Amendment XIII
Ratified: December 6, 1865
Summary
Abolishes slavery and involuntary servitude.
Full Text
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
History and Context
The Thirteenth Amendment was forged in the blood and fire of the Civil War. For eighty years, the Constitution had protected the institution of slavery—the nation's original sin. The war, fought to preserve the Union, became a crusade for freedom, culminating in this revolutionary amendment. Unlike the Emancipation Proclamation, which was a wartime measure that freed slaves only in the rebellious states, the Thirteenth Amendment was a constitutional earthquake. With a few powerful words, it abolished slavery and involuntary servitude everywhere in the nation, forever. It was the first of the three 'Reconstruction Amendments' that sought to remake the United States into a true republic, finally beginning to align the nation's laws with the promise of the Declaration of Independence.