December 18, 1865: Formally abolishing slavery in the United States – Statement issued verifying the ratification of The 13th Amendment -150 years

December 18, 1865: Formally abolishing slavery in the United States – Statement issued verifying the ratification of The 13th Amendment
150 years

Dilemma X would like to take this Flashback look at the ending of legal enslavement of African descent people in the United States.

The 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America declared that “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.” Formally abolishing slavery in the United States, the 13th Amendment was passed by the Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865.

The Cherokee National Government freed its enslaved people in 1863. The United States negotiated a treaty with four Native groups in 1866 stipulating that they must release their enslaved people and grant them full rights as citizens. If they failed to comply with those terms they would forfeit payment for lands ceded to the United States by the same treaty.

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March 31, 1864 – Debated in the Senate (S.J. Res. 16).
April 4, 1864 – Debated in the Senate.
April 5, 1864 – Debated in the Senate.
April 6, 1864 – Debated in the Senate.
April 7, 1864 – Debated in the Senate.
April 8, 1864 – The Senate passed the 13th Amendment (S.J. Res. 16) by a vote of 38 to 6.
June 14, 1864 – Debated in the House of Representatives.
June 15, 1864 – The House of Representatives initially defeated the 13th Amendment (S.J. Res. 16) by a vote of 93 in favor, 65 opposed, and 23 not voting, which is less than the two-thirds majority needed to pass a Constitutional Amendment.

December 6, 1864 – Abraham Lincoln’s Fourth Annual Message to Congress was printed in the Congressional Globe: “At the last session of Congress a proposed amendment of the Constitution, abolishing slavery throughout the United States, passed the Senate, but failed for lack of the requisite two-thirds vote in the House of Representatives. Although the present is the same Congress, and nearly the same members, and without questioning the wisdom or patriotism of those who stood in opposition, I venture to recommend the reconsideration and passage of the measure at the present session.”

January 6, 1865 – Debated in the House of Representatives (S.J. Res. 16).
January 7, 1865 – Debated in the House of Representatives.
January 9, 1865 – Debated in the House of Representatives.
January 10, 1865 – Debated in the House of Representatives.
January 11, 1865 – Debated in the House of Representatives.
January 12, 1865 – Debated in the House of Representatives.
January 13, 1865 – Debated in the House of Representatives.
January 28, 1865 – Debated in the House of Representatives.
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.
December 18, 1865 – Secretary of State William Seward issued a statement verifying the ratification of the 13th Amendment.

February 3, 1865

February 4, 1865

October 4, 1865

December 5, 1865

December 8, 1865

December 15, 1865

December 16, 1865

December 19, 1865

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Video: Noam Chomsky discussing US Racism
Chomsky is a major figure in analytic philosophy.He has spent most of his career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he is Institute Professor Emeritus, and is the author of more than 100 books.

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Video: Emancipation Lincoln & the 13th Amendment Michael Vorenberg
Filmed on November 21, 2013 at the Dole Institute of Politics
The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, often shortened to the Dole Institute, is a nonpartisan political institution housed at the University of Kansas founded by the former U.S. Senator from Kansas and 1996 Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole.
Michael Vorenberg’s book, “Final Freedom: The Civil War, the Abolition of Slavery, and the Thirteenth Amendment,” was heavily consulted for the film, “Lincoln.”

One year after Lincoln’s amazing premier, historian and Brown University professor, Vorenberg, offered fascinating insight on the dramatic creation of a constitutional amendment that, in the end, redefined America.

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Video: Confronting the Myth that Slavery Ended with the 13th Amendment
The Seattle Central Community College Library

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