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The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, passed on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, abolished slavery and prohibited involuntary servitude in the country and all territories under its jurisdiction. The Amendment was the culmination of a long struggle to end slavery in the US, with early proposals dating back to 1818. While it marked a significant step towards freedom and equality, the Amendment's exception clause allowed slavery to persist through punitive systems, and the country continued to grapple with the legacy of slavery and the ongoing fight for civil rights.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name of Amendment | Thirteenth Amendment |
| Date of Ratification | December 6, 1865 |
| Purpose | To abolish slavery in the United States |
| 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." |
| Previous Attempts | 1818 by Representative Arthur Livermore, 1839 by John Quincy Adams, and others |
| Complementary Amendments | Fourteenth Amendment (1868), Fifteenth Amendment (1870) |
| Complementary Legislation | Civil Rights Act of 1875, Peonage Act of 1867 |
| Relevant Supreme Court Cases | Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), Slaughter-House Cases (1873), United States v. Cruikshank (1876), Civil Rights Cases (1883) |
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What You'll Learn
The 13th Amendment
The journey towards the abolition of slavery in the United States was a protracted one. As early as 1818, Representative Arthur Livermore introduced proposals to eliminate slavery through a constitutional amendment, but they failed to gain traction. In 1846, the Wilmot Proviso sought to ban slavery in territories acquired during the Mexican-American War, passing the House but not the Senate.
President Abraham Lincoln played a crucial role in advancing emancipation. On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that all persons held as slaves in rebellious states "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." However, this proclamation had limited reach, applying only to areas of the Confederacy in rebellion and not to border states or parts of the Confederacy under Union control. Lincoln recognised the need for a constitutional amendment to truly abolish slavery.
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The Civil War
In the decades leading up to the Civil War, political tensions rose as abolitionists and proponents of slavery debated over whether new U.S. territories would be admitted as slave or free states. The Fugitive Slave Clause, located in Article IV, Section 2 of the Constitution, stated that a slave remained a slave even if they fled to a non-slavery state. This was reinforced by the 1857 Supreme Court case of Dred Scott v. Sandford, which hindered the abolitionist movement's arguments against slavery.
During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, declaring that all persons held as slaves within any state in rebellion against the United States would be "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.
As the Civil War drew to a close, questions arose regarding the legal authority of the Emancipation Proclamation, Congress's power to ban slavery through legislation, and the status of enslaved and freed persons. These questions played a significant role in the debates surrounding the joint resolution that would become the Thirteenth Amendment.
The Thirteenth Amendment, passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, abolished slavery in the United States. It states 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, along with the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, greatly expanded the civil rights of Americans, providing a final constitutional solution to the issue of slavery.
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The Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln recognized that the Emancipation Proclamation would have to be followed by a constitutional amendment to guarantee the abolishment of slavery. The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, passed on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, abolished slavery in the United States. The 13th Amendment, along with the 14th and 15th Amendments, greatly expanded the civil rights of Americans.
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Fugitive Slave Clause
The Fugitive Slave Clause, also known as the Slave Clause or the Fugitives From Labour Clause, is Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution. The Clause requires that a "Person held to Service or Labour" (usually a slave, apprentice, or indentured servant) who escapes to another state must be returned to their master in the state from which they fled. The 13th Amendment, passed in 1865, abolished slavery in the United States and effectively nullified the Fugitive Slave Clause.
The exact wording of the Fugitive Slave Clause is as follows:
> No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.
It is notable that, similar to other references in the Constitution dealing with slavery, the words "slave" and "slavery" are not used in this clause. Instead, the phrase "held to Service or Labour" is used. Historian Donald Fehrenbacher believes that the intent throughout the Constitution was to make it clear that slavery existed only under state law, not federal law.
The Fugitive Slave Clause was unanimously approved by the Convention without further debate, despite objections from James Wilson and Roger Sherman that this would oblige state executives to seize fugitive slaves at public expense. The Clause was also included in the Constitution of the Confederate States, which mentioned slavery by name and specified African Americans as the subject.
The enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Clause was strengthened by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 and the Compromise of 1850. The Supreme Court interpreted the Clause as granting slave owners the right to seize and repossess fugitive slaves in another state, and state laws that penalised such seizures were deemed unconstitutional. However, Northern resistance to the enforcement of the Clause increased in the 19th century, particularly after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Several Northern states enacted "personal liberty laws" to protect free Black residents from kidnapping and provide safeguards for accused fugitives.
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The Reconstruction Amendments
The 13th Amendment, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery and involuntary servitude throughout the United States, with the exception of those duly convicted of a crime. This amendment provided 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 13th Amendment also covers a broader array of labor arrangements and social deprivations, including the Southern peonage system.
The 14th Amendment, proposed in 1866 and ratified in 1868, addresses citizenship rights and equal protection under the law for all persons. It defines all people born in the United States as citizens, requires due process of law, and mandates equal protection of the laws. The 14th Amendment transformed the Constitution from a document primarily focused on federal-state relations and property rights to one that guarantees substantive freedom and protection against government misconduct for vulnerable minorities.
The 15th Amendment, proposed in 1869 and ratified in 1870, prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen's right to vote based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude". This amendment was passed in response to the narrowing of voting rights to white men only in 1869, and the recognition that protecting the franchise of Black men was crucial for the Republican Party's future.
While these amendments were intended to guarantee the freedom and civil rights of formerly enslaved people, their promise was eroded by state laws and federal court decisions in the late 19th century. It was not until the mid-20th century, with Supreme Court decisions like Brown v. Board of Education and civil rights legislation, that the full benefits of the Reconstruction Amendments were realized.
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Frequently asked questions
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, passed on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, abolished slavery in the United States.
The Thirteenth Amendment states: "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 was the final constitutional solution to the issue of slavery in the United States. It is one of the three Civil War amendments, along with the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, that greatly expanded the civil rights of Americans.
