13th Amendment

The 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America abolished slavery in the United States. Although President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, slavery continued in the U.S., so Lincoln made the passage of the 13th Amendment a key part of the Republican Party's platform for the 1864 Presidential election to ensure that it passed Congress.¹

Fast Facts

1. Passed by the U.S. Senate on April 8, 1864¹
2. Accepted by Congress on January 31, 1865²
3. Ratified on December 6, 1865²
4. Illinois was the first and Mississippi was the last state to ratify the amendment

Quote

"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...Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."³

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