(1865) Slavery is abolished in the United StatesEight months after the end of the Civil War, the 13th amendment is ratified by the required number of states, abolishing slavery in the US. Its passage was secured after intense lobbying by President Abraham Lincoln, whose Emancipation Proclamation had declared slaves free, but their status after the war was still uncertain.The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. In Congress, it was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, and by the House on January 31, 1865. The amendment was ratified by the required number of states on December 6, 1865. On December 18, 1865, Secretary of State William H. Seward proclaimed its adoption. It was the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments adopted following the American Civil War.
Scars of a whipped Mississippi slave, photo taken (April 2, 1863, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA. Original caption: “Overseer Artayou Carrier whipped me. I was two months in bed sore from the whipping. My master come after I was whipped; he discharged the overseer. The very words of poor Peter, taken as he sat for his picture.”
(1865) Slavery is abolished in the United States
