Emancipation Day, April 16, is a legal holiday in Washington, D.C., starting in 2005.
It marks the day in 1862 when U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the Compensated Emancipation Act.
The Act impacted only some 3,000 people held in slavery in Washington, D.C. at the time, according to dateandtime.com
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Local government offices close in the District on April 16, but not all businesses.
However, the holiday does affect Federal IRS offices, and delays the deadline for income tax returns filing by two days, this year, to April 17.
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See related article: Income Tax Filing Deadline Extended Two Days This April
The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution later abolished slavery for the remainder of its four million victims in 1865, after the end of the Civil War.
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