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
The web
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.