IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 294 
Recognizing the historic abolitionist events surrounding the Pearl, and 
honoring its legacy in American history. 
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 historic abolitionist events surrounding the 
Pearl, and honoring its legacy in American history. 
Whereas, on April 16, 1848, 77 enslaved people attempted to 
flee slavery in the District of Columbia and Alexandria, 
Virginia, on the Pearl, a schooner waiting for them in the 
Potomac River; 
Whereas, on April 14, 1848, three White men brought the 
ship to the District of Columbia, and Daniel Drayton, the 
captain and owner of the Pearl, chartered the schooner 
for $100 and arranged for the enslaved peoples’ travel; 
Whereas the escape was initiated by free Blacks Paul Jen-
nings, who had been enslaved by President James Madi-
son, and Paul Edmonson; 
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•HRES 294 IH 
Whereas William Chaplin, a White abolitionist, assisted in 
connecting the enslaved people with Drayton; 
Whereas abolitionist Gerrit Smith of New York financed the 
escape; 
Whereas 77 enslaved people, including men, women, and chil-
dren, sailed on the Pearl down the Potomac River and 
then into Chesapeake Bay in pursuit of freedom; 
Whereas, on April 17, 1848, numerous enslavers in the Dis-
trict of Columbia, realizing the people they enslaved had 
fled, sent a posse of 35 men to seek the Pearl; 
Whereas the posse met the Pearl near Point Lookout, Mary-
land, and took the escapees and the ship back to the Dis-
trict of Columbia; 
Whereas slavery supporters formed a mob and lashed out at 
both the White abolitionists involved in the escape as well 
as free Blacks in the District of Columbia in the Wash-
ington Riot of 1848; 
Whereas the enslavers sold the escapees to traders who took 
them to New Orleans, Louisiana; 
Whereas two of the escapees were purchased and freed in an 
effort led by Henry Ward Beecher’s Plymouth Congrega-
tional Church of Brooklyn, New York; 
Whereas Drayton and two of the other ship workers were ar-
rested for helping in the escape and were represented in 
court by Congressman Horace Mann; 
Whereas two of the men, including Drayton, after serving 
four years in prison, were released after being granted a 
pardon from President Millard Fillmore, based on a rec-
ommendation from Senator Charles Sumner; and 
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•HRES 294 IH 
Whereas the escape is said to be the single largest known es-
cape by enslaved persons in American history and to have 
inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe in her writing the novel 
‘‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’’: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives honors 
the legacy of all those who furthered freedom from slavery 
and all of those who were involved in the Pearl incident, 
and recognizes their importance to the history of the Dis-
trict of Columbia and to American history itself. 
Æ 
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