease of my wife, it is my Will and desire, that all the slaves which I hold in my own right, shall receive their freedom. To emancipate them during her life, would, tho' earnestly wished by me, be attended with such insuperable difficulties on account of their intermixture by Marriages with the Dower Negroes, as to excite the most painful sensations, if not disagreeable consequences from the latter, while both descriptions are in the occupancy or the same Proprietor; it not being in my power, under the tenure by which the Dower Negroes are held, to manumit them. And whereas among those who will receive freedom according to this devise, there may be some, who from old age or bodily infirmities, and others who on account of their infancy, that will be unable to support themselves; it is my Will and desire that all who come under the first and second description shall be comfortably clothed and fed by my heirs while they live; and that such of the latter description as have no parents living, or if living are unable, or unwilling to provide for them, shall be bound by the Court until they shall arrive at the age of twenty-five years; and in cases where no record can be produced, whereby their ages can be ascertained, the Judgment of the Court, upon its own view of the subject, shall be adequate & final. The Negroes thus bound, are (by their Masters or Mistresses), to be taught to read and write; & to be brought up to some useful occupation, agreeably to the Laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, providing for the support of orphan & other poor Children. And I do hereby expressly forbid the sale, or transportation out of the said Commonwealth of any Slave I may die possessed of, under any pretence whatsoever. And I do moreover most pointedly, and most solemnly enjoin it upon my Executors hereafter named, or the survivors of them, to see that this clause respecting Slaves, and every part thereof be religiously fulfilled at the Epoch at which it is directed to take place; without evasion, neglect or delay, after the Crops which may then be on the ground are harvested, particularly as it respects the aged & infirm; Seeing that a regular & permanent fund be established for their support so long as there are subjects requiring it; not trusting to the uncertain provision to be made by individuals. And to my Mulatto man, William (calling himself William Lee) I give immediate freedom; or if he should prefer it (on account of the accidents which have befallen him, and which have rendered him incapable of walking or of any active employment.) to remain in the situation he now is, it shall be optional in him to do so: In either case however, I allow him an annuity of thirty dollars during his natural life, which shall be independent of the victuals and clothes he has been accustomed to receive, if he chooses the last alternative: but in full with his freedom, if he prefers the first: & this I give him as a testimony of my sense of his attachment to me, and for his faithful services during the Revolutionary War.

Item To the Trustees (Governors, or by whatsoever name they may be designated) of the Academy in the Town of Alexandria, I give and bequeath, in Trust, four thousand dollars, or in other words twenty of the shares which I hold in the Bank of Alexandria, towards the support of a Free school, established at, and annexed to, the said Academy; for the purpose of educating such orphan children, or the children of such other poor & indigent persons as are unable to accomplish it with their own means: and who, in the judgment of the Trustees of the said Seminary, are best entitled to the benefit of this donation. The aforesaid twenty shares I give and bequeath in perpetuity: the dividends only of which are to be drawn for, and applied by the said Trustees for the time being, for the uses above mentioned; the stock to remain entire and untouched; unless indications of a failure of the said Bank should be apparent, or discontinuance thereof should render a removal of this fund necessary; in either of these cases, the amount of the Stock here devised, is to be vested in some other Bank or public Institution, whereby the interest may with regularity & certainty be drawn, and applied as above. And to prevent misconception, my meaning is, and is hereby declared to be, that these twenty shares are in lieu of, and not in addition to, the thousand pounds given by a missive letter some years ago; in consequence whereof an annuity of fifty pounds has since been paid towards the support of this Institution.

Item Whereas by a law of the Commonwealth of Virginia, enacted in the year 1785, the Legislature thereof was pleased (as an evidence of Its approbation of the services I had rendered the public during the Revolution; & partly, I believe, in consideration of my having suggested the vast advantages which the community would derive from the extension of its Inland Navigation, under Legislative patronage) to present me with one hundred shares of one hundred dollars each, in the incorporated company established for the purpose of extending the navigation of James River from tide water to the Mountains: and also with fifty shares of one hundred pounds Sterling each, in the Corporation of another company, likewise established for the similar purpose of opening the Navigation of the River Potomac from tide water to Fort Cumberland; the acceptance of which, although the offer was highly honorable and grateful to my feelings, was refused, as inconsistent with a principle which I had adopted, and had never departed from, namely, not to receive pecuniary compensation for any services I could render my Country in its arduous struggle with Great Britain, for its Rights: and because I had evaded similar propositions from other States in the Union; adding to this refusal, however, an intimation that, if it should be the pleasure of the Legislature, to permit me to appropriate the said shares to public uses, I would receive them on those terms with due sensibility; and this it having consented to, in flattering terms, as will appear by a subsequent Law, and sundry resolutions, in the most ample and honorable manner, I proceed after this recital, for the more correct understanding of the case, to declare:

In witness of all, and of each of the things herein contained I have set my hand and Seal, this ninth day of July, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety and of the Independence of the United States the twenty fourth.

*Schedule of property comprehended in the foregoing will: which is directed to be sold, and some of it, conditionally is sold; with descriptive and explanatory notes relative thereto. IN VIRGINIA.
acres.
price.
dollars. Loudoun County Difficult run
300
6,666
(a) Loudoun & Fauquier Ashbys Bent
2,481
$10
24,810
(b.) Chattins run
885
8
7,080
Berkeley So. Fork of Bullskin
1,600 Head of Evan's Mill
453 On Wormely's line
183 2,236
20
44,720
(c.)
Frederick Bought from Mercer
571
20
11,420
(d.)
Hampshire On Potk, river above B.
240
15
3,600
(e.)
Gloucester On North River
400
abt
3,600
(f.) Nansemond Near Suffolk 1/3 of 1119 Acres
373
8
2,984
(g.) Great Dismal Swamp My dividend thereof
abt
20,000
(h)
Ohio River Round Bottom
587 Little Kenhawa
2,314 16 miles lowr down
Opposite Big Bent
2448
4395
9744 10 97.440 (i) Great Kenhawa
Near the Mouth West
East side above
Mouth of Cole River
Opposite thereto
Burning Spring 10990
7276
2000
2950
125
23341
200.000 (k) Maryland
Charles County
Montgomery Do 600
519 6
12
3.600
6.228
(l)
(m)
Pennsylvania
Great Meadows
234
6
1.404
(n)
New York
Mohawk abt.1000 6
6.000
(o)
North Westn. Territy
On little Miami
Ditto
Ditto
839
977
1235
3051
5 15.251 (p)
Kentucky
Rough Creek
Ditto adjoing
3000
2000
5000 2
10.000
(q)
Lots--viz.
City of Washington. Two, near the Capital, Sqr 634 Cost 963;
and with Buildgs
1500 (r)
No. 5, 12, 13 & 14: the 3 last, Water lots on the Eastern Branch, in Sqr. 667, containing together 34,438 sqr. feet at 12 Cts
4,132
(s) Alexandria Corner of Pitt & Prince Stts. half an Acre; laid out into buildings, 3 or 4 of wch are let on grd. Rent at $3 pr. foot.
4,000
(t)
Winchester A lot in the town of half an Acre, & another in the Commons of about 6 Acres, supposed.
400
(u)
Bath--or Warm Springs Two well situated, & had buildings to the
amt of £150.
800
(w)
STOCK United States 6 pr Cts.
3,746 Do deferred
3 pr Cts.
1873
2946 2500 6,246 (x) Potomack Company 24 Shares, cost ea. £100 Sterg
20,666
(y)