On April 16, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, officially ending slavery in the U.S. capital. This landmark legislation freed over 3,000 enslaved people and granted compensation to loyal Union slaveholders — a compromise aimed at avoiding wider political backlash during the Civil War.
The District of Columbia became the first federal territory to abolish slavery, a full nine months before the Emancipation Proclamation. Today, Emancipation Day is observed every year on April 16 in Washington, D.C., as a celebration of Black freedom and progress.
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