Thirteenth Amendment to US Constitution

1865-12-06

The Thirteenth Amendment (Amendment XIII) to the United States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States, except as punishment for a crime. It was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, by the House of Representatives on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the required 27 of the then 36 states on December 6, 1865, proclaimed on December 18, 1865. It was the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments adopted following the American Civil War, following up on President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, and it finally ended chattel slavery in the border states of Kentucky and Delaware.