Historians In Awe Over Discovery At Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Property

John Tyler And The Slave Owner Who Said It Was Evil

John Tyler, the 10th President of the United States owned approximately 70 slaves but he found the practice to be “evil” despite his own ownership. Tyler believed that allowing slavery to expand would lead to more owners in the west taking slaves from the east.

He believed enough slaves would eventually be bought and moved out of his home state of Virginia, allow the practice of slavery to be abolished in his state. The practice of slavery had already become rare in northern states and Tyler believed the same would happen throughout the United States as it became rarer. Oddly, upon his death, Tyler did not choose to free his own slaves in his last will and testament.