Government · est. 1793
The United States Capitol
The seat of Congress was quarried and built in large part by enslaved laborers hired from nearby slaveholders.
← Follow the MoneyUnable to recruit enough free workers, the commissioners building Washington relied on enslaved African Americans, hired out from owners in Maryland, Virginia, and the District, for the sawing, quarrying, masonry, and carpentry of the Capitol across the 1790s and beyond. A Slave Labor Commemorative Marker now stands in Emancipation Hall.
Documentation
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Connections to other moments, systems, and investigations, the links rarely drawn together.
- built by·ThreadChattel Slavery
Enslaved laborers quarried the stone and built much of the Capitol.