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DATELINE USA
The 13th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in December of 1865.
Key points about the 13th Amendment:
- Meaning: It completely outlawed slavery in the country, marking a significant step towards racial equality.
- Passage: Ratified on December 6, 1865, following the Civil War.
- Significance: Considered a crucial turning point in United States history as it legally ended the institution of slavery in the USA.
Abolition of Slavery
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.
Proposal and Ratification
The thirteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Thirty-eighth (38th) Congress, on the 31st day of January, 1865, and was declared, in a proclamation of the Secretary of State dated the 18th of December, 1865, to have been ratified by the legislatures of twenty-seven (27) of the thirty-six (36) States.
The dates of ratification were:
- Illinois, February 1, 1865
- Rhode Island, February 2, 1865
- Michigan, February 2, 1865
- Maryland, February 3, 1865
- New York, February 3, 1865
- Pennsylvania, February 3, 1865
- West Virginia, February 3, 1865
- Missouri, February 6, 1865
- Maine, February 7, 1865
- Kansas, February 7, 1865
- Massachusetts, February 7, 1865
- Virginia, February 9, 1865
- Ohio, February 10, 1865
- Indiana, February 13, 1865
- Nevada, February 16, 1865
- Louisiana, February 17, 1865
- Minnesota, February 23, 1865
- Wisconsin, February 24, 1865
- Vermont, March 9, 1865
- Tennessee, April 7, 1865
- Arkansas, April 14, 1865
- Connecticut, May 4, 1865
- New Hampshire, July 1, 1865
- South Carolina, November 13, 1865
- Alabama, December 2, 1865
- North Carolina, December 4, 1865
- GEORGIA, December 6, 1865.
The amendment was subsequently ratified by
- Oregon, December 8, 1865
- California, December 19, 1865
- Florida, December 28, 1865 (Florida again ratified on June 9, 1868, upon its adoption of a new state constitution)
- Iowa, January 15, 1866
- New Jersey, January 23, 1866 (after having rejected the amendment on March 16, 1865)
- Texas, February 18, 1870
- Delaware, February 12, 1901 (after having rejected the amendment on February 8, 1865)
- Kentucky, March 18, 1976 (after having rejected it on February 24, 1865)
Notably, the amendment was rejected (and not subsequently ratified) by Mississippi, December 4, 1865. On March 21, 1995, ONE HUNDRED THIRTY (130) YEARS LATER, the state of Mississippi ratified the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, abolishing slavery.
The measure cleared both of Mississippi's legislative chambers, but was never sent to the Office of the Federal Register and therefore was never made official.
It became official February 7, 2013 -- 147.2- years later.
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