IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 929 

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 attaining the requisite number of cosponsors for passage of 

the District of Columbia statehood bill in the House of Representatives. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 17, 2020 

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

Committee on Oversight and Reform 

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 attaining the requisite number of cosponsors 

for 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, brutal and unjustified killings of 

innocent citizens, racial segregation, and legal disenfranchisement, among other violations of human rights; 


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•HRES 929 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 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, 

commemorating April 16, the date slaves were freed, was 

made a legal public holiday in the District of Columbia 

to be celebrated annually on April 16; 


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•HRES 929 IH 

Whereas the residents of the District of Columbia pay more 

per capita in Federal taxes than the residents of any 

State; 

Whereas, on February 11, 2020, the House Committee on 

Oversight and Reform passed H.R. 5803, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, the first time the D.C. statehood bill has been voted out of a committee since 1993; 

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 United States Congress and independence from 

congressional interference in local matters afforded to 

other United States jurisdictions in violation of the basic 

principles of taxation requiring representation and local 

governance; 

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

a record 223 cosponsors, more than enough votes to pass 

the House of Representatives with cosponsors alone; and 

Whereas the Senate should pass S. 631, the Washington, 

D.C. Admission Act, which has a record 35 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 citizens of the District of CoVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:08 Apr 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR929.IH HR929

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•HRES 929 IH 

1 lumbia for the same rights and freedoms afforded to 

2 all United States citizens; and 

3 (2) recognizes that the Washington, D.C. Ad4 mission Act has more than the requisite number of 

5 cosponsors necessary to pass in the House of Rep6 resentatives and that the House of Representatives 

7 should pass the Washington, D.C. Admission Act in 

8 2020. 

Æ 


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