Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Exploring the Primary Sources That Shaped America
Table of Contents
Thirteenth Amendmentto the U.S. Constitution
Overview
Context
About the Author
Explanation and Analysis of theDocument
Audience
Impact
Document Text
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Abstract
The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution legally ended slavery in the United States. It was passed by Congress and ratified by the required three-fourths of the states in 1865. President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, declaring slaves in areas in rebellion against the government to be freed by executive decree. Afterward, Lincoln and many of his fellow Republicans had believed that more permanent legislation in the form of a constitutional amendment prohibiting slavery would be needed to ensure that the Emancipation Proclamation could not be subsequently ruled either unconstitutional or a temporary war measure.
Contents
- John Rolfe’s Letter to Sir Edwin Sandys about Enslaved Africans
- Mayflower Compact
- Virginia’s Act XII and Act III
- Jonathan Edwards: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
- Proclamation of 1763
- Quartering Act
- Declaration of Rights of the Stamp Act Congress
- Boston Non-Importation Agreement
- Intolerable Acts
- Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress
- Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or Death” Speech
- Proclamation by the King for Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition
- Common Sense
- Abigail Adams: “Remember the Ladies” Letter to John Adams
- Virginia Declaration of Rights
- Declaration of Independence
- Articles of Confederation
- Treaty of Fort Pitt
- Pennsylvania: An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery
- James Madison’s Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments
- Northwest Ordinance
- Constitution of the United States
- Federalist Papers 10, 14, and 51
- George Washington’s First Inaugural Address
- George Washington’s First Annual Message to Congress
- Jefferson’s and Hamilton’s Opinions on the Bank of the United States
- Bill of Rights
- Fugitive Slave Act of 1793
- George Washington’s Farewell Address
- Alien and Sedition Acts
- Thomas Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address
- Thomas Jefferson’s Message to Congress about the Lewis and Clark Expedition
- Marbury v. Madison
- Act to Prohibit the Importation of Slaves
- Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee
- McCulloch v. Maryland
- Missouri Compromise
- Monroe Doctrine
- Gibbons v. Ogden
- Andrew Jackson: On Indian Removal
- William Lloyd Garrison’s First Liberator Editorial
- Andrew Jackson’s Veto Message Regarding the Second Bank of the United States
- South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification and Andrew Jackson’s Proclamation
- Margaret Fuller: Woman in the Nineteenth Century
- Joint Resolution of Congress for the Annexation of Texas
- Seneca Falls Convention Declaration of Sentiments
- Compromise of 1850
- Frederick Douglass’s “Fourth of July” Speech
- Kansas-Nebraska Act
- Dred Scott v. Sandford
- Abraham Lincoln’s “House Divided” Speech
- South Carolina Declaration of Causes of Secession
- Jefferson Davis’s Inaugural Address to the Confederacy
- Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address
- Homestead Act
- Morrill Act
- Emancipation Proclamation
- War Department General Order 143
- Gettysburg Address
- Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
- Articles of Agreement Relating to the Surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia
- Black Code of Mississippi
- Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
- Civil Rights Act of 1866
- Articles of Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
- Treaty of Fort Laramie
- Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
- Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
- Ku Klux Klan Act
- Act Establishing Yellowstone National Park
- Rutherford B. Hayes’s Inaugural Address
- Thomas Edison’s Patent Application for the Incandescent Light Bulb
- Chinese Exclusion Act
- Pendleton Civil Service Act
- T. Thomas Fortune: “The Present Relations of Labor and Capital”
- Interstate Commerce Act
- Dawes Severalty Act
- Andrew Carnegie: “Wealth”
- Sherman Antitrust Act
- Immigration Act of 1891
- Populist Party: Omaha Platform
- Eugene V. Debs’s “Liberty” Speech
- Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta Exposition Address
- Plessy v. Ferguson
- William Jennings Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” Speech
- United States v. Wong Kim Ark
- William McKinley’s Message to Congress about Cuban Intervention
- The Insular Cases: Downes v. Bidwell
- Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
- Niagara Movement Declaration of Principles
- Pure Food and Drug Act
- Muller v. Oregon
- Ida B. Wells: “Lynching: Our National Crime”
- Jane Addams: “Why Women Should Vote”
- Progressive Party Platform
- Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
- Zimmermann Telegram
- Woodrow Wilson: Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War against Germany
- Espionage and Sedition Acts
- Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points
- Hammer v. Dagenhart
- Schenck v. United States
- Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
- Immigration Act of 1924
- Alain Locke: “Enter the New Negro”
- Herbert Hoover’s “Rugged Individualism” Speech
- Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address
- Tennessee Valley Authority Act
- National Industrial Recovery Act
- Social Security Act
- National Labor Relations Act
- Paul S. Taylor: “Again the Covered Wagon”
- Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Campaign Address at Madison Square Garden
- United States v. Curtiss-Wright
- Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms Message to Congress
- Lend-Lease Act
- Executive Order 8802: Banning Discrimination in Government and Defense Industries
- Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Pearl Harbor” Speech
- Executive Order 9066: Internment of Japanese Americans
- Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Order of the Day
- Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill)
- Korematsu v. United States
- George F. Kennan: “Long Telegram”
- Truman Doctrine
- Marshall Plan
- Taft-Hartley Act
- Press Release Announcing U.S. Recognition of Israel
- Executive Order 9981: Desegregation of the Armed Forces
- Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer
- Brown v. Board of Education
- Senate Resolution 301: Censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy
- Southern Manifesto
- Federal-Aid Highway Act
- Executive Order 10730: Enforcing Desegregation of Little Rock Central High School
- Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Farewell Address
- John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address
- Executive Order 10924: Establishment of the Peace Corps
- John Glenn’s Official Communication with the Command Center
- Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
- John F. Kennedy’s Civil Rights Address
- Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” Speech
- Civil Rights Act of 1964
- Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
- Griswold v. Connecticut
- Voting Rights Act
- Miranda v. Arizona
- National Organization for Women Statement of Purpose
- Loving v. Virginia
- Kerner Commission Report Summary
- Equal Rights Amendment
- Richard Nixon’s Smoking Gun Tape
- Roe v. Wade
- Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
- Ronald Reagan’s “Evil Empire” Speech
- César Chávez’s Commonwealth Address
- Andrew Sullivan: “Here Comes the Groom: A (Conservative) Case for Gay Marriage”
- George H. W. Bush’s Address to Congress on the Persian Gulf Crisis
- Republican Contract with America
- Bill Clinton’s Radio Address on the Welfare Reform Act
- Articles of Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton
- Bush v. Gore
- George W. Bush’s Address to the Nation on September 11, 2001
- USA PATRIOT Act
- Bybee Torture Memo
- Lawrence v. Texas
- Barack Obama’s First Inaugural Address
- Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
- Barack Obama: Remarks on Signing the Affordable Care Act
- Obergefell v. Hodges
- Donald J. Trump’s Inaugural Address
- Articles of Impeachment of Donald J. Trump