HIred slaves "were a check on the white laborers."

"There were 'none so good for cutting before the Surveyors.'....there were 'none better for tending Masons.'"

Quotes from Slave Labor in the Capital, pages 53 and 86

In their January 5, 1793, letter to Samuel Blodget, the commissioners highlighted the success of their slave hire policy to the man they just hired to take over the day to day handling of their affairs. The commissioners met only once a month. I cut the photocopy I made of the commissioners' letterbook copy of the letter into three parts so that I could scan it. In the first scan they discuss the arrangement with Blodget. In the second, they joke about their trying to get more "foreign mechanicks" than they need and their need for stone cutters. In the third they report that they have enough carpenters, are trying to get a Philadelphia brickmaker and "may have a good many Negro Laborers."

Unfortunately they don't say how many they had in 1792 or had hired for 1793. They do laud those they hired in 1792 for their work with the surveyors and masons. "Cutting before the Surveyors" were hired slave axe men. In saying "none better for tending Masons" the commissioners were quoting Captain Williamson, who I am pretty sure was Lewis Williamson, the son of Collen Williamson the old Scottish mason hired to supervise the stone work at the White House. The hired slaves probably formed part of the crew that moved stone to the stone cutters sheds at the White House. Pity that there is not a fuller description of their work. Of course, the point the commissioners were trying to make is that their slave hire policy was good because the slaves were good workers and put free workers in their place. The commissioners echoed what they had just written to Secretary of State Jefferson, that memorable phrase that the slaves "kept our affairs cool," by telling Blodget that the hired slaves "were a check on the white laborers...."

Blodget was a Massachusetts spectacular who boasted of many talents. Supervising a major building project proved not to be one. He was seldom in the city and soon fired. That's another story well covered in my book Through a Fiery Trial.