Tag Archives: Thirteenth Amendment

Remembering History: : Congress Approves 13th Amendment (31 Jan 1865)

Celebration in the House of Representatives after adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment.
Harpers Weekly/Wikimedia Commons
Public Domain

On 31 Jan 1865, the U.S. Congress approved the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. This amendment abolishes slavery and involuntary servitude for the entire country. The wording was simple:

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.

While President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the Confederate states, it did not apply to the entire country. To do that required federal law but merely enacting a statute, which could be rescinded or altered by Congress or a court, meant that the Constitution itself had to be amended. In April 1864 the amendment was passed in the U.S. Senate but faced difficulties in House of Representatives as many Democrats (due it being an election year) did not support it. And President Lincoln’s reelection did not look assured either. However with more Union military victories taking place and Lincoln soundly defeating General George McClellan in the November election, it emboldened Republicans to pass the amendment in the House in December 1864.

Lincoln got personally involved in the process by inviting individual representatives to meet with him. And he put pressure on representatives from border-states to change their votes to pass it. He authorized his supporters in the House to offer plum positions and other inducements to get their vote (a time-honored tradition in Washington politics). He left it up to his allies on how to do it. Some drama ensued when word of a Confederate peace commission having been dispatched to Washington, but it turned out to be false. And the vote for the amendment took place on 31 January 1865. It passed by 119-56 receiving the required two-thirds required by the Constitution. Then with a joint resolution of Congress the following day, the 13th Amendment was sent to the state legislatures for ratification.

Ratification

The ratification process began immediately but sadly President Lincoln, who was assassinated on 14 April 1865, did not see it ratified in December. Here is a list of the states that ratified, which does include former Confederate states who ratified after rejoining the Union.

 

1           Illinois                                                Feb 1, 1865

2          Rhode Island                                   Feb 2, 1865

3          Michigan                                            Feb 3, 1865

4          Maryland                                           Feb 3, 1865

5          New York                                           Feb 3, 1865

6          Pennsylvania                                   Feb 3, 1865

7          West Virginia                                  Feb 3, 1865

8          Missouri                                             Feb 6, 1865

9          Maine                                                   Feb 7, 1865

10         Kansas                                               Feb 7, 1865

11         Massachusetts                             Feb 7, 1865

12         Virginia                                             Feb 9, 1865

13         Ohio                                                    Feb 10, 1865

14         Indiana                                               Feb 13, 1865

15         Nevada                                               Feb 16, 1865

16         Louisiana                                           Feb 17, 1865

17         Minnesota                                         Feb 23, 1865

18         Wisconsin                                          Feb 24, 1865

19         Vermont                                             Mar 8, 1865

20        Tennessee                                           Apr 7, 1865

21         Arkansas                                             Apr 14, 1865

22        Connecticut                                        May 4, 1865

23         New Hampshire                              Jul 1, 1865

24        South Carolina                                 Nov 13, 1865

25         Alabama                                             Dec 2, 1865

26        North Carolina                                Dec 4, 1865

27        Georgia                                               Dec 6, 1865      *

28        Oregon                                               Dec 8, 1865

29        California                                          Dec 19, 1865

30        Florida                                                Dec 28, 1865

31         Iowa                                                    Jan 15, 1866

32         New Jersey                                    Jan 23, 1866

33         Texas                                                  Feb 18, 1870

34        Delaware                                          Feb 12, 1901

35         Kentucky                                         Mar 18, 1976

36        Mississippi                                      Mar 16, 1995 *

The amendment was ratified in 309 days with Georgia giving it the required number of votes to formally amend the Constitution. Delaware, Kentucky, New Jersey and Mississippi initially rejected it (but approved it later). However, Mississippi did approve it on 16 Mar 1995 but failed to notify the U.S. Archivist. It became official in 2012.

Sources:

Britannica.com: Thirteenth Amendment
History.com: 13th Amendment
Constitution Annotated: Thirteenth Amendment
Ratification of Constitutional Amendments

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