IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 295 

Recognizing the enduring cultural and historical significance of emancipation 

in the Nation’s capital on the anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation 

Act, which established the ‘‘first freed’’ on April 16, 1862, and celebrating passage of the District of Columbia statehood bill in the House 

of Representatives. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 13, 2023 

Ms. NORTON submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Oversight and Accountability 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the enduring cultural and historical significance 

of emancipation in the Nation’s capital on the anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, which 

established the ‘‘first freed’’ on April 16, 1862, and 

celebrating passage of the District of Columbia statehood 

bill in the House of Representatives. 

Whereas the District of Columbia has been a focal point of 

the Nation’s complex racial history, which has included 

slavery, the Civil War, killings, segregation, and disenfranchisement, among other violations of civil and 

human rights; 


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•HRES 295 IH 

Whereas, on April 16, 1862, in the midst of the Civil War, 

President Abraham Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, which freed the approximately 3,100 enslaved individuals in the District of 

Columbia and authorized compensation to former enslavers; 

Whereas, on January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln 

issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which established 

a ‘‘new birth of freedom’’ by legally emancipating millions of enslaved individuals in the 10 States of the Confederacy not under Union control, freeing the majority of 

the Nation’s enslaved individuals; 

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, 

commemorating April 16, the date of the signing of the 

District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, 

was made a legal public holiday in the District of Columbia to be celebrated annually on April 16; 


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•HRES 295 IH 

Whereas the residents of the District of Columbia pay more 

per capita in Federal taxes than the residents of any 

State; 

Whereas the residents of the District of Columbia, who pay 

the full freight of 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 the voting representation 

in the Congress and independence from congressional interference in local matters in violation of the basic principles of no taxation without representation and consent 

of the governed; 

Whereas, on April 22, 2021, the House of Representatives 

passed the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, only the 

second time in history the DC statehood bill has been 

passed by either chamber of Congress; 

Whereas H.R. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, has 

187 cosponsors; and 

Whereas S. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, has 45 

cosponsors: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) recognizes District of Columbia Emanci3 pation Day, marking the anniversary of the end of 

4 slavery in the District of Columbia and symbolizing 

5 the aspirations of the residents of the District of Co6 lumbia for the same rights and freedoms afforded to 

7 residents of States; and 


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•HRES 295 IH 

1 (2) calls on Congress to pass the Washington, 

2 D.C. Admission Act. 

Æ 


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