Philip T. Berry - District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act Petition

[Description of the item and background information provided by Auger Down Books at time of purchase]

Philip T. Barry An Act for the Release of Certain Persons Held to Service or Labor in the District of Columbia [with Manuscript Additions Regarding Compensation for Thirteen Formerly Enslaved Individuals]. Washington, W.H & O.H. Morrison, 1862.

Partially printed document finished in ink, 13 ¾ x 8 ½ inches, 4 pp. A few marginal tears else fine, folded, near fine condition overall.

The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, formally titled “An Act for the Release of Certain Persons Held to Service or Labor in the District of Columbia was signed into law in April of 1862 by Abraham Lincoln, several months before the Emancipation Proclamation. Still celebrated in Washington today as a holiday, the act would lead to the emancipation of over 2,900 enslaved individuals, with 930 petitions by enslavers approved by the Board of Commissioners. The bill differed from the Emancipation Proclamation in two major ways: the inclusion of compensation for enslavers and the encouragement of colonization in the form of a $100 credit for voluntary colonization to locations outside the United States. Offered here is an original printing of “An Act for the An Act for the Release of Certain Persons Held to Service or Labor. Relase of Certain Persons…” with an attached petition section, commissioned by the government and printed by the W.H. and O.H. Morrison firm for the use of enslavers seeking compensation. The first section prints the law in its entirety, and is likely the only printing of the law apart from its inclusion in the compendium of Congressional laws passed in Washington. The second portion, partially in manuscript, is written by Philip T. Berry (1800-1879), an enslaver from the Georgetown neighborhood who seeks compensation for thirteen individuals of the act. Among the formerly enslaved are five males and eight females: Nelly Beall, Sandy Beall, Sophy Beall, Susan Beall, Margaret Beall, Kitty Beall, Robert Beall, Alexander Beall, Mary Beall, Henry Thomas, and Ann Thomas. Their ages range from sixty-six to twelve. Many of the individuals were originally enslaved by Philip’s father in Prince George’s County, Maryland, until 1840 when his father died. Henry and Ann Thomas were enslaved by Philip in 1829 when - the document notes - he was ten years old. The National Archives holds the final petition filed by Berry on June 20 of 1862, making it likely this was a draft or a copy retained for his records as it was not dated but does not differ substantially in the text. The W.H. Morrison firm printed various government documents and was most known for its series of guidebooks of the city of Washington as well as its stationery.

Phillip Berry was one of the wealthiest citizens of Georgetown. Harold Hurst, in his 1980 study “Business and Businessmen in Pre-Civil War Georgetown, 1840- 1860,” described Berry as follows:” The highest assessed single property owner in Georgetown in 1858 was Philip Taylor Berry. Born into an old and prominent Prince George County family, P. T. Berry, as he was commonly known, came to Georgetown as a young man and soon made a name for himself in the dry goods business. Associated with the commercial life of the town for some sixty years before his death in 1879, Berry also owned a large grain and flour business located on Water (now K) Street and possessed many tracts of real estate in various parts of the community. His real and personal property were assessed for nearly $55,000 in 1859. P. T. Berry resided in a large brick mansion located at the corner of Congress (now 31st) and Dunbarton Streets. The scope of his activities extended beyond the commercial sphere for he served on the town council and on the vestry of Christ Church. Philip’s brother, Horatio, also owned a dry goods store in Georgetown.” “Notably,” the scholar Paul Phillips Cooke writes in his article “From Emancipation to Citizenship: Blacks in Washington, 1862-1887, “ the term ‘slavery’ was not used by the House and the Senate; rather, Congress spoke of those ‘held to service or labor…’ This act of Congress aimed to abolish slavery in the nation’s capital and was bitterly opposed by the white citizens of the District, who had lived for many years among several thousand free blacks… Immediately after the abolition of slavery in the district, black citizens-those already free and the newly freed men and women-turned to prayer and thanksgiving. And immediately after the enactment of the legislation, the process of compensating the slaveowners for their ‘chattel’ began.” (Cooke, p. 100). Aside from the Government Printing Office-produced Message from the President announcing the passage of the bill, which was printed in large quantities as a compendium, this is likely the only edition of “An Act for the Release of Certain Persons…” We find no copies of this edition outside of the National Archives, either.