13 Amendment

On Wednesday, February 1st, 1865. The New York Tribune’s front page celebrated our country’s newfound freedom.

This is a copy of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery in the United States, signed by members of the House and Senate. The amendment had passed the Senate in April of 1864, and the House by the necessary two thirds vote, on January 31, 1865. Though he was not…

An engraving published on the cover of the February 18, 1865, edition of Harper's Weekly depicts the scene on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on January 31, 1865, after the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery.

This U.S. Senate resolution is titled, "S.123 - A Bill To abolish slavery throughout all the States and Territories of the United States." It was the U.S. Senate version of the 13th Amendment, as Constitutional Amendments need to be ratified by both the House and Senate to pass, as well…

This document is a U.S. House of Representatives Resolution titled, "H.R.14 - A Bill To provide for submitting to the several States a proposition to amend the National Constitution prohibiting slavery or involuntary servitude in all the States, and in the Territories now owned, or which may…

In this Joint Resolution to Congress, President James Buchanan proposed a 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In this initial version of the 13th Amendment, Buchanan called for no amendment to be made to the U.S. Constitution that would forbid the federal government from interfering with the…

Amendments 13-15 are called the Reconstruction Amendments both because they were first enacted right after the Civil War and because they addressed questions related to the legal and political status of African Americans. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery unless used as a punishment for a crime…