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An act of April 16, 1862 (12 Stat.
376), abolished slavery in the District of Columbia. Under section 3 of the act,
the President was authorized to appoint a board of three commissioners, who were
residents of the District, to examine petitions for compensation from former
owners of freed slaves in the District. Pursuant to this act, Daniel R. Goodloe,
Horatio King, and Samuel F. Vinton were appointed. In June 1862 John M.
Broadhead was appointed to replace Vinton. A clerk of the circuit court served
as clerk of the board.
An act of July 12, 1862 (12 Stat.
538), provided that petitions could be received from slaves whose owners had not
presented petitions for compensation. The petitions received under this act were
filed separately from those received under the act of April 16 and are
reproduced on roll 6.
The records of the board include the
following items:
(1) A bound volume comprising the minutes of the meetings of the Board of
Commissioners, dated April 28, 1862-January 14, 1863, arranged chronologically
by date of session. A name and subject index is at the front of the volume.
(2) A bound volume containing a record of petitions filed under the act of April
16, 1862, dated April 29-July 15, 1862, showing the date the petition was filed,
the number of the petition, the name of the petitioner, the names of slaves, and
the value of slaves as claimed in the petition, arranged chronologically and
thereunder by petition number. An index by name of petitioner is at the front of
the volume.
(3) A bound docket book kept by the board, dated April- December 1862, relating
to the petitions filed under the act of April 16, 1862, showing the number of
the petition, the name of the claimant, and a summary of the action taken.
Arranged by petition number. An index is at the front of the volume.
(4) An unbound summary list of amounts awarded to claimants who filed petitions
under the act of April 16, 1862, showing the number of the petition, the name of
the claimant, the number of servants, the amount awarded by the board, and the
signature of the claimant. Arranged by petition number.
(5) An unbound final report by the Board of Commissioners to the Secretary of
the Treasury, dated January 14, 1863. Accompanying this narrative report are
three tabular statements: table A, a list of petitions presented to the board
under the act of April 16, 1862, arranged chronologically, and an alphabetical
list of claimants; table B, a list of petitions filed under the act of July 12,
1862, arranged chronologically; and table C, an alphabetical list of claimants
who would have been eligible for awards if their petitions had been filed before
the deadline.
(6) Unbound petitions filed with the Board of Commissioners pursuant to the acts
of April 16, 1862, and July 12, 1862. The petitions filed under the first act
were numbered consecutively as they were received by the board and are arranged
numerically. Those filed under the second act were not numbered and are arranged
chronologically.
All records of the board that
are listed above, except for the petitions, are reproduced on roll 1 of this
microfilm publication. The petitions are reproduced on rolls 2-6.
Because the accounting records
relating to the activities of the board provide no additional information of
value, they have not been reproduced in this microfilm publication.
| Roll |
|
Description |
|
Dates |
| 1 |
|
Minutes of Meetings |
|
Apr. 28, 1862-Jan. 14, 1863 |
|
|
Record of Petitions Filed |
|
Apr. 29-July 15, 1862 |
|
|
Docket Book |
|
Apr.-Dec. 1862 |
|
|
Summary List of Awards |
|
|
|
|
Final Report of the Board of
Commissioners |
|
Jan. 14, 1863 |
| 2 |
|
Petitions Filed Under the Act
of Apr. 16, 1862: |
|
|
|
|
Nos. 1-200 |
|
|
| 3 |
|
Nos. 201-400 |
|
|
| 4 |
|
Nos. 401-600 |
|
|
| 5 |
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Nos. 601-800 |
|
|
| 6 |
|
Nos. 801-966 |
|
|
|
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Petitions Filed Under the Act
of July 12, 1862 |
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Excerpt from "Living with the
Hydra: The Documentation of Slavery and the Slave Trade in Federal Records, Part
2," By Walter B. Hill, Jr., NARA Prologue (Winter 2000, Vol.
32, No. 4).
"Slavery sustained a severe blow in
1862, when on April 16 Congress emancipated the slaves residing in the District
of Columbia (12 Stat. L. 376). The debate to get rid of the institution in the
nation's capital had deep roots as abolitionists, antislavery politicians, and
an active free black community had besieged Congress since the establishment of
the city. In 1860 the free black population outnumbered the slave population by
four to one. Federal mobilization around the city influenced many Maryland and
Virginia slaves to seek refugee, and the city soon became a beacon of freedom.
Abolitionists, black and white, struck quickly to seek a congressional mandate
abolishing the institution. During debate, pro- and antislavery forces
compromised, allowing compensation to District slaveholders. The act authorized
the President to appoint a board of three commissioners from the District to
examine petitions for compensation. A later act of July 12, 1862 (12 Stat. 538),
provided slaves whose owners refused to participate with the opportunity to
petition the board. The commission's work broke new ground in the debates around
emancipation; the quiet transition from a slave-based society to a free-based
one in the District established a model for the rest of the nation. That fall
the President prepared for a national emancipation."
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