Washington was in a battle between human rights and slavery. Perhaps this may help give a perspective: "I never wish my people to work when they are really sick, or unfit for; on the contrary, that all necessary care should be taken of them when they are so; but if you do not examine into their complaints, they will lay by when no more ails them, than ails those, who stick to their business, and are not complaining, from the fatigue and drowsiness which they feel as the effect of night walking, and other practices which unfit them for the duties of the day."

He also stated: "It is not my wish, or desire, that my Negros should have an oz of meal more, nor less, than is sufficient to feed them plentifully."

Source: Washington to Pearce, Philadelphia, May 18,1794. (ibid., 33:360,474)

For further reading, you can check out George Washington and Slavery: A Documentary Portrayal by Fritz Hirschfeld.