Washington, not Jefferson, freed his slaves upon his death.

The remark contrasts two emblematic founders to make a pointed moral-historical distinction about slavery and personal action. George Washington’s will provided for the emancipation of enslaved people he owned, to take effect after Martha Washington’s death (and she later accelerated the process). Thomas Jefferson, by contrast, did not broadly free the people he enslaved at his death, despite his public language about liberty. Ambrose’s formulation underscores the gap between revolutionary ideals and lived practice, and it uses a corrective “not Jefferson” to challenge popular assumptions about which founder most embodied antislavery principle in private conduct.