This Day in History:, Slavery Is Abolished in America.
December 18, 1865.
The 13th Amendment was formally
adopted into the U.S. Constitution.
It ensures that “neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude … shall exist within the United States,
or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”.
It had been approved in the
Republican-led Senate in April of 1864.
But the amendment had been
bogged down in the Democratic-led
House of Representatives for almost a year.
On December 2, 1865, Alabama became
the 27th state to ratify the 13th Amendment.
The vote provided the requisite
three-fourths majority of states’ approval
needed to ratify the 13th Amendment