8 US Presidents You May Not Have Known Bought and Sold Enslaved Africans

president madison

James Madison (1809-1817)

Madison inherited enslaved Africans from his father who was considered the largest landowner in Virginia at the time.

After his presidency, Madison retired to his Virginia plantation where he supervised the Black men, women and children engaged in forced labor. In 1819, Madison wrote to Robert J. Evans advocating for the reparation of enslaved Africans as outlined by the American Colonization Society.

“A general emancipation of slaves ought to be 1. gradual. 2. equitable & satisfactory to the individuals immediately concerned. 3. consistent with the existing & durable prejudices of the nation… To be consistent with existing and probably unalterable prejudices in the U.S. freed Blacks ought to be permanently removed beyond the region occupied by or allotted to a White population.”

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