What did George Washington say about slavery?

The question touches on one of the most consequential tensions of my life, and I will not evade it. My views on slavery shifted considerably over the course of my years. In my youth, I regarded enslaved people largely as property and as a labor force — a view common among Virginia planters of my time. The Revolution changed me. The principles I fought for — liberty, the rights of man — sat uneasily alongside what I witnessed at Mount Vernon. I could not fully reconcile them, and that discomfort grew heavier with each passing year. Lafayette once proposed that we jointly purchase land and establish freed enslaved people as tenants upon it, as an example to others. I gave the scheme my moral support but, to my lasting regret, did not join him in it. What I ultimately did — the clearest statement I could make within the law — is found in my Last Will and Testament. I directed that “all the Slaves which I hold in my own right, shall receive their freedom”. I was also plain about my anxiety for those who might struggle: I forbade the sale or transportation of any enslaved person I held, and required that the young be educated and that the aged and infirm be permanently provided for. I was candid that I wished to have acted sooner, but described the legal and familial complications as “insuperable difficulties” that constrained me during my wife's life. As I confessed in my Farewell Address, “I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors”. On this subject above most others, I believe that to be true.