1862: When President Abraham Lincoln aimed to pay the enslavers to end slavery
This is a brief look back at how newspapers reported the offer to pay enslavers to free the enslaved African descent population.
On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as president. The Civil War in the United States began in March 1861. Confederate forces threatened the federal-held Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. On April 12, 1861 after Lincoln ordered a fleet to resupply Sumter, Confederate artillery fired the first shots of the Civil War. Four more southern states: Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee would joined the Confederate States of America after Fort Sumter. Border states who also enslaved people, like Missouri, Kentucky and Maryland did not secede, but there was support inside these states for the Confederate.
On April 16, 1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia. Passage of this law came 8 1/2 months before President Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation for the Confederate States of America.
It provided for immediate emancipation, compensation to former owners who were loyal to the United States of America of up to $300 for each freed enslaved person, voluntary colonization of former enslaved people to locations outside the United States, and payments of up to $100 for each person choosing emigration.
The District of Columbia Emancipation Act was an early signal of slavery’s death.
What was the population and demographics of the United States in 1860?
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U.S. Congress and Lincoln’s plan to abolish the system of enslavement
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1862 April 17 The emancipation of enslaved Africans in the District of Columbia
1862 April 17
