Amendment XIII · Reconstruction Amendment
Thirteenth Amendment: Abolition of slavery
About 10 min total: 5 min reading + 5 min for its 6 practice questions
Slavery and involuntary servitude are abolished, except as punishment for a crime.
- Proposed by Congress
- January 31, 1865
- Ratified
- December 6, 1865
- Group
- Reconstruction Amendment
- Effect on the Constitution
- Superseded Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 (the Fugitive Slave Clause).
The text
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.
National Archives note: A portion of Article IV, section 2, of the Constitution was superseded by the 13th amendment.
What it means
- Slavery and involuntary servitude are banned everywhere in the United States, except as punishment for a crime after a conviction.
- Section 2 gives Congress power to enforce it with laws.
Who proposed it
Senator John B. Henderson of Missouri introduced the resolution (S.J. Res. 16) on January 11, 1864. The Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, wrote the final wording, using language from the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. The Senate passed it 38–6 on April 8, 1864. The House first rejected it, then passed it on January 31, 1865 with strong support from President Abraham Lincoln, who signed the joint resolution on February 1, 1865 even though presidents have no formal role in amendments.
When it was proposed and ratified
- Proposed by Congress: January 31, 1865. Senate April 8, 1864; House January 31, 1865. Lincoln signed the resolution February 1, 1865 (a symbolic step).
- Ratified: December 6, 1865. Georgia was the 27th of 36 states. Secretary of State William Seward certified it December 18, 1865.
Amendments are not signed into law. Congress proposes them by a two-thirds vote of both houses, and they become part of the Constitution when three-fourths of the states ratify. The President has no formal role (Article V).
Why it was made
The Emancipation Proclamation (1863) was a wartime measure. It freed enslaved people only in Confederate areas, and many feared courts would void it after the war. Trumbull and others argued that only a constitutional amendment could end slavery permanently and everywhere. Senator Charles Sumner's alternative ("all persons are equal before the law") was rejected in favor of the Northwest Ordinance wording. After Lincoln's assassination, President Andrew Johnson pressed former Confederate states to ratify as a condition of rejoining the Union.
Key Supreme Court cases
- Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857): The 1857 ruling the Reconstruction Amendments overturned
- Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): The Court rejected Plessy's 13th Amendment argument against segregation
FCLE tips
- First of the three Reconstruction Amendments (13th, 14th, 15th).
- It applies to private individuals as well as governments: no one may hold another person in slavery.
| This | With this |
|---|---|
| Emancipation Proclamation (1863): executive order, Confederate areas only | 13th Amendment (1865): permanent, nationwide |
Sources: National Archives (text and dates); Constitution Annotated (Congress.gov) (proposal and ratification history); U.S. Senate Historical Office and Library of Congress (sponsors).