Reprinted in Fritz Hirschfeld, George Washington and Slavery: A Documentary Portrayal (Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 1997):Washington to Secretary of Treasury, Oliver Wolcott, Jr., September 1, 1796.
“I am sorry to give you, or any one else trouble on such a trifling occasion, but the ingratitude of the girl, who was brought up and treated more like a child than a Servant (and Mrs. Washington’s desire to recover her) ought not to escape with impunity if it can be avoided.…”
Joseph Whipple to Wolcott, September 10, 1796
“…without hesitation declared her willingness to return & to serve with fidelity during the lives of the President and his Lady if she could be freed on their decease, should she outlive them, but that she should rather suffer death than return to Slavery & liable to be sold or given to any other person.–Finding this to be her disposition & conceiving it would be a pleasing circumstance both to the President & his Lady should she go back without compulsion I prevailed upon her to confide in my obtaining for her the freedom she so earnestly wished for…”
Washington to Whipple November 28, 1796.
“To enter into such a compromise with her, as she suggested to you, is totally inadmissible, for reasons that must strike at first view: for however well disposed I might be to gradual abolition, or even to an entire emancipation of that People (if the latter was in itself practicable at this moment) it would neither be politic or just to reward unfaithfulness with a premature preference; and thereby discontent before hand the minds of all her fellow-servants who by their steady attachments are far more deserving than herself of favor.
…If she will return to her former service without obliging me to use compulsory means to effect it her late conduct will be forgiven by her Mistress, and she will meet with the same treatment from me that all the rest of her family (which is very numerous) shall receive. If she will not you would oblige me, by resorting to such measures as are proper to put her on board a Vessel bound either to Alexandria or the Federal city, Directed in either case, to my Manager at Mt. Vernon. … I do not mean however, by this request, that such violent measures should be used as would excite a mob or riot, which might be the case if she has adherents, or even uneasy Sensations in the Minds of well disposed Citizens; rather than either of these should happen I would forego her Services altogether, and the example also which is of infinite more importance. The less is said beforehand, and the more celerity is used in the act of shipping her when an opportunity presents, the better chance Mrs. Washington (who is desirous of receiving her again) will have to be gratified.”