1865: U.S. Constitution, Thirteenth Amendment

Related Links:

• Collections: Abolition of Slavery
• Abraham Lincoln

Source: The American Nation: Primary Sources, ed. Bruce Frohnen (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2008).

U.S. Constitution, Thirteenth Amendment

December 18, 1865

Section 1

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.

Section 2

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.