Trump claims George Washington likely didn't own slaves. However, historical records show that Washington indeed held slaves.
In a talk to the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a Christian conservative group, Trump criticized plans to rename schools, military bases, and other locations that honor slave owners and Confederate leaders. (Under President Biden, the Army has renamed nine installations that bore the names of Confederate generals.) Trump stated, "How about George Washington high school? 'We want the name removed from that high school.' They don’t know why. You know, they thought he had slaves. Actually, I think he probably didn't."
Facts First: George Washington did own slaves. This fact is widely acknowledged. At the time of Washington's death in 1799, there were 317 enslaved individuals at Mount Vernon, his Virginia home and plantation, including 123 individuals owned by Washington himself.
Alexis Coe, a senior fellow at New America and author of "First Love: A Biography of George Washington," stated, "George Washington owned slaves. This is an undeniable truth, as stated in his own records." Coe added that it's "shocking, on a personal level, to deny such a thing" and "hazardous to our country" for a leading presidential candidate to promote such historically inaccurate views.
The Mount Vernon website indicates that the number of slaves at the property grew over time during Washington's residency there, from 1754 to 1799.
Washington inherited 10 slaves from his father at the age of 11. The Mount Vernon website notes that Washington purchased many slaves during his young adulthood from estate sales and private transactions and also rented slaves from others, inherited slaves from siblings, and enslaved the children of those enslaved at Mount Vernon. When he married Martha, he also gained control of a large number of enslaved individuals from her first husband's estate.
At the time of his death, the list of 317 enslaved individuals at Mount Vernon included 41 people rented from other plantations and 153 people from Martha's first husband's estate.
Washington privately expressed reservations about slavery in the latter part of his life and, in the final two decades, voiced support for abolishing slavery through legislation. However, he freed only one person in his will, his longtime manservant, and stipulated that the other slaves he owned would not be emancipated until his wife Martha's death. Martha eventually freed all of the remaining slaves in a deed signed the year after his death, but she kept the slaves she had inherited.
Trump made numerous false statements
Here are some of the false statements made by Trump in his speech to the Christian conservative group or during his Philadelphia rally:
- Trump claimed the Democrats manipulated the 2020 presidential election, a debunked falsehood.
- Trump stated that "all legal scholars" wanted Roe v. Wade overturned and the power to set abortion policy returned to individual states, which is not the case.
- Trump declared that "almost all Democrats" also wanted Roe overturned and abortion policy decided by states, though Democrats strongly support the preservation of Roe.
- Trump maintained that some states permit the execution of infants following birth, which is illegal in every state.
- Trump asserted that the US currently experiences record inflation, though the current inflation rate, 3.3% in May, is nowhere near the all-time record (23.7% in 1920) or the 40-year high (9.1%) reached in June 2022.
- Trump stated that bacon prices have increased at least 100% under Biden, though the increase under the Biden administration is actually about 17% as of May.
- Trump claimed Biden had indicted him in the New York criminal case in which he was charged with 34 felony counts, though a grand jury of ordinary citizens indicted him, and the case was prosecuted by a local district attorney who doesn't report to the federal government.
- Trump claimed the global prison population is "substantially reduced" under Biden because foreign leaders are sending their detainees to the US, but the global prison population is actually higher since 2021, and there's no evidence to support Trump's claim about foreign leaders' actions.
- Trump claimed crime in Venezuela has plummeted 72%, although the limited data available shows a much smaller decline of approximately 26%.
- Trump stated that crime in the US is "skyrocketing," while preliminary data shows US crime declined significantly in 2023 and again in the first quarter of 2024.
- Trump claimed he has been indicted more times than notorious gangster Al Capone, but Capone was in fact charged more often than Trump.
- Trump asserted that China covered the cost of his tariffs on Chinese goods imported to the US, but numerous studies have shown that Americans paid the majority of the tariff's cost.
- Trump claimed the Biden administration intends to make Army tanks all-electric, but the military's plans to transition to electric vehicles exclude tanks.
- Trump narrated a story in which an unnamed individual informed him that non-electric trucks could travel from New York to Los Angeles without stopping, but trucks do require stops for rest and refueling.
