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  1. Overview: The Road to Civil War
  2. Full Record: The Road to Civil War
  3. Committee:The Senate
  4. Session: 1862-06-24 12:00:00
  5. Event type: CREATE_FROM

The Road to Civil War

The Senate

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Session 12000: 1862-06-24 12:00:00

Mr. Grimes from the Committee on the District of Columbia reports S. 351 with amendments

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S. 351

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A Bill

Supplementary to the “Act for the release of certain persons held to service or labor in the District of Columbia,” approved April 16, 1862.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the oath or affirmation required by the second section of the act entitled “An act for the release of certain persons held to service or labor in the District of Columbia,” to verify the statements or petitions in writing filed before the commissioners, under the act aforesaid, of persons holding claim to service or labor against persons of African descent, freed and discharged therefrom, under the act aforesaid, may in all cases in which the persons holding claims, as aforesaid, are infants or minors, be made by the guardian or by any other person, whether separately or jointly, having the custody, management, or control by law of the person and property of such infants or minors; and that in all cases in which the persons holding claims as aforesaid are non-residents of the District of Columbia, or resident absentees, the oath or affirmation required as aforesaid may be made by the attorney or agent of said non-resident or resident absentees; and in all cases in which the statements or petitions, required as aforesaid, of persons in the military or naval services of the United States, shall have been or may be hereafter verified before any commander of any military post, or of any officer having a separate command of any military force in the field, or before any captain, commander, or lieutenant commanding in the navy, the same shall be received and deemed valid, to all intents and purposes, as fully as if the verification had been or were made before any officer competent by law to take and administer oaths and affirmations: Provided, That the commissioners shall be satisfied that, at the time of the verification aforesaid, the person making the same was employed in the military or naval service of the United States within the jurisdiction of a rebellious State or Territory, and unable to make the oath or affirmation required, as aforesaid, before any officer authorized by law to take or administer the same, holding allegiance to the United States.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That all persons held, by virtue of the law of the District of Columbia, to service or labor as slaves by persons actually resident within the said District on the April 16, 1862 A. D., or since that day, are hereby declared free and forever released from such servitude, whether the persons so held to service or labor were, by the act of their respective claimants, required to perform service or labor within said District, or elsewhere within the United States.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That all persons held to service or labor under the laws of any State, and who at any time since the April 16, 1862 A. D., by the consent of the person to whom such service or labor is claimed to be owing, have been actually employed within the District of Columbia, are hereby declared free, and forever released from such servitude, anything in the laws of the United States or of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, authorized to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a solicitor of the commission appointed under the act approved April 16, 1862, entitled “An act for the release of certain persons held to service or labor in the District of Columbia;” and the compensation of said solicitor shall be at the rate of $2,000 per annum.

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