Thirteenth Amendment

(noun)

An Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that officially outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864 and by the House on January 31, 1865, and adopted on December 6, 1865.

Related Terms

Examples of Thirteenth Amendment in the following topics:

  • The Reconstruction Amendments

    • The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.
    • When the Thirteenth Amendment became operational, the scope of Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation was widened to include the entire nation.
    • In addition to abolishing slavery and prohibiting involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, the Thirteenth Amendment also nullified the Fugitive Slave Clause and the Three-Fifths Compromise.
    • The Fourteenth Amendment, adopted on July 9, 1868, was the second of three Reconstruction Amendments.
    • The Fourteenth Amendment, depicted here, allowed for the incorporation of the First Amendment against the states.

  • The Second American Revolution

    • Amendments to the Constitution, allowed by the Article V Convention of 1787, were envisioned as a means to periodically adapt the constitution to changing times and maintain a "living constitution. " Southern Democrats argued that secession was justified by the Constitution.
    • The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, adopted on December 6, 1865, officially outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude.

  • From Gradualism to Abolition

    • The December 6, 1865, ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S.
    • Constitution ended slavery in the United States, but New Jersey's legislature did not approve the Thirteenth Amendment until February 1866, two months after it had been ratified by a three-fourths majority of all states.

  • The Contraband Camps

    • For most of the contraband slaves, full emancipation did not take place until the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery in late 1865.
    • That uncertainty continued until late 1865, when the Thirteenth Amendment was adopted and contraband slaves became eligible for full emancipation.

  • The Aftermath of the War

    • Slaves in the border states and those located in some former Confederate territory occupied prior to the Emancipation Proclamation were freed by state action or (on December 18, 1865) by the Thirteenth Amendment.

  • Emancipation

    • The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S.

  • Reconstruction in the South

    • Johnson ignored the policy mandate, and he openly encouraged Southern states to deny ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment.
    • Three Constitutional amendments, known as the Reconstruction Amendments, were adopted.
    • The Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery was ratified in 1865.
    • The Fourteenth Amendment was proposed in 1866 and ratified in 1868, guaranteeing United States citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States and granting them federal civil rights.
    • The Fifteenth Amendment, proposed in late February 1869 and passed in early February 1870, decreed that the right to vote could not be denied because of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude. " The amendment did not declare the vote an unconditional right; it prohibited these types of discrimination.

  • Slavery in the Antebellum Period

    • By December 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment took effect, permanently abolishing slavery throughout the entire United States with no compensation for the former slaves’ owners.

  • The Bourbons and the Redeemers

    • The Thirteenth Amendment (banning slavery), Fourteenth Amendment (guaranteeing the civil rights of former slaves and ensuring equal protection of the laws), and Fifteenth Amendment (prohibiting the denial of the right to vote on grounds of race, color, or previous condition of servitude) enshrined such political rights in the Constitution.

  • Lincoln's Plan and Congress's Response

    • Lincoln's plan successfully began the Reconstruction process of ratifying the Thirteenth Amendment in all states.
    • During this era, Congress passed three important Reconstruction Amendments.
    • The 13th Amendment abolishing slavery was ratified in 1865.
    • The 14th Amendment was proposed in 1866 and ratified in 1868, guaranteeing United States citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States and granting them federal civil rights.
    • The 15th Amendment, proposed in late February 1869 and passed in early February 1870, decreed that the right to vote could not be denied because of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude".