Perhaps Dr. Le Mayeur offered George Washington a deal in which Washington saved on teeth by buying them at a much-discounted rate from his own slaves rather than from Dr. Le Mayeur. It is also possible that George or Lund Washington forced one or more of their enslaved people to part with their teeth, paying them a drastically reduced price.
As the first president of the United States, George Washington set the standard for presidential leadership and the goals of the new country. He made difficult decisions, including the incredibly significant one to step down from office after two terms, setting an important precedent and preventing the new democracy from sinking back into monarchy.
However, as a slaveholder, George Washington also followed the standards of his time. He condoned and even encouraged violence as a way to keep enslaved people subservient. He bought and sold slaves for economic reasons, sometimes separating families in the process.
For the most prized of his slaves, he took advantage of a loophole in the law: Slaves would only be freed if they remained in the state for six months, so he arranged for his most valued slave to travel to Mount Vernon, Va. When that slave escaped with another in , Washington was adamant they should be captured and returned to him.
One was never found. The other, located in the free state of New Hampshire, agreed to return under certain conditions, including that she would never be sold. Coe notes that Washington never freed a slave during his lifetime, nor did he do anything to free them as president. At 22, Washington was a major in the Virginia militia, which then fought on behalf of the British crown. Robert Dinwiddie, the British governor of Virginia, believed the French had set up camp on British territory, so in he assigned Washington to accompany local Seneca tribe allies to the French fort to assess the situation.
But Washington intentionally inflamed the situation. When their party arrived at the French camp, a battle erupted. Ten French soldiers, including the commander, Joseph Coulon de Jumonville, were killed, and 21 were captured. Letters and diary entries later in his life make regular reference to aching teeth, lost teeth, inflamed gums, ill-fitting dentures, and a host of other dental miseries.
Learn More about Washington's Dentures. One of the most enduring myths about George Washington is that his dentures were made of wood. Throughout his life Washington employed numerous full and partial dentures that were constructed of materials including human , and probably cow and horse teeth, ivory possibly elephant , lead-tin alloy, copper alloy possibly brass , and silver alloy. The Wooden Teeth Myth. In , a pre-eminent dentist by the name of Dr.
Le Mayeur had been providing dental services to Sir Henry Clinton , commander of the British forces in the region, and a host of other senior British officers. The French born Le Mayeur, disgusted by derogatory comments made by a British officer against the Franco-American alliance, decided he had had enough and packed up his dental tools and headed off to find the Americans. Once it was determined that Le Mayeur was sincere in his desire to serve the American cause, General Washington eagerly sought out his services.
The two eventually grew quite close, and Le Mayeur was a frequent visitor to Mount Vernon in the years just after the close of the Revolutionary War. George Washington experienced problems with his teeth throughout his adult life. Although he regularly used dental powders and a toothbrush similar to our own, his tooth loss persisted. Reynolds Museum and Education Center.
Washington, who always treated his dental troubles as a state secret, was mortified to learn that a mail packet that included a personal letter requesting dental cleaning tools had been intercepted by the British. When Sir Henry Clinton , commander of the British forces in North America, saw this personal letter he was convinced that the other official military correspondence within that same intercepted packet must be genuine. What Clinton did not know was that Washington and Rochambeau had just planned out their movement south to trap Cornwallis at Yorktown.
Library of Congress. Aware of his failing dental health, George Washington retained several of his pulled teeth within a locked desk drawer at Mount Vernon. In a Christmas Day letter, Washington wrote to Lund Washington, his distant cousin and the temporary manager of Mount Vernon, requesting that the teeth be wrapped up and sent to him in Newburgh, New York. Washington hoped that these original teeth could be used within new dentures that were being fitted for his use.
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