[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 617 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 617

   Recognizing the enduring cultural and historical significance of 
   emancipation in the Nation's capital on the 150th anniversary of 
    President Abraham Lincoln's signing of the District of Columbia 
Compensated Emancipation Act, which established the ``first freed'' on 
                            April 16, 1862.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 16, 2012

 Ms. Norton submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
            the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Recognizing the enduring cultural and historical significance of 
   emancipation in the Nation's capital on the 150th anniversary of 
    President Abraham Lincoln's signing of the District of Columbia 
Compensated Emancipation Act, which established the ``first freed'' on 
                            April 16, 1862.

Whereas the District of Columbia has a been a focal point of the Nation's 
        complex racial history, which has included slavery, the Civil War, 
        brutal and unjustified killings of innocent citizens, racial 
        segregation, and legal disenfranchisement, among other violations of 
        human rights;
Whereas on April 16, 1862, in the midst of the United States Civil War, 
        President Abraham Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Compensated 
        Emancipation Act, which authorized the United States Treasury to expend 
        nearly $1,000,000, up to $300 per slave, to effect the freeing of about 
        3,100 persons of African descent, and offered $100 to former slaves who 
        agreed to emigrate to countries outside of the United States;
Whereas on January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation 
        Proclamation, which established a ``new birth of freedom'' by legally 
        emancipating millions of slaves in the 10 States of the Confederacy not 
        under Union control, freeing the majority of the Nation's slaves;
Whereas the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which 
        reads ``Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a 
        punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, 
        shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their 
        jurisdiction. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 
        appropriate legislation'', was adopted on December 6, 1865, and 
        effectively outlawed slavery in the United States;
Whereas the enslavement of persons of African descent endured for more than two 
        centuries in what is now the United States, including the District of 
        Columbia;
Whereas in 2005, District of Columbia Emancipation Day was made a legal public 
        holiday in the District of Columbia, to be celebrated annually on April 
        16; and
Whereas the residents of the District of Columbia, who pay Federal taxes, serve 
        in the United States Armed Forces, are subject to all of the 
        requirements of citizenship, and otherwise have long made contributions 
        to the life, culture, and leadership of the United States, still are 
        denied voting representation in the United States Congress, budget 
        autonomy, and other measures of independence from congressional 
        interference afforded to other United States jurisdictions in violation 
        of the basic principles of local governance and taxation requiring 
        representation: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives recognizes District of 
Columbia Emancipation Day, marking the 150th anniversary of the end of 
slavery in the District of Columbia, and symbolizing the aspirations of 
the citizens of the District of Columbia for the same rights and 
freedoms afforded to all United States citizens.
                                 <all>