Despite the Declaration of Independence’s claim that “all men are created equal,” at least 18 US presidents owned slaves, including Thomas Jefferson, who owned about 175. Slave labor was also used to build the White House, and all early presidents except John Adams and his son owned slaves. The last president to own slaves while living in the White House was Zachary Taylor. Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, freeing all slaves in Confederate states during the Civil War.
In 1776, the Declaration of Independence proclaimed that “all men are created equal,” but that was actually not the case in early American history, even among the country’s most prominent statesmen. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, owning slaves was common among men who served as president of the United States: At least 18 presidents were slave owners at some point in their lives. Eight of those men held slaves while they served in the presidency, including Declaration of Independence author Thomas Jefferson.
Living in the house built by slaves:
Slave workers helped build the White House, and all of the early presidents — with the exception of John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams — owned slaves during their lifetime.
Thomas Jefferson, who once called slavery a “gathering of horrors,” owned about 175 slaves. Zachary Taylor, who served from 1849 to 1850, was the last president to own slaves while living in the White House.
Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, during the American Civil War, declaring that all slaves in the Confederate states would henceforth be free.
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