Existing comment:
The 13th Amendment:
The 13th amendment completed what tent cities and the Emancipation Proclamation set in motion. On December 6, 1865, the U.S. government abolished slavery by amending the Constitution to state, "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."
A limited number of signed commemorative copies of the 13th Amendment were produced. Only a handful survive. This signed copy (right) was given to Speaker of the House of Representatives, Schuyler Colfax, a lifelong abolitionist, who was instrumental in pushing the resolution through Congress. |