The
District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act of 1862 established an Emancipation Commission of three members to review petitions for compensation by slaveowners in the
District of Columbia
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
. On April 16, 1862, the same day that President
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
signed the Compensated Emancipation Act, he appointed Daniel R. Goodloe,
Samuel Finley Vinton, and
James G. Berret to the Commission. Berret, a former Mayor of the District of Columbia, declined the nomination due to disagreement with the law. President Lincoln appointed
Horatio King in his place. Vinton and Goodloe were confirmed by the Senate on April 21, 1862. Following the death of Samuel Vinton, President Lincoln appointed John M. Brodhead to replace him.
The Commission met daily, Monday through Friday, in the
old City Hall building.
From late April through early June, 1862, the Commission accepted petitions for compensation. Each petition included the name, age, sex, and "particular description" of each enslaved person for whom the petitioner was claiming compensation. In all, 966 petitions were filed pursuant to the Compensated Emancipation Act and its supplement.
[Washington Evening Star, July 30, 1862, p. 4.]
References
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History of Washington, D.C.