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Revised Statutes of the United States
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Historical SummaryJANUARY 11, 1864, John B. Henderson of Missouri offered in the Senate a joint resolution for an amendment to the Constitution providing that "slavery or in voluntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, shall not exist in the United States." February 8 Sumner proposed an amendment declaring that "everywhere within the limits of the United States, and of each State or Territory thereof, all persons are equal before the law, so that no person can hold another as a slave." Both of these resolutions were referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, which reported, February 10, a resolution proposing an amendment in the terms of the thirteenth amendment subsequently ratified. On the 15th the House, by a vote of 78 to 62, resolved in favor of an amendment abolishing slavery. The joint resolution passed the Senate April 8, by a vote of 38 to 6. The resolution was not taken up in the House until May 31, and June 15, by a vote of 95 to 66 (less than the required two-thirds), was rejected. January 31, 1865, the vote was reconsidered and the resolution passed, the vote being 121 to 24, 37 not voting. The ratification of the amendment by twenty-seven States was proclaimed December 18, 1865. REFERENCE. — Text in House and Senate Journals, 38th Cong., 1st and 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. The principal propositions submitted are collected in McPherson, Rebellion, 255–259. On the scope of the amendment see Slaughter House Cases, 16 Wallace, 36.
No. 144.
Thirteenth Amendment
December 18, 1865
ARTICLE XIII.
SEC. 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, save 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.
SEC. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Chicago:
Revised Statutes of the United States in Documentary Source Book of American History, 1606-1913, ed. William MacDonald (1863-1938) (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1916), Original Sources, accessed November 3, 2025, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=43MNFLHLGRA2393.
MLA:
. Revised Statutes of the United States, in Documentary Source Book of American History, 1606-1913, edited by William MacDonald (1863-1938), New York, The Macmillan Company, 1916, Original Sources. 3 Nov. 2025. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=43MNFLHLGRA2393.
Harvard:
, Revised Statutes of the United States. cited in 1916, Documentary Source Book of American History, 1606-1913, ed. , The Macmillan Company, New York. Original Sources, retrieved 3 November 2025, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=43MNFLHLGRA2393.
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