HCON 135 EH

111th CONGRESS

1st Session

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H. CON. RES. 135

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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

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Whereas enslaved African-Americans provided labor essential to the
construction of the United States Capitol;

Whereas the report of the Architect of the Capitol entitled `History of
Slave Laborers in the Construction of the United States Capitol'
documents the role of slave labor in the construction of the Capitol;

Whereas enslaved African-Americans performed the backbreaking work of
quarrying the stone which comprised many of the floors, walls, and
columns of the Capitol;

Whereas enslaved African-Americans also participated in other facets of
construction of the Capitol, including carpentry, masonry, carting,
rafting, roofing, plastering, glazing, painting, and sawing;

Whereas the marble columns in the Old Senate Chamber and the sandstone
walls of the East Front corridor remain as the lasting legacies of the
enslaved African-Americans who worked the quarries;

Whereas slave-quarried stones from the remnants of the original Capitol
walls can be found in Rock Creek Park in the District of Columbia;

Whereas the Statue of Freedom now atop the Capitol dome could not have
been cast without the pivotal intervention of Philip Reid, an enslaved
African-American foundry worker who deciphered the puzzle of how to
separate the 5-piece plaster model for casting when all others failed;

Whereas the great hall of the Capitol Visitor Center was named
Emancipation Hall to help acknowledge the work of the slave laborers who
built the Capitol;

Whereas no narrative on the construction of the Capitol that does not
include the contribution of enslaved African-Americans can fully and
accurately reflect its history;

Whereas recognition of the contributions of enslaved African-Americans
brings to all Americans an understanding of the continuing evolution of
our representative democracy; and

Whereas a marker dedicated to the enslaved African-Americans who helped
to build the Capitol will reflect the charge of the Capitol Visitor
Center to teach visitors about Congress and its development: Now,
therefore, be it

       /Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),/


       SECTION 1. PLACEMENT OF MARKER IN CAPITOL VISITOR CENTER TO
       ACKNOWLEDGE ROLE OF SLAVE LABOR IN CONSTRUCTION OF CAPITOL.

       (a) Procurement and Placement of Marker- The Architect of the
       Capitol, subject to the approval of the Committee on House
       Administration of the House of Representatives and the Committee
       on Rules and Administration of the Senate, shall design, procure,
       and place in a prominent location in Emancipation Hall in the
       Capitol Visitor Center a marker which acknowledges the role that
       slave labor played in the construction of the United States Capitol.

       (b) Criteria for Design of Marker- In developing the design for
       the marker required under subsection (a), the Architect of the
       Capitol--

             (1) shall take into consideration the recommendations
             developed by the Slave Labor Task Force Working Group;

             (2) shall, to the greatest extent practicable, ensure that
             the marker includes stone which was quarried by slaves in
             the construction of the Capitol; and

             (3) shall ensure that the marker includes a plaque or
             inscription which describes the purpose of the marker.

Passed the House of Representatives July 7, 2009.

Attest:

Clerk.

111th CONGRESS

1st Session

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*H. CON. RES. *135

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*CONCURRENT RESOLUTION*

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Directing the Architect of the Capitol to place a marker in Emancipation
Hall in the Capitol Visitor Center which acknowledges the role that
slave labor played in the construction of the United States Capitol, and
for other purposes.

/END/



Don Fehrenbacher, /The Slaveholding Republic: An Account of the United
States Government's Relations to Slavery, /p. 60
/
/The hundred square miles forming the District of Columbia were ceded by
Maryland and Virginia with no conditions respecting slavery. Southerners
later insisted that slavery in the District was protected by a tacit
understanding without which the two states would not have given up their
land, but the argument had no foundation in historical evidence.
Congress accepted the donations in 1790 with the provision that the area
should remain under state jurisdiction until the actual transfer of
federal offices to the District. 45 That arrangement proved to be an
entering wedge. During the next ten years, while Washington, D.C., was
taking shape as a physical entity, federal officials gave little thought
to the political and legal structure of the city. Then, in 1801, with
the transfer at last completed, Congress provided a system of government
for the District, but took the easy way out with respect to its laws by
directing that those of Maryland and Virginia should continue in force.
Thus, casually and silently, slavery was legitimized in the national
capital. The statute doing so bore the signature of John Adams, the only
nonslaveholding president in the early decades of the Republic. 46

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