But how is this, the reader will perhaps ask; did Washington own slaves? In answering this question one must take into consideration that Washington was born into a slave community. The custom of a country puts its stamp on each and every native citizen. We shall never be able to judge any historical personage without carefully studying the customs of the period and the intellectual tendencies of his time. Not until this has been done can the question be asked, How did this man stand in relation to the prevailing opinions and customs of his time? Slavery was an ugly blot on the State, especially the slavery which was inaugurated during the Christian era. Nothing is so fertile in expedients as human selfishness. It was represented to “his most Christian majesty,” King Louis the Thirteenth of France, that free negroes would not accept Christianity, but that if they were made slaves, it would be an easy matter to make Christians of them! Furthermore they said: “The negro tribes have the custom of killing their prisoners of war; should we introduce slavery into our colonies, those tribes would no longer kill their captives, but would sell them to us. In this way we should save their lives and this would make slavery an advantage to them.” This reasoning appealed to the King, and thus this wrong, which had been introduced by the Portuguese, became lawful among the French. It was not long before it was customary for the Portuguese, Spanish, French, and English settlers to import negroes. The number of negroes who were kidnapped is estimated at forty millions. The sins of the fathers have been visited heavily on the children, as we know, and the sacrifice of much blood was necessary to give back to the negroes those human rights of which they had been despoiled.