Eleanor Finch
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865. The amendment was first passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, but the House of Representatives did not pass it until 1865, a few months before Confederate General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox. The amendment was the first of three Reconstruction Amendments and officially abolished chattel slavery across the United States and its territories, except as punishment for a crime.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name of Amendment | 13th Amendment |
| Date Passed by Senate | April 8, 1864 |
| Date Passed by House of Representatives | January 31, 1865 |
| Date Ratified | December 6, 1865 |
| Date Officially Adopted | December 18, 1865 |
| Text | "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." |
| Powers Granted to Congress | "Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." |
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What You'll Learn
The Thirteenth Amendment
The path to passing the Thirteenth Amendment involved political maneuvering and debate. Lincoln quietly supported the amendment behind the scenes but only publicly endorsed it in late 1864. Radical Republicans, such as Senator Charles Sumner and Representative James Ashley, had been calling for a constitutional guarantee of perpetual freedom since 1863. Sumner proposed absolute "equality before the law," but this was rejected in favor of more modest language that allowed for exceptions in the case of criminal punishment.
The Southern states' absence due to the Civil War made it possible for the amendment to pass in Congress. The vote in the House of Representatives was 119–56, indicating that while there was strong support, the amendment did not have unanimous backing. The adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment marked a significant milestone in the expansion of civil rights in the United States, providing a final constitutional solution to the issue of slavery.
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Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation
On January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of civil war, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation declared that "all persons held as slaves within the rebellious states are, and henceforward shall be free".
The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential proclamation and executive order that changed the legal status of more than 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in the secessionist Confederate states from enslaved to free. As soon as slaves escaped the control of their enslavers, either by fleeing to Union lines or through the advance of federal troops, they were permanently free.
The proclamation also allowed former slaves to "be received into the armed service of the United States". By the end of the war, almost 200,000 Black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and freedom. The proclamation added moral force to the Union cause and strengthened the Union both militarily and politically.
Despite its expansive wording, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied only to states that had seceded from the United States, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy (the Southern secessionist states) that had already come under Northern control. Most importantly, the freedom it promised depended upon Union (United States) military victory.
Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in the nation, it captured the hearts and imagination of millions of Americans and fundamentally transformed the character of the war. It was an important step towards abolishing slavery and conferring American citizenship upon ex-slaves. To ensure the abolition of slavery in all of the U.S., Lincoln also mandated that Reconstruction plans for Southern states require them to enact laws abolishing slavery.
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The Senate vote
On April 8, 1864, the Senate voted to pass an amendment to the US Constitution to abolish slavery. The vote was 38 to 6. This was the first step towards the constitutional abolition of slavery.
The vote was the culmination of a process that began in late 1863 when Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner became chairman of a new committee on slavery. Sumner, a Radical Republican, had been calling for an abolition amendment since 1863. While he applauded President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, he believed it did not go far enough and wanted a "constitutional guarantee" of "perpetual freedom".
On February 8, 1864, Sumner introduced his own constitutional amendment, but it was rejected. Instead, the committee approved more modest language that echoed the Northwest Ordinance of 1787: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.”
On February 10, 1864, the Senate Judiciary Committee presented the Senate with an amendment proposal based on drafts of Representatives Ashley, Wilson, and Henderson. The committee's version used text from the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. The Senate passed this amendment on April 8, 1864.
The vote in the Senate was followed by two failed test votes in the House of Representatives, and the amendment was sidelined by the national election. In December 1864, representatives convened a lame-duck session to renew the debate, setting the stage for the newly re-elected Abraham Lincoln to take action in January 1865. The House of Representatives finally passed the 13th Amendment on January 31, 1865, by a vote of 119 to 56.
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Constitutional guarantee of perpetual freedom
The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, passed in 1865, abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States, except as punishment for a crime. This amendment was the culmination of a long struggle for freedom and equality by people who had been enslaved and their allies. The amendment provides that:
> "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."
The 13th Amendment was preceded by President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, which declared that "all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free". However, the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery nationwide as it only applied to areas of the Confederacy in rebellion, and not to the "border states" that remained in the Union. It also did not provide a constitutional guarantee of perpetual freedom.
The push for a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery came from Radical Republicans like Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner and Ohio representative James Ashley, who called for such action as early as 1863. They believed that the Emancipation Proclamation did not go far enough and wanted a "constitutional guarantee" of "perpetual freedom". Sumner introduced his own proposal for absolute "equality before the law", but this was rejected. Instead, a more modest proposal that echoed the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was approved: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States".
The 13th Amendment was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, and by the House of Representatives on January 31, 1865. It was ratified by the required 27 out of 36 states on December 6, 1865, and proclaimed on December 18, 1865. The amendment was the first of three Reconstruction Amendments adopted following the American Civil War, and it finally fulfilled the promise of perpetual freedom from slavery and involuntary servitude for all people in the United States.
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The House of Representatives vote
The House of Representatives' vote on the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was a pivotal moment in the abolition of slavery. The vote took place on January 31, 1865, and marked a significant step towards officially abolishing slavery in the United States.
The Thirteenth Amendment, the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments, was introduced in Congress by Representative James Mitchell Ashley of Ohio in December 1863. The amendment sought to abolish slavery nationally and permanently, building upon President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, which had freed slaves in Confederate-controlled areas but did not apply to border states loyal to the Union.
The House of Representatives featured a higher proportion of Democrats compared to the Senate, which may have contributed to the delay in passing the amendment. After one unsuccessful vote and legislative maneuvering by the Lincoln administration, the House of Representatives finally approved the amendment by a two-thirds majority on January 31, 1865. This vote was a crucial step in the process of abolishing slavery and ensuring that it would be constitutionally prohibited.
The amendment then needed to be ratified by the required number of states. President Lincoln, who supported the amendment, was assassinated in April 1865. His successor, President Andrew Johnson, encouraged the reconstructed Southern states of Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia to agree to the amendment, bringing the total number of ratifying states to 27, which was the required threshold.
On December 6, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment was officially ratified and certified, abolishing slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States and its territories, except as punishment for a crime. This amendment ensured that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude would exist within the United States or any place under its jurisdiction. The House of Representatives' vote played a crucial role in this process, demonstrating the importance of legislative action in bringing about an end to the inhumane institution of slavery in the United States.
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Frequently asked questions
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery.
The Thirteenth Amendment was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865.
The Thirteenth Amendment changed a portion of Article IV, Section 2, of the Constitution, stating that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States and its territories, with the exception of Kentucky and Delaware, where chattel slavery and indentured servitude ended in December 1865. It also restricted other forms of bound labor and servitude.
