resident James Monroe was no stranger to the institution of slavery. Born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1758, Monroe grew up on his family's 500-acre tobacco plantation. When his father died in 1774, Monroe (as eldest surviving son) inherited the land and personal property, as well as "a Negro boy Ralph," according to Spence Monroe's will. Throughout his life, Monroe's relationships with slaves revealed a pattern of

paternalistic racism. While he never acknowledged equal rights for the slave population, Monroe sought a gradual end to slavery and advocated re-settling freed slaves in the Carribean or in Africa. Monroe was also humane in the treatment of his own slaves. In repeated instances Monroe prevented slave families from being separated from one another; allowed certain slaves a degree of self-determination in work assignments; sought medical treatment for slaves who were ill; and demanded that his slaves have access to the basics of food, clothing, and shelter.

During his governorship of Virginia, Monroe in 1801 confronted the state's most alarming slave rebellion--"Gabriel's Rebellion," named for slave leader Gabriel, a slave on the Thomas Prosser plantation west of Richmond. Gabriel had incited slaves on plantations surrounding Richmond to rise up, raid the state capital, seize the state arsenal, and kill the white population. Monroe acted quickly to mobilize the militia. With the help of a severe thunderstorm that flooded the roads leading into Richmond, the militia soon thwarted the insurrection. At the resulting trial, Monroe realized that many of the accused slaves had been intimidated into giving dubious testimony. Monroe argued that it was "difficult to say whether mercy or severity was the better policy in this case, tho' when there is cause for doubt, it is best to incline to the former policy." Torn between his belief in the evil of slavery and his fear that immediate

Slave quarters

abolition would result in mob violence and race wars, Monroe came to believe that colonization was an effective means of reducing, and ultimately eliminating, slavery in the United States. Monroe and Jefferson exchanged a variety of ideas on colonization from the early 1800's thorugh Monroe'e election as President in 1816. In 1817 the American Colonization Society was formed to seek the end of slavery through repatriation of freed slaves. The Society established Liberia (Liberty) on Africa's west coast in 1822 as a place where Africans captured on foreign slave ships and freed slaves from the United States could be resettled. Because Monroe endorsed the Society during his presidency, the new nation's capital was named Monrovia.

For 24 years James Monroe operated a thriving plantation at Highland, his 3,500-acre estate in Albemarle County, Virginia. Monroe's activities as a Virginia planter were his primary source of income, and during the early 19th century Highland had all the trappings of a working and productive plantation. Highland's assets included the plantation house, barns, saw and grist mills, a smokehouse, stables, icehouse, as well as quarters for 30 to 40 slaves.

Slave quarters in 1908

 Highland's layout clearly reveals the hierarchy of slave life on a 19th-century Virginia plantation. A visitor to Highland would pass through several fields on the way to the main house. On each side of the road, one would recognize the staple crops of tobacco and wheat, or even glimpse Monroe's vineyard, where grapes were grown for early attempts at wine production. Still distant from the house stood small buildings for the field slaves. At the lowest end of the plantation social scale, these slaves had limited contact with the Monroes. Field slaves spent their days tilling the land and tending the livestock. Monroe also trained a small handful of slaves as blacksmiths, carpenters, and masons; because of their training, these skilled laborers were considered superior to the field workers. While they interacted less with the plantation family than house servants, the skilled slaves were accorded a higher degree of self-supervision than the field slaves.

As one moved closer to the main house, more outbuildings would become visible. In the service yard, the Monroes had a well, icehouse, smokehouse, overseer's house, and domestic slave quarters. These quarters were situated "below the well" immediately south of the main house. Each slave family probably lived in a single room, used for cooking and common meeting, with an upstairs sleeping loft. Although the quarters were undoubtedly cramped, Monroe's close friend Thomas Jefferson remarked that the Highland slave dwellings were "of much better built than is usual...." The domestic slaves or "house servants" (both slaves and free workers were referred to as servants) included President Monroe's valet, Mrs. Monroe's maid, and the cook and his assistants. These slaves were responsible for maintaining the plantation house, preparing meals, and taking care of the family; they also engaged in such ancillary chores as spinning and sewing.

Domestic slaves were allowed the most privileges in the slave community, and they had the opportunity to develop close relationships with the Monroes. Once, while in France, Monroe found that one of his slaves had taken ill. He wrote back to his uncle, who was overseeing his affairs in the U. S.,

We lament much the ill health of Tinah & anticipate the worst, but hope for her recovery. Her loss will be severely felt by Mrs. M[onroe], who wo[ul]d not admit that it were possible to replace her by \'bd dozen in her place. Indeed she is valuable as a sensible & honest servant, as well as most capable, and whose loss co[ul]d never be repaired. We are particularly gratified that she is well taken care of & wants for nothing. Peter we hope is well, who, and those under [the overseer] Hogg we wish to be humanely treated, well cloathed, & c.

---James Monroe to Joseph Jones, Paris, 9 June 1796

This close family relationship and concern was balanced, however, by the demand of constant availability placed on domestic slaves.

Today the landscape at Highland (now called Ash Lawn-Highland) recalls the plantation of Monroe's time. Visitors still view the fields surrounding the plantation house upon their approach. Cattle and horses graze in these pastures, although the field-slaves' houses have long since disappeared. Surrounding the plantation house the service yard bustles once again with activity. The original smokehouse and overseer's house still stand, as well as a reconstruction of the well and of the domestic slaves' quarters. Regular demonstrations of open-hearth cooking, spinning, weaving, candlemaking, and other household crafts that were part of the slaves' daily existence at Highland are still conducted within the quarters.

In the main house, the formal rooms on the main floor remind visitors how dependent the household was on its slave labor force. The banquet of food in the dining room, the pressed linens in the chamber, and the polished furniture and swept floors all bear witness to a labor force that is, today, all but invisible. The challenge for Ash Lawn-Highland is to remind the modern visitor of the profound influence of this invisible force, whose coerced labor enabled the plantation system to function and to thrive.