Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from radiotopia.

My name is Jody Avergan.

This day, April 18th, 1809, I think was actually April 19, 1809, Thomas Jefferson signs

over John Freeman to new President James Madison.

And I will just note the obvious right here John Freeman was

anything but John Freeman was for many years an enslaved person and then he was

working inside the White House as an indentured servant, we will kind of get into how those

lines blur together in interesting ways.

But this is the moment when Jefferson is leaving the White House as president and he

drafts a document that signs Freeman over to the incoming

president Madison which means that Freeman will remain inside the White House.

So this is a chance to talk about the life of John Freeman, but also how enslaved people help build and

run the White House and lots more here, as always, to discuss our Nicole Hemmer of Columbia

and Kelly Carter Jackson of Wellesley. Hello, Jody.

So Kelly, as I said, Jefferson, leaving the White House.

He's going to go back to Montecello,

which is his estate in Central Virginia,

why does Freeman not go back with him?

So I think before we even get into this,

I just want to paint a larger context.

So there are a lot of the first four out of five

American presidents are slaveholders. The first four out of five American presidents are slaveholders.

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