Thirteenth Amendment

The Thirteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution made slavery illegal in the country. Ratified, or approved, in 1865, it was the first of three constitutional amendments adopted during the Reconstruction Era after the American Civil War (1861–65).

Momentum for emancipation

Emancipation of slaves in 1865 was the result of many different factors. Abolitionists had been working for emancipation since the birth of the nation. Northern states decided to support emancipation as their economies grew into systems that thrived on free labor rather than on slavery. After slavery helped split the nation in the Civil War, the federal government finally decided that emancipation was the best option to end slavery permanently in the United States.

In 1862, Congress abolished slavery in the District of Columbia and federal territories. It also repealed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and authorized the freedom of slaves from rebel Confederate areas who either escaped to Northern states or had been seized by Union troops during the war.

That same year, President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865; served 1861–65) announced the Emancipation Proclamation . Effective January 1, 1863, the proclamation declared the freedom of all slaves in Confederate states which remained at war with the Union. The proclamation did not apply to slaves in states that had stayed with the Union, but most of these states took their own steps to emancipate slaves. Kentucky is the only state that stayed with the Union but declined to emancipate its slaves.

Crafting the Thirteenth Amendment

With the intention of ending slavery nationwide after the Civil War, the Senate proposed the Thirteenth Amendment in 1864. The House of Representatives refused to approve it until 1865, when the Republican Party gained more seats at the expense of the Democratic Party .

With support from President Andrew Johnson (1808–1875; served 1865–69) after Lincoln's death, the amendment was ratified by three-fourths of the states by the end of 1865. Congress made approval of the Thirteenth Amendment one of the conditions that Confederate states had to satisfy to be readmitted to the Union. Mississippi was allowed to be readmitted without ratification only after the Thirteenth Amendment became effective nationwide. Mississippi did not ratify the Thirteenth Amendment until 1995.

The effects of freedom

The Thirteenth Amendment makes slavery and involuntary servitude illegal in America. It also gives Congress power to enforce the amendment through legislation. Starting with the Civil Rights Act of 1866 , Congress tried to define the citizenship and rights of newly freed slaves.

Court cases and political resistance thwarted such efforts, eventually leading to the proposal and adoption of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments . In theory, these amendments gave certain civil rights to freed slaves and all other Americans. In practice, court cases and political resistance prevented African Americans from fully enjoying those rights until the civil rights movement in the middle of the twentieth century.

As with most constitutional provisions, the meaning and effect of the Thirteenth Amendment is the subject of controversy. In 1883, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Thirteenth Amendment does not apply to discrimination in private relationships. The Court changed its mind in the 1968 case of Jones v. Mayer. In that decision, the Court ruled that by eliminating certain “badges of slavery,” the Thirteenth Amendment prohibits private acts of racial discrimination in contractual and property transactions.

The Text of the Thirteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution

The Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution says, “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 meaning of the amendment's ban on involuntary servitude also is the subject of disagreement. Some believe it merely prevents people from continuing slavery under a different name. Others in the labor rights movement believe the Thirteenth Amendment gives workers certain rights in their relationships with their employers. In this regard, the Thirteenth Amendment is sometimes called the Labor Amendment.