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Thomas Jefferson’s Family Separation Policy
To Keep His Slaves from Escaping
When Thomas Jefferson was first elected President, America was still learning to handle transitions from one president to another. It didn’t help that the President’s House (now known as the White House) was still under construction and that Jefferson had an exceptionally short period to move in. There was a tie in the Electoral College between himself and Aaron Burr. The tie was officially broken on February 17, 1801. Jefferson’s inauguration was on Wednesday, March 4, 1801. Jefferson had 15 days to get moved into an unfinished building.
At the time, there were no permanent staff members. Each president was given a $25,000 annual budget to staff the President’s House. Abigail Adams had hired everyone already working there in the tradition of Martha Washington at the previous presidential residence in Philadelphia. Jefferson had no wife to take on that responsibility. His daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph took on administrative duties and was hostess. Jefferson’s physical needs were being met by a teenage slave who didn’t make the trip, as he wasn’t about to go public with that relationship. Years later, Jefferson would be outed by ruckmaker James. T. Callendar, but the practice was common, and nobody cared.
