Washington's first City Hall/Courthouse, opened in 1822 with offices for the mayor, city administrators, and federal courts, became a significant site in the history of abolition and emancipation. In 1848 abolitionist Daniel Drayton was tried there for larceny and illegally transporting slaves after being captured months earlier with 77 African Americans who were attempting to escape slavery aboard his schooner, Pearl. He was found guilty, served jail time, and was pardoned in 1852. On April 16, 1862, during the Civil War, President Lincoln signed the DC Emancipation Act, freeing DC's enslaved people and creating a system of compensated emancipation in which owners came there so three commissioners could assign monetary values of up to $300 per person to enslaved people. Later, when the Emancipation Proclamation took effect in January 1863, Lincoln did not offer compensation to owners in the rebellious states.
