Abolishing Slavery: The 13th Amendment

“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.”

This amendment, outlawing slavery and involuntary servitude, was the first change made to the Constitution in over sixty years, and the first substantive change to America’s conception of its liberties since the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791.

The proposed amendment passed the Senate on April 8 by a vote of 38 to 6. But in the House, in June, it failed to garner the necessary two-thirds vote. Not about to give up, Lincoln made abolition a central plank of the National Union platform during his 1864 re-election bid against General George McClellan.  Lincoln’s victory in November gave him a mandate, and enough seats in the House were about to change to make passage likely when the new Congress met in March. Not content to wait – and risk the possibility of premature victory, which would create new pressure for a political settlement to end the war sooner at the expense of saving slavery - supporters planned to bring the measure to another vote on January 31, 1865.

Upon being informed that it was still two votes short, Lincoln is said to have told the Republican leaders “I am President of the United States, clothed with great power. The abolition of slavery by Constitutional provisions settles the fate…not only of the millions now in bondage, but of unborn millions to come- a measure of such importance that those two votes must be procured. I leave it to you to determine how it shall be done, but remember that I am President of the United State, clothed in great power, and I expect you to procure those two votes” (Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals).

With Lincoln’s backstage politicking, it finally passed both houses and was submitted to the states.  By the time Lee surrendered at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, twenty states had already ratified the amendment. Tragically, Lincoln did not live to see it become law. On April 14th, the day Arkansas became the 21st state to ratify, Lincoln was shot, and died the next morning. After Georgia ratified on December 6, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment became part of the Constitution. When it went into effect twelve days later, it freed nearly a million slaves still held in bondage. Unfortunately, the exception that allows involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime has allowed mass incarceration as a continuing legacy of slavery. 

★ Lincoln Manuscript Document Signed, co-signed by the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, and the Senators and Congressmen who voted to abolish slavery. #21902 + Photograph of the signers. #27106