On Exhibit: Abolishing Slavery

On December 6, 1865, with Georgia’s ratification of the 13th Amendment, slavery throughout the United States became illegal.

Joint Resolution Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States Preserving Slavery, March 2, 1861. (National Archives Identifier 4688370)
Joint Resolution Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States Preserving Slavery, March 2, 1861. (National Archives Identifier 4688370)

Just a few years earlier, in 1861, Ohio Representative Thomas Corwin proposed—and both Houses of Congress passed—a constitutional amendment that would have done the exact opposite.

Corwin’s amendment read, “No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State.”

This would have been the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Before it could be ratified, however, 11 Southern states seceded to form the Confederacy.

President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, effective January 1, 1863, was a step toward abolishing slavery. But it didn’t apply to the loyal border states, and it exempted parts of the Confederacy that had already come under control of the Union Army.

On January 31, 1865, Congress passed another slavery-related amendment.

Joint Resolution Proposing an Amendment to the United States Constitution Abolishing Slavery, January 31, 1865. (National Archives Identifier 1408764)
Joint Resolution proposing an amendment to the United States Constitution abolishing slavery, January 31, 1865. (National Archives Identifier 1408764)

This one read, “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.”

To make it part of the Constitution, three-fourths of all the states—including those still in rebellion—had to ratify the amendment.

Within a month, 18 of the 27 needed states quickly ratified the amendment, although after the Lincoln’s assassination in April the ratification process stalled.

To force the issue, President Andrew Johnson instituted a requirement that any state that wanted readmission to the union first needed to outlaw slavery. This prompted enough states to act, and on December 6, 1865, Georgia became the 27th state to ratify the amendment.

On December 18, 1865, Secretary of State William Seward certified the amendment, proclaiming the 13th Amendment had been adopted as part of the U.S. Constitution as of December 6, 1865.

In celebration of the anniversary of the enactment of the 13th Amendment, California’s Certificate of Ratification will be on display in the East Rotunda Gallery of the National Archives in Washington, DC, from December 3, 2015, through January 6, 2016.

Fun Fact: Both President James Buchanan and President Abraham Lincoln signed their respective joint resolutions proposing the amendments. Their signatures, however, were unnecessary as the Supreme Court had ruled in Hollingsworth v. Virginia (1798) that the President has no formal role in the constitutional amendment process.

William H. Seward, Secretary of State ca. 1860-1865. (National Archives Identifier 528347)
William H. Seward, Secretary of State ca. 1860-1865. (National Archives Identifier 528347)

3 thoughts on “On Exhibit: Abolishing Slavery

  1. Although Robert E. Lee advocated for reconciliation of the Union and Confederacy: would he have patiently waited for an opportunity to abrogate such notions in favor of the Confederacy?

  2. Considering the efforts today, to maintain the vestiges still remaining of Confederate policies, and the strong advocacy by some, to revert to Confederate ways, it is very probable that the answer is yes.

  3. The reason the District of Columbia is half a square (Arlington County VA was readmitted to VA, it did not secede from DC) historically is because of loss of shipping commerce to VA on that side of the river, which Alexandria Old Town was part of DC) Nothing to do with Lee’s slaves in the readmitted zone. (Haha)

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