The US Constitution can be called a legendary document in world history due to the historical context of its adoption and capacity content. But the main factors of the historical and political uniqueness of the American constitution are its famous amendments. One of the most important amendments was the thirteenth serial number. It was about the abolition of slavery. Events of this magnitude are turning the world around. The thirteenth amendment did so successfully.
In the difficult process of adopting the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, there were three important and eloquent dates during one fateful 1865:
- January: Congress passed the amendment;
- early December: three quarters of the states ratified it;
- end of December: the amendment entered into force.
It seems that all the work took about a year, from January to December. In fact, the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution went the hardest way that you can think of to amend the law.
How did it start?
The protest movement against slavery began at the end of the eighteenth century. The so-called abolitionism appeared - a movement calling for a ban on the import of slaves from other countries. His supporters believed that these measures would be quite enough for slavery to disappear completely.
At the beginning of the next, nineteenth century, the foreign slave trade was banned, which in no way led to the abolition of slavery. A new round of the struggle of abolitionism began in the 50s of the nineteenth century. The demands were already serious - the immediate release of slaves.
The matter did not move until Abraham Lincoln came to power, who had long been a staunch opponent of slavery in America. His many reforms in the country included this issue.
Congressmen from eleven southern states put forward a tough ultimatum that slavery should remain legal in all US lands, including new ones. The threat to the southerners was to leave the federation. The northerners did not accept any demands. The southern states united in their confederation, made Richmond the capital and elected their president. The beginning of the North American Civil War was 1861.
In 1962, the law on the abolition of slavery was passed. The following year, the Declaration of Independence was issued, which, among others, contained a clause on the release of slaves by the allied forces.
After the victory of the North, the time came when the abolition of slavery and the slave trade had to be made complete and final. This could only be achieved through the adoption of the next 13th amendment to the US Constitution. Work on its promotion has begun.
The essence of the amendment
The text of the 13th amendment to the US Constitution is very short, it consists of only thirty-five words of the Russian text, not counting the prepositions:
Section 1. In the United States or in any place subordinate to their jurisdiction, there should be neither slavery nor servitude, except in cases where this is a punishment for a crime for which a person was duly convicted.
Section 2. Congress has the right to enforce this article by enacting relevant legislation.
Additionally, in the second section of the Constitution itself, the clause on the prohibition of promoting the escape of slaves was amended.
State Ratification
It is known that for the law to enter into force, it must be ratified locally - in each state separately. Ratification of the 13th amendment to the US Constitution went well: during 1865, 27 states ratified it, which was enough for its entry into force.
Interestingly, some states have postponed ratification of the amendment for more than a hundred years. Of course, these were the largest centers of slavery in the south of the United States - Kentucky and Mississippi. After all, what was forbidden by the 13th amendment to the US Constitution was the main source of their income and prosperity: free slave labor on cotton plantations.
An official blow to the slave trade on paper was dealt. But in practice, it was not, unfortunately, final. Although the ban on slavery was ratified by three quarters of the states, the actual slave trade in North America continued until the beginning of the twentieth century. A convention prohibiting slavery throughout the world was adopted only in 1926 by the League of Nations, the international predecessor of the United Nations.
Mississippi Collision 2013
A resident of the United States, having watched Steven Spielberg’s film “Lincoln”, decided to independently explore the history of his state associated with the legendary amendment. The fact is that he lived just in that same defiant state of Mississippi.
An amazing fact was discovered: for some reason, there was no document on ratification of the thirteenth amendment in the archive for such documents. It turned out that slavery in the Mississippi was never abolished. The error, of course, was corrected. In February 2013, the adoption of the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified. Mississippi finally surrendered.