Thirteenth Amendment
The 1865 amendment abolishing slavery in the United States
Overview
Ratified in December 1865 as the Civil War ended, the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime, an exception with its own long legacy. It converted the Emancipation Proclamation, a wartime measure of contested reach, into permanent constitutional law, and granted Congress enforcement power. Along with its Reconstruction siblings it is counted among the greatest acts of American law, and its punishment clause still generates litigation and debate. Mississippi ratification was finally certified in 2013, a long delayed formality.
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