The First Emancipation Proclamation

By John A Punola · Originally published July 2016 · p. 62

In September 1862, a fierce battle was fought at a small Maryland town of Sharpsburg, also known as the Battle of Antietam by the Union, and Abraham Lincoln had been waiting month after month for his mighty army to register a major victory. Lincoln needed a victory for the impatient folks up North, and also because he had decided to issue an Emancipation Proclamation, and wanted to do so after a victory. In speaking with the commander, Gen. George McClellan, he was told of a big victory at Antietam Creek, Maryland. Some historians considered the battle a tie, maybe another victory for the South, but McClellan reported otherwise. Lincoln, therefore, chose September 22 as Emancipation Day. His proclamation stated that all slaves living in Southern states were hereby declared free, effective January 1, 1863. The date, September 22, 1862, has been celebrated nationwide as the official Emancipation Day. But wait, is this action by President Lincoln really the true date of Emancipation Proclamation as we are taught to observe? Lost in the anals of Civil War history is mention of the FIRST Emancipation Proclamation, which was signed into law on April 16, 1862, five months before the Battle of Antietam. This idea of freeing slaves originated in the U.S. Congress was supported by President Lincoln, who approved and signed into law the act as written by Congress. This first emancipation was only effective for slaves living in Washington DC and surrounding areas. There was also a monetary consideration involved to expedite the process, which Lincoln pressed for speedy action. In 1849, while still a congressman, Abraham Lincoln introduced a similar plan to eliminate slavery in Washington DC through compensated emancipation, but it failed. Again, in 1861, Lincoln recommended a “gradual” emancipation, but with no success. In another message to Congress on March 6, 1862, he repeated the suggestion and followed up with a direct appeal to congressmen from the border states, who rejected it as too extreme a measure. The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act was a law to end slavery in Washington, DC by paying slave owners for releasing their slaves. Congress voted to appropriate the money to refund slave owners. Although not written by him, the act was promptly signed by the president, Abraham Lincoln, on April 16, 1862, and is now celebrated in Washington DC as Emancipation Day. There was one glaring term associated with the slaves receiving freedom from their masters; they were pressured to return to their ancestral home in Africa. Liberia was a major exporter of slaves and the American government offered to provide provisions and transportation back to Liberia, or closer yet, to Haiti. Most slaves were not agreeable to these terms of freedom and declined the offer to be set free from their current masters. The Compensated Emancipation Act came nearly nine months before the signing of the formal Emancipation Proclamation. The Act of April 16th, 1862, set aside one million dollars immediately to emancipate the slaves of Washington DC, giving Union slaveholders up to $300 for every freed slave. An additional $100,000 was allocated by law was used to pay each newly freed slave $100 if he or she chose to leave the United States and relocate in overseas colonies, Liberia and Haiti were clearly mentioned.

The emancipation plan relied on a three-person Emancipation Commission to distribute the allotted funding. In order to receive compensation, former slaveholders were required to provide written evidence of their ownership, as well as state their loyalty to the Union. Most of the petitioners were white, but some blacks also filed for compensation, having once purchased their family members away from other owners. In the end, nearly all of the one million dollars appropriated in the act had been spent. As a result of the act’s passage, 3,185 slaves were freed. However, the previous fugitive slave laws were still applied to slaves who had run from Maryland to Washington DC. These slaves were still subject to the laws which applied to runaway slaves living in Washington DC, who legally could be forced to return to their owners. The compensated emancipation model act was not later adapted by the US Government, but the act signified the forthcoming demise of slavery in the United States. The Washington DC Act was the only compensated plan for emancipation that was ever enacted in the United States. As limited as the act was written it only had an effect on slaves in Washington DC, but it was the beginning of the end for slavery in America. The intent of the Washington DC emancipation was to reduce the population of slaves in Washington and suburbs and have them deposed to a distant place, and Liberia and Haiti were the most mentioned destinations. The slaves were not keen to the idea of relocation, and Reverend Henry M. Turner, a black representative of the slaves, wrote a letter to Congress voicing the views and concerns of the potential slaves. In his message to the Congress, he penned these thoughts… “Of our own free will, we cannot go to either Liberia of Haiti. We have in the United States, been taught to venerate virtue, to strive to attain. We can with humble pride, point to as widespread examples of the benefits of these teachings, as can any similar number of men, with no greater advantages than ourselves. Therefore, we wish to shun those countries where the opposite of virtue rules, where vice reigns supreme, where our very blood would be required if we opposed its indulgence. We were born in the United States and cling to the land of our birth. We do not wish to be driven beyond the great ocean where old hands of kindness cannot reach us, where we cannot hear from those with whom we have grown up, with all the fond memories of our childhood.” These were powerful words from the heart of Reverend Henry M. Turner, and probably had an effect on the thinking and judgment of those assigned the duty to carry out the intent of the emancipation. The easiest route for the freed and departing slaves was Northward, and obviously, that’s the route they chose to take. A large number of purchased slaves eventually became loyal members of the Union Army and served with distinction during their time of duty.