Founding Father George Washington

[citizen]

I didnt know this frightening fact about our Founding Father:

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/culture/articles/040112/12slave.htm
In 1784, five years before he became president of the United States, George Washington, 52, was nearly toothless. So he hired a dentist to transplant nine teeth into his jaw--having extracted them from the mouths of his slaves.

Makes one wonder about their Christian mindsets at the time of this nations founding.
Did the founding fathers believe in racial purity?

[Sarah]

I didnt know this frightening fact about our Founding Father:

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/culture/articles/040112/12slave.htm
In 1784, five years before he became president of the United States, George Washington, 52, was nearly toothless. So he hired a dentist to transplant nine teeth into his jaw--having extracted them from the mouths of his slaves.

Makes one wonder about their Christian mindsets at the time of this nations founding.
Did the founding fathers believe in racial purity?

Hmmm...I've heard that GW actually had some wooden teeth! Don't know if it's true or not.

[coadie]

Socialist dentistry. They don't need all 32 teeth.

[crakjak]

Hmmm...I've heard that GW actually had some wooden teeth! Don't know if it's true or not.

My understanding as well, never heard the slave thing.

[citizen]

Hmmm...I've heard that GW actually had some wooden teeth! Don't know if it's true or not.

Probalbly not something to be proud of. Its sounds like something that would give a Nazi ideas.

Even if the dentist tried to make it work - it didnt. But I guess it was worth a try since he had some folks he could use their bodies for whatever purpose would suit him. So when that didnt work, they ended up using wood.

It just doesnt sound christian like.

[aegsm76]

The first sentence was an attention grabber. Please read the entire article for a better picture.
Also, the below was taken from some different websites.

It puts a different spin on the entire story.

"In the 1780s, a French dentist tried unsuccessfully to transplant teeth into Washington’s mouth, and some evidence exists that several enterprising slaves at Mount Vernon sold their teeth for this experiment."

"Unlike most of the Founding Fathers who owned slaves, Washington freed his slaves in his last will and testament and set aside funds to help them begin a new life. He wrote on several occasions that he was opposed to slavery, noting that "there is not a man living who wishes more than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it."

Slaves of the eighteenth century sometimes turned to the perfectly acceptable means of making money by selling their teeth to dentists. Since at least the end of the Middle Ages, poor people had often sold their teeth for use in both dentures and in tooth-transplant operations for those wealthy enough to afford the procedures. Sometimes the teeth were perfectly healthy; others were diseased and needed to be pulled anyway. In 1780 a French dentist named Jean Pierre Le Moyer (also called Le Mayeaur, Le Mayeur, and Joseph Lemaire) came to America, possibly as a naval surgeon with the French forces commanded by the Comte de Rochambeau, and over the next decade treated patients in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Alexandria, and Richmond. He seems to have had an extensive practice in tooth transplants, but the results of the procedure were short-lived, usually less than one or two years. Transplantable teeth were hard to come by, and in 1783 Le Moyer even went so far as to advertise in the New York papers for "persons disposed to sell their front teeth, or any of them," netting the donor two guineas (forty-two shillings) per tooth.

The following year, in May of 1784, Washington paid several unnamed "Negroes," presumably Mount Vernon slaves, 122 shillings for nine teeth, slightly less than one-third the going rate advertised in the papers, "on acct. of the French Dentis [sic} Doctr. Lemay [sic]," almost certainly Le Moyer. Over the next four years, the dentist was a frequent and apparently favorite guest on the plantation. Whether the Mount Vernon slaves sold their teeth to the dentist for any patient who needed them or specifically for George Washington is unknown, although Washington's payment suggests that they were for his own use. Washington probably underwent the transplant procedure--"I confess I have been staggered in my belief in the efficacy of transplantion," he told Richard Varick, his friend and wartime clerk, in 1784--and thus it may well be that some of the human teeth implanted to improve his appearance, or used to manufacture his dentures, came from his own slaves

[pelathais]

The first sentence was an attention grabber. Please read the entire article for a better picture.
Also, the below was taken from some different websites.
...

That opening statement was unnecessarily inflammatory. Thanks for the additional info.

I myself was skeptical about the claim of "implanting" teeth into humans in the 18th Century. I guess it would take a Frenchman to try. Can you imagine the procedure? Ouch!

And then, it only last a year, two at the most. I'd rather have a "slave" chew my food for me, but even then, fasting would be almost continuous. yecch!

"Martha! Get another jar of apple sauce out, will ya! And mash these 'taters more finely!"

Washington died after being famously "bled." He arrived home, cold and wet, ate dinner in his wet clothes and went to bed. He woke up with a nasty fever and Martha called a doctor. Before the doctor could even get there, Washington had someone "bleed" him to "treat" the fever.

When the doctor arrived he bled Washington right away himself. A bit later Washington was bled again because the first bleedings failed to cure the fever for some reason. He died of "unknown causes" later that morning. Tobias Lear's eyewitness account of Washington's death is republished here (http://www.doctorzebra.com/prez/z_x01death_lear_g.htm).

[pelathais]

Probalbly not something to be proud of. Its sounds like something that would give a Nazi ideas.

Even if the dentist tried to make it work - it didnt. But I guess it was worth a try since he had some folks he could use their bodies for whatever purpose would suit him. So when that didnt work, they ended up using wood.

It just doesnt sound christian like.

I'm not persuaded that Washington thought of his slave's as "something he could use their bodies for whatever purpose would suit him." The leap you make here sounds rather hateful. You attribute things to Washington that the evidence doesn't warrant. Why do you hate the guy?

By freeing his slaves he obviously considered them with some moral considerations. He spent the entire day and evening before he died outside in the snow and freezing rain working side by side with some of them, at 67 years of age.

If they were merely chattel in his mind I doubt he would have been on his hands and knees in the freezing mud pushing on a stuck carriage wheel so that everyone could hurry up and get inside.

Washington came into most of his slaves, certainly all of those he owned at the time of his retirement from public office, through his marriage to the wealthy widow Martha Dandridge Custis.

"Following the 1757 death of Martha's first husband, the widow received a "dower share", the lifetime use of (and income from) one third of his estate, with the other two-thirds held in trust for their minor children. The full Custis Estate contained plantations and farms totaling about 27 square miles (70 km2), and 285 enslaved men, women, and children attached to those holdings. In 1759, Martha's dower share included at least 75 slaves.

Upon his 1759 marriage to Martha, George Washington became the legal manager of the Custis Estate, under court oversight. In actuality, estate records indicate that Martha Washington continued to purchase supplies, manage paid staff, and make many other decisions. Although the Washingtons wielded managerial control over the whole estate, they received income only from Martha's "dower" third."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Washington#Slave_ownership

[crakjak]

Probalbly not something to be proud of. Its sounds like something that would give a Nazi ideas.

Even if the dentist tried to make it work - it didnt. But I guess it was worth a try since he had some folks he could use their bodies for whatever purpose would suit him. So when that didnt work, they ended up using wood.

It just doesnt sound christian like.

I don't believe that it is truth, I don't believe dentistry was advance to a point where teeth could be transplanted, that sounds quite like someone's made up lie, pure nonsense.

[Praxeas]

That opening statement was unnecessarily inflammatory. Thanks for the additional info.

I myself was skeptical about the claim of "implanting" teeth into humans in the 18th Century. I guess it would take a Frenchman to try. Can you imagine the procedure? Ouch!

And then, it only last a year, two at the most. I'd rather have a "slave" chew my food for me, but even then, fasting would be almost continuous. yecch!

"Martha! Get another jar of apple sauce out, will ya! And mash these 'taters more finely!"

Washington died after being famously "bled." He arrived home, cold and wet, ate dinner in his wet clothes and went to bed. He woke up with a nasty fever and Martha called a doctor. Before the doctor could even get there, Washington had someone "bleed" him to "treat" the fever.

When the doctor arrived he bled Washington right away himself. A bit later Washington was bled again because the first bleedings failed to cure the fever for some reason. He died of "unknown causes" later that morning. Tobias Lear's eyewitness account of Washington's death is republished here (http://www.doctorzebra.com/prez/z_x01death_lear_g.htm).
What fools. Everyone knows you have to use leeches to such the fever out of ya

[Cindy]

:eeeew

[citizen]

The first sentence was an attention grabber. Please read the entire article for a better picture.
Also, the below was taken from some different websites.

It puts a different spin on the entire story.

"In the 1780s, a French dentist tried unsuccessfully to transplant teeth into Washington’s mouth, and some evidence exists that several enterprising slaves at Mount Vernon sold their teeth for this experiment."

"Unlike most of the Founding Fathers who owned slaves, Washington freed his slaves in his last will and testament and set aside funds to help them begin a new life. He wrote on several occasions that he was opposed to slavery, noting that "there is not a man living who wishes more than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it."

Slaves of the eighteenth century sometimes turned to the perfectly acceptable means of making money by selling their teeth to dentists. Since at least the end of the Middle Ages, poor people had often sold their teeth for use in both dentures and in tooth-transplant operations for those wealthy enough to afford the procedures. Sometimes the teeth were perfectly healthy; others were diseased and needed to be pulled anyway. In 1780 a French dentist named Jean Pierre Le Moyer (also called Le Mayeaur, Le Mayeur, and Joseph Lemaire) came to America, possibly as a naval surgeon with the French forces commanded by the Comte de Rochambeau, and over the next decade treated patients in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Alexandria, and Richmond. He seems to have had an extensive practice in tooth transplants, but the results of the procedure were short-lived, usually less than one or two years. Transplantable teeth were hard to come by, and in 1783 Le Moyer even went so far as to advertise in the New York papers for "persons disposed to sell their front teeth, or any of them," netting the donor two guineas (forty-two shillings) per tooth.

The following year, in May of 1784, Washington paid several unnamed "Negroes," presumably Mount Vernon slaves, 122 shillings for nine teeth, slightly less than one-third the going rate advertised in the papers, "on acct. of the French Dentis [sic} Doctr. Lemay [sic]," almost certainly Le Moyer. Over the next four years, the dentist was a frequent and apparently favorite guest on the plantation. Whether the Mount Vernon slaves sold their teeth to the dentist for any patient who needed them or specifically for George Washington is unknown, although Washington's payment suggests that they were for his own use. Washington probably underwent the transplant procedure--"I confess I have been staggered in my belief in the efficacy of transplantion," he told Richard Varick, his friend and wartime clerk, in 1784--and thus it may well be that some of the human teeth implanted to improve his appearance, or used to manufacture his dentures, came from his own slaves

I dont know what website you got that article on slaves' teeth being used for free persons dentures or implants but I do have to say - it places a much more pleasant spin on it than the one I read. I was really creeped out about the whole thing before.

I wonder how many teeth it would have taken to buy their freedom.
And like Coadie said - they didnt need all 32 teeth.

[citizen]

That opening statement was unnecessarily inflammatory. Thanks for the additional info.

I myself was skeptical about the claim of "implanting" teeth into humans in the 18th Century. I guess it would take a Frenchman to try. Can you imagine the procedure? Ouch!

And then, it only last a year, two at the most. I'd rather have a "slave" chew my food for me, but even then, fasting would be almost continuous. yecch!

"Martha! Get another jar of apple sauce out, will ya! And mash these 'taters more finely!"

Washington died after being famously "bled." He arrived home, cold and wet, ate dinner in his wet clothes and went to bed. He woke up with a nasty fever and Martha called a doctor. Before the doctor could even get there, Washington had someone "bleed" him to "treat" the fever.

When the doctor arrived he bled Washington right away himself. A bit later Washington was bled again because the first bleedings failed to cure the fever for some reason. He died of "unknown causes" later that morning. Tobias Lear's eyewitness account of Washington's death is republished here (http://www.doctorzebra.com/prez/z_x01death_lear_g.htm).

I never said I hated President Washington.
Now the slaves may have - since he waited until he was about to die before freeing them, but I found the article about taking the teeth of slaves for his own body to be astounding.

[coadie]

I dont know what website you got that article on slaves' teeth being used for free persons dentures or implants but I do have to say - it places a much more pleasant spin on it than the one I read. I was really creeped out about the whole thing before.

I wonder how many teeth it would have taken to buy their freedom.
And like Coadie said - they didnt need all 32 teeth.

When I wuz a kid, some of us visited Mexico and our parents visited a dentist Dentures for 12 bucks saved some hard earned money. The Mexican dentures didn't do a bit of good with Spanish words. The Mexican teeth still worked on our German words.