Existing comment:
Freedom for Cash
Before the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in 1865, many other approaches to emancipation were proposed in Congress. One method -- paying slave owners for enslaved persons in exchange for freeing them -- passed for the District of Columbia in 1862. Slave owner Margaret Barber received $9,351.30 in compensation for freeing her slaves.
Manumission papers filed by slave owner Margaret Barber, May 18, 1862, Records of District Courts of the United States |