President’s House

Next to the Liberty Bell [2] stands the site of the President’s House. When Philadelphia [3] was the capital from 1790 to 1800, the presidents during that period, George Washington and John Adams, both lived and worked in this house, which functioned as the nation’s first White House. At least nine slaves also lived in the house under Washington, during the time when the founding fathers were declaring independence, freedom, and that “all men are created equal.”

Plans are underway to build a monument on the site, and there has been much thought given as to how to highlight both the presidents’ and the slaves’ history, and acknowledge the conflicting values at work during the time of the Revolution, when so many founding fathers still owned slaves.