Compensated Emancipation Act

Compensated Emancipation Act, U.S. law that abolished slavery in the District of Columbia and stipulated that the U.S. government would pay slave owners up to $300 for each enslaved person formerly owned by them and freed as a result of the act. The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act was signed into law on April 16, 1862, by Pres. Abraham Lincoln, as the country entered the second year of the Civil War (1861–65). The act predated the Emancipation Proclamation by nearly nine months and the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment by more than three years, making it the first time in history that the federal government had effectively freed enslaved people. Although only a small number of enslaved persons received their freedom from this act—less than 0.1 percent of the total number of enslaved persons in the United States at the time—it was an important step toward ending slavery in the country.

In the mid-1800s Congress had full jurisdiction over the District of Columbia, which, as the seat of the federal government, was the base of Union operations during the Civil War. Slavery had been in decline in the district for a number of years, and many enslaved persons had fled there to seek freedom. (Indeed, by the time the Civil War ended, more than 40,000 enslaved persons had taken refuge in the capital.) There had been several previous, failed attempts to legally eliminate slavery in Washington, D.C., including one unpopular proposal by then Illinois Congressman Abraham Lincoln, in 1849, that included compensated emancipation as one of its terms. In 1861 the District of Columbia once again became a logical and significant political target for abolitionists when the Civil War started. The new bill was primarily sponsored by abolitionist Sen. Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, and the financial compensation it offered was intended to mollify Democrats, conservative Republicans, and lawmakers in border states adjoining the Confederacy, where slavery was still legal and secession continued to be a threat.

As would be expected in the fraught political climate of the Civil War era, there were many objections to the Compensated Emancipation Act. Some opponents thought the newly freed people would be unfit to join the rest of society, while others thought they would assimilate too well and steal jobs from whites. Race riots and chaos were bandied about as probable consequences of freeing thousands of people at the same time. Other critics argued that slavery was in decline in the District and would disappear without government intervention. One senator thought the money should instead go to the enslaved persons as reparations for slavery and likened the proposed compensation to a ransom. While supporters of the law felt that monetary compensation satisfied the Fifth Amendment, which established the right to “just compensation” for private property seized by the government, others argued that such payments were dehumanizing and legitimized the idea of humans as property. Despite the myriad objections, Congress passed the bill with a wide margin in both houses. Slavery was thus ended in the District of Columbia.

Congress granted a budget of $900,000 for the purpose of compensating slaver owners for the loss of their “property,” on the condition that they be found loyal to the Union. To receive compensation, slave owners had to provide documentation, such as proof of ownership, bills of sale, and any information they had about the enslaved people in question, such as their first and last name, age, family relationships, physical condition, and occupation. B.M. Campbell, a slave trader who worked in Baltimore and New Orleans before the Civil War, was hired to assign a monetary value to each formerly enslaved person to determine the amount of financial compensation owed to each petitioner. Although compensation was capped at $300 per enslaved person, the values were supposed to be based on what an individual would have been worth before the outbreak of the Civil War. For example, records show a valuation of $219 for one skilled laundress, while infants and the elderly were listed as being of “no value” ($0). After the enslaved people were physically examined by Campbell and his brother, Walter, their recommendations were presented to a three-person commission, which decided the final amount to be awarded. In total, almost 3,000 people were granted their freedom under the act and 966 slave owners filed petitions for compensation.

As part of the act, Congress also budgeted another $100,000 to fund a voluntary colonization program aimed at the newly freed. Each formerly enslaved person was offered up to $100 to participate in the program, which would relocate them to places such as Haiti or Liberia. Very few freed persons took the government up on this offer, with many opting instead to immediately head north or join the Union army.

Although the law offered no reparations to the formerly enslaved people, it was still viewed as a sign of progress. Abolitionists considered it the first wedge to opening the door to full emancipation. Indeed, Lincoln had hoped that the inclusion of compensation for slaver owners and the colonization incentive would inspire lawmakers in border states to consider taking similar steps in their territories. Emancipation Day, which marks the passage of the act, is observed as a holiday every April 16 in Washington, D.C.