num_pages: 404
description: A major new biography of Washington, and the first to explore his engagement with American slaveryWhen George Washington wrote his will, he made the startling decision to set his slaves free; earlier he had said that holding slaves was his "only unavoidable subject of regret." In this groundbreaking work, Henry Wiencek explores the founding father's engagement with slavery at every stage of his life--as a Virginia planter, soldier, politician, president and statesman.Washington was born and raised among blacks and mixed-race people; he and his wife had blood ties to the slave community. Yet as a young man he bought and sold slaves without scruple, even raffled off children to collect debts (an incident ignored by earlier biographers). Then, on the Revolutionary battlefields where he commanded both black and white troops, Washington's attitudes began to change. He and the other framers enshrined slavery in the Constitution, but, Wiencek shows, even before he became president Washington had begun to see the system's evil.
language: English
title: An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America
titlecomplete: An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America
genres: Biography, Presidents, American Revolutionary War, History, Politics, American History, American Revolution, Race, Historical, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 987
awards: awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Los Angeles Times Book Prize
category: History
publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux