The Thirteenth Amendment Abolishes Slavery
Ratification by the states writes into the Constitution what the Emancipation Proclamation could not
Quick facts
- Ratified
- December 6, 1865
- Proclaimed
- December 18, 1865, by Secretary of State William Seward
- Key text
- Abolishes slavery and involuntary servitude nationwide
What happened
Because the Emancipation Proclamation had rested on Lincoln's wartime powers and applied only to areas in rebellion, it left slavery legally intact in the loyal border states and vulnerable to reversal once the war ended. Congress passed a joint resolution proposing a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery outright on January 31, 1865, and Lincoln signed it the next day, though as a proposed amendment his signature was not constitutionally required. The amendment states that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime, shall exist anywhere in the United States. It needed ratification by three-fourths of the states; Georgia became the 27th state to ratify on December 6, 1865, meeting that threshold, and Secretary of State William Seward formally proclaimed it part of the Constitution on December 18, 1865.
Why it matters
The amendment permanently abolished slavery nationwide by constitutional law rather than by wartime executive order, closing the loophole that had left slavery legal in border states like Kentucky and Delaware even after the Confederacy's defeat.
How we know
The National Archives holds the enrolled joint resolution proposing the amendment and documents the ratification timeline through Georgia's vote and Seward's formal December 18 proclamation.
Sources
- National Archives. 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Abolition of Slavery (1865) · Primary source (author-declared)archives.gov · Cited as a "primary" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Library of Congress Research Guides. Introduction - 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Primary Documents in American History · Primary sourceguides.loc.gov · The domain "guides.loc.gov" is on our Primary source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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Part of a timelineThe American Civil War33 events · How a nation split over slavery, fought itself for four years, and came out with slavery abolished by lawView all →