The institution of slavery was formally abolished in the United States by the
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Editor National Geographic Society Producer Mary Crooks, National Geographic Society otherThe audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. Director Tyson Brown, National Geographic Society Author National Geographic Society Production Managers Gina Borgia, National Geographic Society Jeanna Sullivan, National Geographic Society Program Specialists Sarah Appleton, National Geographic Society, National Geographic Society Margot Willis, National Geographic Society otherThe 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1865, formally abolished slavery throughout the United States. But ending slavery was only a first step toward securing full freedom and citizenship rights for African Americans. The struggle to fulfill the promises of liberty, equality, and justice for all, which began with the nation’s founding and took on new meaning and momentum during the era of Reconstruction, would continue for generations to come.  Clockwise, Top Left: U.S. Colored Troops march through Charleston, South Carolina, 1865. Courtesy of National Park Service, Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park, FOSU 12614. Silent protest parade in New York City against the East St. Louis Massacre, 1917. Library of Congress. March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, 1963. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of James H. Wallace Jr. Protesters hold pictures of George Floyd as they march in a Juneteenth rally in New York City, 2020. Getty Images. … the point of protest isn’t winning—it’s holding fast to the promise of freedom even when fast victory is not promised. Amanda Gorman “Fury and Faith,” 2020 Before The 13th AmendmentFreedom, Slavery, and the Founding of America: 1770s–1780sThe desire for freedom by enslaved African Americans manifested itself during the early stages of the nation’s development. Their decisions to run away or to publicly express their disdain for slavery in writing or in the courts illustrated the importance of freedom for them. The language contained in the Constitution further reinforced their belief in their right to liberty and freedom despite the decision by the Constitutional Congress to allow for the continued existence of slavery—a decision which created a paradox for the new nation of espousing liberty but depending economically on enslavement. In every human Breast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom; it is impatient of Oppression, and pants for Deliverance. Phillis Wheatley, 1774 Phillis Wheatley, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, 1773. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, CC0 Early Freedom Movements: 1830s–1850s
African Americans spoke forcefully and regularly about ending slavery and claiming their rights as citizens. Individuals like David Walker produced powerful essays condemning the institution, appealing for equal rights, and encouraging the enslaved to throw off their enslavement. David Walker’s Appeal, 1843. Library of Congress The Black convention movement, which began in 1830, was another important national forum that voiced the demands of its participants for abolition, voting rights, and equal treatment. Gaining the right to vote and fair treatment were issues of national concern. In Ohio and Illinois African Americans protested state Black Laws, which, among other things, prevented them from voting, holding public office, or living in the state without paying a minimum bond of $500 to ensure good behavior. In light of this discriminatory treatment, African Americans sought to expand the focus of the abolition movement so it not only looked to end slavery, but to champion equal treatment of all Americans as well. Freedom During SlaveryFreedom for African Americans was limited and tenuous. Free Black people had to carry proof of their status or they could be kidnapped and sold into slavery. Fugitive slave laws meant no state or territory was free for those escaping bondage. Nat Turner’s Bible, 1830s. Enslaved people seized freedom by any means possible, including rising up against their enslavers. Nat Turner, an enslaved preacher who led a rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1831, was carrying this Bible when he was arrested. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Maurice A. Person and Noah and Brooke Porter Tin box made by Joseph Trammell to carry his freedom papers, 1852. During slavery, legally free African Americans were required to register with county courts and secure Certificates of Freedom, also known as freedom papers. Joseph Trammell, a free Black man in Loudon County, Virginia, used this handmade tin to protect and carry his precious documents. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Elaine E. Thompson, in memory of Joseph Trammell, on behalf of his direct descendants, CC0 Antislavery pamphlet about the Fugitive Slave Act, 1854. This printing of the Fugitive Slave Bill of 1850 was sponsored by antislavery groups as a protest against the new law that required authorities in free states to assist in capturing people who had escaped from enslavement. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, CC0 Ambrotype of Elisa Greenwell, a self-emancipated woman, early 1860s. A handwritten note accompanying this photograph identified Greenwell as a resident of Philadelphia who had escaped from her enslaver in Leonardtown, Maryland, in 1859. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, CC0 Civil War and EmancipationOur new government is founded … upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens, 1861 The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 threatened the survival of slavery in the eyes of many southern state officials and fueled their decision to secede. The Civil War which resulted did eventually evolve into a war to bring slavery to an end. Enslaved African Americans saw this possibility early in the war and flocked to U.S. Army lines where they believed they would gain their freedom. Fort Monroe in Virginia was one of the first places to have enslaved men arrive there in 1861 seeking freedom. Freedom seekers approach U.S. Army guards near Fort Monroe, May 1861. Library of Congress The District of Columbia instituted compensated emancipation in 1862. President Lincoln followed this action by issuing a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in the fall of that year and the final Emancipation Proclamation in January of 1863. The 1863 Proclamation offered freedom to the enslaved in Confederate territory and allowed African Americans to enlist in the U.S. Army for the first time. By the end of the Civil War approximately 179,000 African Americans took up arms and made important contributions to the successful conclusion of the conflict for the Union. Portrait of a U.S. soldier, ca. 1865. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift from the Liljenquist Family Collection Carte-de-visite of a group of African Americans gathered around a man with a pocket watch. A sign on the wall reads "1 Jan-Slaves Forever Free." The text in chain links on the sides read "Waiting for the Hour - Watch Meeting Dec 31, 1862." Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, CC0 The13th Amendment and Reconstruction
The constitutional amendment abolishing slavery in the United States was introduced in Congress in December 1863, midway through the Civil War, and finally passed on January 31, 1865. It would be almost another year before the 13th Amendment was declared ratified by the states, on December 18, 1865. By then, the Civil War had ended with the defeat of the Confederacy, and Vice President Andrew Johnson had become president following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Read more about the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in "Our American Story" The 13th Amendment was brief and to the point—in less than 50 words, it proclaimed the demise of slavery, an institution which predated the founding of the United States and had been supported, expanded, and enforced in North America by racist legal and social systems for nearly 250 years. While the amendment outlawed the institution of slavery, it also included a clause that allowed slavery and involuntary servitude to be used as punishment for a crime. This language, originally used in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, protected the state’s right to force prisoners to work, a longstanding practice that would drastically expand in the aftermath of slavery. Section 2 of the 13th Amendment granted Congress the right to pass legislation to enforce the abolition of slavery. This marked a significant shift in power between the federal government and the states by giving Congress new responsibility for protecting civil rights at the federal level. It laid the foundation for the passage of federal laws designed to protect newly freed African Americans from state laws and practices that deprived them of their civil liberties and attempted to return them to a condition of enslavement. Abolitionists celebrated the ratification of the 13th Amendment as a moral victory over the inhumanity of slavery and a redeeming of the Constitution’s founding promise of freedom. But many African Americans also greeted the new law with wary skepticism. They recognized the outlawing of slavery as not the end, but only the beginning of what would be needed to secure full freedom and equal rights. The enemy still to be defeated was the systemic racism that had justified and supported slavery in the South and restricted the freedom of all Black people throughout the country. Carte-de-visite of Frederick Douglass. The reverse side has a laurel wreath in ink in the center. Below the wreath is an inscription that reads “Helen Douglass.” Testing the 13th Amendment: The Black Codes
In order to regain representation in Congress, the former Confederate states agreed to ratify the 13th Amendment and write new state constitutions abolishing slavery. But the southern states also passed new laws, known as Black Codes, that restricted the rights of newly freed people in order to control their labor, maintain the racial status quo, and keep them in conditions as similar to slavery as possible. In 1865 and 1866, African Americans held political conventions across the South to protest the Black Codes and demand full civil and political rights, including the right to vote. Congress responded by passing the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Drawing on the authority granted to Congress by the 13th Amendment to enforce the abolition of slavery, this was the first federal civil rights legislation. The Civil Rights Act voided the Black Codes by declaring African Americans to be citizens entitled to the same rights, benefits, and protections under the law as white citizens. While it did not address voting rights, the law defined certain basic rights for all citizens, including the right to make and enforce contracts, give evidence in court, and own property. Burning a Freedmen’s School-House, Memphis, Tennessee, 1866 Tennessee Virtual Archive Despite the new federal laws, many white Americans continued to resist the idea of Black freedom. President Andrew Johnson, a Democrat from Tennessee and a former enslaver, vetoed the Civil Rights Bill of 1866, but Congress overrode his veto. Less than a month later, violence erupted in Memphis, Tennessee. Mobs of white police and civilians attacked the city’s Black community, burning homes, churches, schools, and businesses. The Memphis Massacre, which lasted from May 1 to May 3, 1866, left 46 African Americans dead and dozens more injured. Soon after the massacre in Memphis, a group of Confederate veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee, formed the Ku Klux Klan, an organization that used violence and intimidation to oppose Black civil rights and promote white supremacy in the South. African Americans also continued to confront white resistance and discrimination in northern and western states, where slavery had been outlawed before the Civil War but free Black people were still not treated as equal citizens. During the 1860s, the city of Philadelphia became a focal point for civil rights struggles through the efforts of activists such as Octavius Catto, who led a successful movement to end racial segregation in streetcars and other public accommodations. Civil rights activists viewed segregation, the denial of voting rights, and other restrictions on Black freedom as vestiges of slavery that should also be abolished under the 13th Amendment. A prominent voice for African American civil rights, Octavius Catto (1839–1871) founded the Philadelphia chapter of the Equal Rights League of Pennsylvania in 1864. He led protests and helped draft legislation to outlaw segregated streetcars. On Election Day in 1871, Catto was shot and killed by a white man who was later acquitted by an all-white jury. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution Restricting the 13th Amendment: U.S. Supreme Court
During Reconstruction, the push for full freedom continued, supported by additional federal laws that built and expanded on the 13th Amendment of 1865 and the Civil Rights Act of 1866. The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, and the 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, further revised the U.S. Constitution to specify rights that could not be denied on account of race or color, including birthright citizenship, equal protection, due process, and voting rights. In 1875, Congress passed another Civil Rights Act that prohibited racial discrimination in public accommodations such as hotels, theaters, and transportation. These federal laws drew on the 13th Amendment, which granted Congress the power to enforce the abolition of slavery. This included not only the former system of human bondage and forced labor, but the related system of racial oppression that political and legal discourse referred to as the “badges and incidents of slavery.” In this view, any laws that restricted or impinged on Black people’s freedom and citizenship rights were considered aspects of slavery, and thus prohibited by the 13th Amendment. But by the late 1870s, the federal government had begun to retreat from supporting Reconstruction and defending Black freedom in the South. White supremacists used violence, fraud, intimidation, and other tactics to suppress Black voting and regain control of southern state governments. Once back in power, they passed state laws that established the system of racial segregation and Black disenfranchisement known as Jim Crow. The Union as it was / The lost cause, worse than slavery, 1874. Three U.S. Supreme Court rulings (Civil Rights Cases (1883); Plessy v. Ferguson (1896); and Hodges v. United States (1906)) significantly narrowed the definition of freedom granted by the 13th Amendment. These rulings weakened or repealed federal civil rights laws and allowed state Jim Crow laws and other forms of racial discrimination to stand. This revised, restricted view of the 13th Amendment—as only outlawing the institution of chattel slavery itself, rather than securing full freedom for Black people—would continue to hamper civil rights efforts until the 1960s. A hand-painted sign used for segregating transportation terminal seating area. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, CC0 The Legacies of Slavery“Except as Punishment for a Crime”: Race and IncarcerationThe 13th Amendment sanctioned involuntary servitude if convicted of a crime, which created an opening for the advent of convict leasing. Under the convict leasing system African Americans were arrested for fabricated reasons such as loitering or failing to sign a work contract. Law officials then leased their labor or used them to create roads, build factories, construct railroads, and perform other tasks without compensation. In many ways convict labor became a substitute for enslavement. Indeed In 1871 the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia ruled in Ruffin v. Commonwealth that convicts were “the slave of the state.” This point of view enabled prisons like Angola in Louisiana and Parchman Farm in Mississippi to notoriously exploit prisoners well into the 21st century. The Convict Lease System and Lynch Law are twin infamies which flourish hand in hand in many of the United States. Ida B. Wells The reinforcement of the courts caused Ida B. Wells and others to view convict leasing as racially oppressive as lynching in its victimization of African Americans. It is impossible to gauge how many men, women and children fell victim to this system, although some estimates suggest several million people were victimized. Not only were they often unfairly arrested, but they lost their rights as citizens while imprisoned and in many instances even after they were released from imprisonment. Anyone who has been convicted of a felony in this country becomes a slave of the state, and you lose your human rights and in most cases your citizen rights for a long time, in some cases forever. Albert Woodfox, 2017 Activist and member of the Angola 3, who served 40 years in solitary confinement at the Louisiana State Penitentiary before his false conviction was overturned Guard tower at Angola Prison, West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana “The Vestiges of Slavery”: Racial Discrimination and ViolenceOur country cannot wait any longer for the full realization of the abolition of all the remaining vestiges of slavery. Thurgood Marshall, 1953 Long after the 13th Amendment outlawed slavery in 1865, civil rights advocates continued to call on the nation to abolish the legacies of slavery that persisted in the form of racial discrimination. In a 1953 speech to the National Urban League, Thurgood Marshall—then Special Counsel to the NAACP—spoke of the need for “concerted action to remove many of the remaining vestiges of slavery.” Marshall was referring to the systemic racism that confined Black people to second-class citizenship, including residential segregation, denial of the right of employment, and the threat of physical violence. As long as these vestiges of slavery remained, the 13th Amendment’s promise of freedom would remain unfulfilled. In 1968, a year after Thurgood Marshall was appointed as the first Black Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Court issued its first major 13th Amendment ruling in over 60 years. In the case of Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Company, the Court determined that real estate practices that discriminated against Black property buyers could be outlawed by Congress under the 13th Amendment. This decision marked a return to original Reconstruction-era interpretations of the 13th Amendment, which defined it as a law intended to secure Black freedom by eliminating the “badges and incidents of slavery.” “We Want White Tenants in Our White Community,” sign posted in Detroit, Michigan, 1942. Demonstrators demand federal laws to end housing segregation, Chicago, Illinois, 1960. The Jones ruling followed a series of major federal civil rights laws, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, passed in response to the mass movement for Black freedom during the 1950s and 1960s. Just as Reconstruction was regarded as a “second founding” of the United States—an opportunity to remake the nation without slavery, on a new foundation of freedom and equality—many referred to the modern Civil Rights Movement as a “Second Reconstruction,” another chance to take up the unfinished work of the 13th Amendment and fulfill its promise of freedom. Freedom Quilt, ca. 1975. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Virginia Dwan Revisiting the 13th AmendmentAbolition … is not a relic of history. It is an ongoing movement to rethink the systems that produce inequity and build a society that values the lives of the most vulnerable. Phillip Atiba Goff, 2021 Co-founder and CEO of the Center for Policing Equity The 13th Amendment is a touchstone in the struggle to abolish slavery and secure full freedom for African Americans, a struggle that extends from the nation’s founding to Reconstruction, through the modern Civil Rights Movement to today. It is also a catalyst for ongoing debate, activism, and legislation about defining and protecting freedom for all Americans. In recent decades, Congress has applied the 13th Amendment to support the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (2000), the first federal law targeting modern-day human trafficking, and the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (2009). In 2020, Democratic members of Congress introduced a joint resolution calling for an Abolition Amendment that would nullify the “except as punishment” clause in the 13th Amendment, as part of efforts to address issues of mass incarceration, human rights abuses, and racial disparities in the U.S. prison system. Along with highlighting the need to address and eliminate the persisting legacies of slavery, the 13th Amendment inspires questions about how to carry forward the legacy of abolition and build new institutions that promote a more just and equitable democracy. Million Man March, Washington, D.C., 1995. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Roderick Terry, © Roderick Terry Think about whether this country truly wants Black people to be free. If it doesn’t, how will we become free anyway? Patrisse Cullors, 2020 Co-founder of Black Lives Matter Reconstruction changed the nation in fundamental ways. Three new amendments to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery, provided equal protection of the law for all citizens, and banned racial discrimination in voting. But the promise of these laws alone would not secure the visions of freedom that African Americans pursued, if the nation was not willing to uphold and enforce them. What formally ended slavery in the United States?The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is recognized by many as the formal abolition of slavery in the United States.
What officially ended slavery in the United States quizlet?The 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States and was the first of three Reconstruction Amendments adopted in the five years following the American Civil War. The 13th Amendment, passed by Congress January 31, 1865, and ratified December 6, 1865, states: 1.
How did Congress propose to officially abolish slavery in the United States?January 31, 1865 - The House of Representatives passed the 13th Amendment (S.J. Res. 16) by a vote of 119 to 56. February 1, 1865 - President Abraham Lincoln signed a Joint Resolution submitting the proposed 13th Amendment to the states.
Who drafted the 13th Amendment?It began on December 14, 1863, when House Republican James Ashley of Ohio introduced an amendment to ban slavery throughout the United States. Later that month, James Wilson of Iowa introduced another amendment calling for an end to slavery.
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