13

AMENDMENT
TH

By : Odafe Ivri

CIVIL WAR
. By the start of the Civil War, four million people, nearly all the African

descent, were held as slaves in 15 southern and border states.

Slaves represented one-eighth of the U.S. population in 1860.

The war began when the Confederates bombarded Union soldiers at Fort

Sumter, South Carolina on April 12, 1861. The war ended in Spring, 1865.

EMANCIPATION
PROCLAMATION
Many people think that slavery ended through the Emancipation

Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863.

However, the Emancipation Proclamation freed only slaves held in the
eleven Confederate states that had seceded, and only in the portion of
those states not already under Union control.

EMANCIPATION
PROCLAMATION
When the American Civil War (1861-65) began, President Abraham Lincoln

(1809-65) carefully framed the conflict as concerning the preservation of

the Union rather than the abolition of slavery. Although he personally found
the practice of slavery abhorrent, he knew that neither Northerners nor the
residents of the border slave states would support abolition as a war aim.

EMANCIPATION
PROCLAMATION
However, by mid-1862, as thousands of slaves fled to join the invading

Northern armies, Lincoln was convinced that abolition had become more
understandable and a sound military strategy, as well as the better path to
choose. On September 22, soon after the Union victory at the Battle of
Antietam in Maryland, he issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation,
declaring that as of January 1, 1863, all slaves in the rebellious states shall
be then, thenceforward, and forever free.

13

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AMENDMENT

The Amendment is unique in the Constitution because it bars every person

from holding slaves or engaging in other forms of involuntary servitude,

whereas most constitutional provisions only constrain or regulate the
government. The amendment states: Neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude, except 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.

13

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AMENDMENT

The president and his fellow Republicans knew that the Emancipation

Proclamation might be viewed as a temporary war measure and not outlaw

slavery once the Civil War ended, so they focused on passing a
constitutional amendment that would do so. The 13th Amendment was
passed by the U.S. Senate (which was dominated by Republicans) on April
8, 1864. However, the amendment died in the U.S. House of
Representatives as Democrats rallied in the name of states rights.

13

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AMENDMENT

The presidential election of 1864 brought Lincoln back to the White House

along with Republican majorities in both legislative bodies. On January 31,

1865, the amendment passed in the U.S. House of Representatives by a
vote of 119 to 56, seven votes above the necessary two-thirds majority.
Several Democrats abstained, but the 13th Amendment was sent to the
states for ratification, which came on December 6, 1865. With the passage
of the amendment, the peculiar institution that had indelibly shaped
American history was eradicated. Thats when the true abolition of slavery
was achieved.

PICTURES

VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V66F3WU2CKk

WORKS CITED
http://www.historynet.com/thirteenth-amendment
http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/thirteenth-amendment
https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendme

nt-xiii
https://www.google.com/search?q=13th+amendment&biw=1242&bih=
602&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwi1oYPZ_ZnQAhU
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1:america&imgrc=OCZN92QN_8HvHM%3A