Existing comment:
Freedom Comes to DC:
In 1862, under the euphemistic title of "An Act for the Release of Certain Persons Held to Service or Labor in the District of Columbia," the 37th Congress of the United States passed a law freeing enslaved people in Washington, DC. President Lincoln signed the bill into law on April 16, 1862, eight and a half months before he signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The act provided that slave owners would receive compensation for their slaves. |