Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

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Amendment XIII (the Thirteenth Amendment) of the United States Constitution officially abolished, and continues to prohibit, slavery, and, with limited exceptions, prohibits involuntary servitude. The Amendment in practice emancipated only the slaves of Delaware and Kentucky, as everywhere else the slaves had been freed by state action or by the federal government's Emancipation Proclamation. But supporters such as Abraham Lincoln (who had issued the Emancipation Proclamation) supported the Amendment as a means to guarantee the permanent abolition of slavery.

The amendment states:

Section 1. 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. Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

The thirteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed to the legislatures of the several states by the Thirty-eighth Congress, on January 31, 1865. Although it was ratified by the necessary three-quarters of the states within a year of its proposal, its most recent ratification occurred as recently as 1995, in Mississippi, which was the last of the thirty-six states in existence in 1865 to ratify it.

Contents 1 Ratification 2 Interpretation and history 3 Notes 4 References 5 See also 6 External links

[edit] Ratification

The amendment was declared, in a proclamation of Secretary of State William Henry Seward, dated December 18, 1865, to have been ratified by the legislatures of twenty-seven of the then thirty-six states. The dates of ratification were:

1.	Illinois	February 1, 1865
2.	Rhode Island	February 2, 1865
3.	Michigan	February 2, 1865
4.	Maryland	February 3, 1865
5.	New York	February 3, 1865
6.	Pennsylvania	February 3, 1865
7.	West Virginia	February 3, 1865
8.	Missouri	February 6, 1865
9.	Maine	February 7, 1865
10.	Kansas	February 7, 1865
11.	Massachusetts	February 7, 1865
12.	Virginia	February 9, 1865
13.	Ohio	February 10, 1865
14.	Indiana	February 13, 1865
15.	Nevada	February 16, 1865
16.	Louisiana	February 17, 1865
17.	Minnesota	February 23, 1865
18.	Wisconsin	February 24, 1865
19.	Vermont	March 9, 1865
20.	Tennessee	April 7, 1865
21.	Arkansas	April 14, 1865
22.	Connecticut	May 4, 1865
23.	New Hampshire	June 1, 1865
24.	South Carolina	November 13, 1865
25.	Alabama	December 2, 1865
26.	North Carolina	December 4, 1865
27.	Georgia	December 6, 1865

Ratification was completed on December 6, 1865. The amendment was subsequently ratified by:

28.	Oregon	December 8, 1865
29.	California	December 19, 1865
30.	Florida	December 28, 1865	(Florida again ratified on June 9, 1868, upon its adoption of a new constitution)
31.	Iowa	January 15, 1866
32.	New Jersey	January 23, 1866	(after having rejected the amendment on March 16, 1865)
33.	Texas	February 18, 1870
34.	Delaware	February 12, 1901	(after having rejected the amendment on February 8, 1865)
35.	Kentucky	March 18, 1976	(after having rejected the amendment on February 24, 1865)
36.	Mississippi	March 21, 1995	(after having rejected the amendment on December 4, 1865).

[edit] Interpretation and history

This amendment completed the abolition of slavery, which had begun with President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. About 40,000 slaves remained in Kentucky and they were freed by the Amendment.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the Thirteenth Amendment does not prohibit mandatory military service in the United States.^[1] 240 U.S. 328 (1916)

The Thirteenth Amendment also prohibits specific performance as a judicial remedy for violations of contracts for personal services such as employment contracts.

Offenses against the Thirteenth Amendment were being prosecuted as late as 1947.^[2]

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Butler v. Perry
2. ^ U.S. v. Ingalls, 73 F.Supp. 76 (1947) as cited by Traver, Robert (1967). The Jealous Mistress. Boston: Little, Brown.

[edit] References

• Herman Belz, Emancipation and Equal Rights: Politics and Constitutionalism in the Civil War Era (1978)
• Mitch Kachun, Festivals of Freedom: Memory and Meaning in African American Emancipation Celebrations, 1808-1915 (2003)
• C. Peter Ripley, Roy E. Finkenbine, Michael F. Hembree, Donald Yacovone, Witness for Freedom: African American Voices on Race, Slavery, and Emancipation (1993)
• Michael Vorenberg, Final Freedom: The Civil War, the Abolition of Slavery, and the Thirteenth Amendment (2001)

[edit] See also

• Corwin Amendment — A proposed amendment that would have protected slavery
• Crittenden Compromise
• Lyman Trumbull
• Titles of Nobility Amendment — Alleged by some to be the "the missing thirteenth amendment"

[edit] External links

• Mr. Lincoln and Freedom: Thirteenth Amendment
• Thirteenth Amendment and related resources at the Library of Congress
• National Archives: 13th Amendment
• Ghost Amendment: The Thirteenth Amendment that Never Was
• CRS Annotated Constitution: 13th Amendment

United States Constitution Complete text at WikiSource
Original text: Preamble | Article 1 | Article 2 | Article 3 | Article 4 | Article 5 | Article 6 | Article 7 Amendments: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27
Formation	History of the Constitution | Articles of Confederation | Annapolis Convention | Philadelphia Convention | New Jersey Plan | Virginia Plan | Connecticut Compromise | Signatories
Adoption	Massachusetts Compromise | Federalist Papers
Amendments	Bill of Rights | Ratified | Proposed | Unsuccessful | Conventions to propose | State ratifying conventions
Clauses	Case or controversy | Commerce | Commerce (Dormant) | Contract | Copyright | Due Process | Equal Protection | Establishment | Free Exercise | Full Faith and Credit | Impeachment | Natural–born citizen | Necessary and Proper | No Religious Test | Presentment | Privileges and Immunities (Art. IV) | Privileges or Immunities (14th Amend.) | Speech or Debate | Supremacy | Suspension | Taxing and Spending | Territorial | War Powers
Interpretation	Congressional power of enforcement | Double jeopardy | Enumerated powers | Incorporation of the Bill of Rights | Nondelegation | Preemption | Separation of church and state | Separation of powers | Constitutional theory