Slavery

The final chapter of Andrea Wulf's Founding Gardens, discusses Montpelier. Towards the beginning of the chapter, Wulf discusses how Madison had his slave quarters set up at Montpelier and how they were treated. I found this to be very intriguing since he did not treat them as many other slave owners did. To me, Madison treated his slaves as people which is how I feel they should have been treated. This was a bold move because of what others thought of slaves during that time period.

Unlike many other slave quarters, Madison had their homes set only a short 50 yards away. The little "village" as Wulf calls it, consisted of six small buildings which were situated around a small yard. The individual buildings were, a kitchen, two smokehouses, and three double cottages. Each of the individual cottages housed two different families. During this time period, slave homes were often made up of dirt floors and brick chimneys with an occasional window, however, Madison's slave homes were raised up off of the ground and consisted of wooden floors, brick chimneys, and glass windows. He also provided his slaves with decorated plates which was unheard of at the time. 

Although I realize that at this time it was normal for a slave to be treated as less than a human, seeing someone actual treat them with some respect was like a breath of fresh air. Coming from the north, I think I have a slightly different view on slavery as my southern peers and feel as though slavery was an unnecessary part of our countries past. Personally, I do not understand why more plantation owners couldn't have treated their slaves in a matter such as Madison. Yes, people do need help on large farms such as the plantations that many lived on, however, treated the slaves as inhumanly as most did is simply unacceptable. It was just very refreshing to read that not all slaves were treated as poorly and that even those in power who you may think treated slaves terribly, actual treated them with some respect.  

When looking up more on the slaves quarters at Montpelier, I was saddened to see that recently they had been excavated. Although slavery is a time in our past that many do not want to discuss, I do think it is an important lesson to be taught to kids today. Having the slave quarters at Montpelier would have been a great way to show the difference in how slaves lived and were treated by their different 'owners"