A review by st_urmer
An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America by Henry Wiencek

4.0

Perhaps nothing illustrates the paradox of the practice of slavery in the United States existing alongside the rhetoric of liberty than George Washington's role as a slave owner. Samuel Johnson famously asked "How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of Negroes?" Henry Wiencek offers an eye-opening examination of the changing views that Washington held on the subject and the path he took to the full emancipation (though only upon his death) of the enslaved men, women and children to which he laid claim of ownership.