President Abraham Lincoln signed the bill on the 16th of April 1862. Congress rejected his requests to delay implementation or require a citizen vote before the law took effect.
US Army Colonel Thomas Marshall Key wrote the bill that would become law. Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts sponsored the legislation in Congress.
The act set aside $1 million to compensate slaveholders loyal to the U.S. government. An additional $100,000 funded resettlement payments for freed individuals leaving the country.
Fugitive slave laws still applied to those who fled from Maryland until their repeal in 1864. Commissioners later reported names of emancipated people and amounts paid to each claimant.
The District first celebrated Emancipation Day as an official city holiday in 2005. The Council made April 16 a private holiday for city employees in 2000 before establishing it publicly.