Thirteenth Amendment Ratified
December 6, 1865 · 19th Century
The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified on December 6, 1865, officially abolishing slavery and involuntary servitude throughout the United States, except as punishment for a crime. The amendment had passed the Senate on April 8, 1864, and the House of Representatives on January 31, 1865, before being sent to the states for ratification. Secretary of State William H. Seward officially certified it on December 18, 1865, marking the formal end of legal slavery in the United States.
Key Figures
Abraham LincolnFrederick DouglassWilliam H. SewardAndrew JohnsonCharles SumnerLyman TrumbullJames Mitchell Ashley
Locations
Washington, D.C.United States CapitolGeorgia
Topics
Civil WarslaveryUSAafrican american historyabolitionconstitutional amendment
Connected Events — 6 Connections
The 13th Amendment permanently codified Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation into constitutional law, closing the legal loophole that the wartime executive order could have been reversed Emancipation Proclamation
Extended constitutional rights framework of Nineteenth Amendment Ratified
Lincoln assassination created urgency in Congress to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment he had championed President Lincoln Assassinated
Extended constitutional rights established by Fourteenth Amendment Ratified
Narrowed scope of protections from Civil Rights Cases of 1883
Most significant federal civil rights action since Executive Order 9981 — Military Desegregation
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