In 1777, a convention of Virginia lodges asked him to be the Grand Master of the newly established Grand Lodge of Virginia, but he declined due to his commitments leading the Continental Army. After 1782, he frequently corresponded with Masonic lodges and members,[443] and he was listed as Master in the Virginia charter of Alexandria Lodge No. 22 in 1788.[444]

Slavery
Main articles: George Washington and slavery, Slavery in the colonial United States, and Slavery in the United States
Washington as Farmer at Mount Vernon by Junius Brutus Stearns (1851)
In Washington's lifetime, slavery was deeply ingrained in the economic and social fabric of Virginia.[445][446] Slavery was legal in all of the Thirteen Colonies prior to the American Revolution.[447]

Washington's slaves
Runaway advertisement for Oney Judge, enslaved servant in Washington's presidential household
Washington owned and rented enslaved African Americans, and during his lifetime over 577 slaves lived and worked at Mount Vernon.[448][449] He acquired them through inheritance, gaining control of 84 dower slaves upon his marriage to Martha, and purchased at least 71 slaves between 1752 and 1773.[450] From 1786 he rented slaves, at his death he was renting 41.