Category: Thirteenth Amendment

The Thirteenth Amendment and Modern Slavery

How to Combat Modern Slavery

thirteenth amendment

The Thirteenth Amendment Condones Slavery.

Though surprising, the text of the Thirteenth Amendment clearly states circumstances when slavery is legal. Indeed, it is an exception to the general abolition of slavery and indentured servitude under the Thirteenth Amendment. It provides as follows:

U.S. Const. amend. XIII, § 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.”
U.S. Const. amend. XIII, § 2.
“Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

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Emancipation Proclamation Signed By Pres. Lincoln Dateline Jan. 1, 1863

Abraham Lincoln, William Tecumseh Sherman, Ulysses S. Grant, David Dixon Porter, River Queen, 27-28 March 1865, Emancipation Proclamation, Benjamin Franklin Butler, Contrabands of War, United States Constitution, Slavery, Articles of Confederation, Dred Scott v. Sanford 60 U.S. 393 (1857), On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Intended to free the slaves in States and political entities in rebellion against the United States, the Emancipation Proclamation applied only to: Arkansas; Texas; Louisiana, except certain Parishes; Mississippi; Alabama; Florida; Georgia; South Carolina; North Carolina; and Virginia, except certain counties. Predating the Reconstruction Amendments, the Emancipation Proclamation did not apply to Missouri, Maryland, Kentucky, and Delaware. Although these states condoned slavery, they were not then in rebellion against the United States. Likewise, it did not apply to Tennessee. Read more