User:Deisenbe/sandbox/Slavery in the District of Columbia

Add to abolitinonosm i the u. S. Lincon - in freeport - https://www.newspapers.com/image/346793202/?terms=Lincoln%20douglas%20crowds&match=

District national capital of the slave trade
An industry, or a business, which kept a low profile. Franklin & Armfield biggest trading col in company

https://archive.org/details/speechofmrminero00mine/page/16/mode/2up 3 story pricate jail plus others

Gag bill
So many petitions were sent to Congress on the topic of slavery, especially on ending slavery in the District, that Congress established the gag rule, meaning the petitions were automatically tabled without discussion.

However, the slave traders in Alexandria (see Franklin and Armfield), fearing that slavery would end in the District sooner or later, led Alexandria County, D.C., to ask to be returned to Virginia. This District of Columbia retrocession took place in 1847. The slave trade, but not slave ownership, was prohibited in the District as part of the Compromise of 1850.

Banning the ownership of slaves
While the federal government had the authority to end slavery in the District, it did not, because Southern legislators had the votes to prevent this. Southern legislators did not want to set a precedent by banning slavery anywhere; they were rather seeking to expand slavery into the new western territories, and talked about using a constitutional amendment to make slavery legal again in the entire United States.

The situation changed with the walkout in 1861 of the legislators from the 9 states that seceded to form the Confederacy. The remaining legislators most from free states, took action quickly.

from Snow storm
p. 246 "In barely half a decade, the abolitionists had established Washington City as a battlefield for their cause. In 1830, slavery was rarely debated in Congress. Six years later, it was the subject of fierce contention. more