13th Amendment: Abolishment Of Slavery

By Author: Nick Joseph
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The 13th amendment was the first amendment among the three Reconstruction Amendments that were passed after the civil war. The amendment was passed to end up slavery and involuntary servitude excluding the condition of punishment of any crime.

Congress passed the amendment to the constitution on 31st January 1865 and Georgia was the 27th state that ratified the amendment on 6th December 1865 and then proclaimed on 18th December 1865.

Section 1 of the amendment means that both slavery and involuntary servitude should not be allowed and exist in the United States or at any place of its jurisdiction except for the punishment of any crime.

Section 2 of the amendment means that congress shall have the power to carry out the article with appropriate legislation.

The 13th amendment in simplified form can be described as the amendment that was made to give permanent freedom to the citizen of the U.S from any kind of slavery.

Abraham Lincoln, a prominent figure in the 13th amendment: Abraham Lincoln was always against slavery and he believed that slavery is a sin. It was 1st January 1863 when Lincoln ...
... issued the Emancipation Proclamation for the freedom of slaves but it wasn’t enough then to end up slavery in the whole U.S and on February 1, 1865, he signed the resolution and submitted it to the states to get the amendment approved.

But on 14th April 1865, he was assassinated and he died on 15th April, so he was not alive to see its ratification that was done on 6th December 1865.

Background of the 13th Amendment:

Prior to the 13th amendment, the word slave or slavery never existed in the constitution of the United States. Before the amendment was passed along with Abraham Lincoln many other people also wanted to end slavery and they were called Abolitionists as they wanted to abolish slavery.

The abolishment of slavery in the United Nations started at the end of the 1700s and in 1776 Rhode was the first island to abolish slavery followed by Vermont and Pennsylvania and many other states of the northern part.

By the year 1820, most of the states in the north were against slavery and the southern states were in the favour of slavery and they wanted to keep slavery as most of the states in the south had become dependent on slaves.

Congress passed the Missouri Compromise that made Missouri a slave state and Maine a free state from slavery.
Before the start of the Civil War in 1861, there were about 4 million slaves in the U.S that mostly included the southern parts of the country and among which nearly all slaves were the African descendants.

On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared and issued Emancipation Proclamation. This proclamation was the freedom of all the 3 million slaves in 11 Confederate states. But this proclamation did not give permanent freedom to all the slaves of the U.S especially in the parts of southern states.

So it was considered the need of the time that to give permanent freedom to the slaves and make slavery illegal a constitutional amendment was required which was very tough, however, with two-third of votes, the amendment was passed in 1865 and on 6th December 1865, Georgia became the 27th state to ratify the amendment.

Some other important points related to the 13th Amendment:

Section two of the amendment permits Congress to pass the law so that it may end the “badges and incidents of slavery.” For this Congress had never defined what the badges and the incidents of slavery are.

The amendment was ratified by the state of Mississippi in the year 1995.

The amendment allows involuntary servitude that is to get the work done forcefully by the people who are punished for any crime including the prisoners.

A person can be prosecuted for making anyone a slave or making anyone work forcefully.

The military draft, that required people to serve in the military does not violate the 13th amendment as ruled by the Supreme Court.

For more information please visit: https://www.getlegal.com/legal-info-center/legal-research/u-s-constitution/13th-amendment/