Amendment XIII (the Thirteenth Amendment) of the United States Constitution abolished slavery and, with the exception of allowing punishments for crimes, prohibits involuntary servitude. The article states: __NOTOC__

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.

The thirteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed to the legislatures of the several states by the Thirty-eighth Congress, on January 31, 1865.

Ratification

The amendment was declared, in a proclamation of Secretary of State William Henry Seward, dated December 18, 1865, to have been ratified by the legislatures of twenty-seven of the then thirty-six states. The dates of ratification were:

Ratification was completed on December 6, 1865. The amendment was subsequently ratified by:

Interpretation and history

This amendment completed the abolition of slavery, which had begun with President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had only applied to slaves being held in areas that were in rebellion against the United States at the time of the Proclamation. Slaves in areas then controlled by the Union were not freed until this amendment took effect (However, some states where slavery was formerly legal had changed their constitutions in the meantime).

The Supreme Court has ruled that the Thirteenth Amendment does not prohibit mandatory military service in the United States. Interestingly enough, the 13th Amendment makes the use of the "chain gang" or other methods of involuntary servitude by convicted criminals constitutional in the United States, as long as the methods of enforcing the servitude are not "cruel and unusual" (floggings, beatings, etc.).

The Thirteenth Amendment also prohibits specific performance as a judicial remedy for violations of contracts for personal services such as employment contracts.

See also

• Corwin Amendment — A proposed amendment that would have protected slavery
• Crittenden Compromise
• Titles of Nobility Amendment — Alleged by some to be the "the missing thirteenth amendment"

External links

• Mr. Lincoln and Freedom: Thirteenth Amendment
• Thirteenth Amendment and related resources at the Library of Congress
• National Archives: 13th Amendment
• Ghost Amendment: The Thirteenth Amendment that Never Was
• CRS Annotated Constitution: 13th Amendment

1865 in law | Amendments to the United States Constitution | Economic history of the United States | History of slavery in the United States | Slavery

13. Zusatz zur Verfassung der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika | התיקון ה-13 לחוקת ארצות הברית