Abolitionism In The 13th Amendment

"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 (Greene, McAward 2014). This is a statement from the thirteenth amendment, which formally abolished slavery in the United States. The thirteenth amendment was passed on January 31st, 1865, by Congress, though it was not ratified until December 6, of the same year. Prior to the Civil War, Congress attempted to stop the war by trying to pass a different draft of the thirteenth amendment, which had a different motive. In the first draft of the thirteenth amendment, it allowed slave states to keep their slaves, instead of formally abolishing slavery. After the Civil War, a new draft of the thirteenth amendment was created. This final draft of the Thirteenth amendment formally abolished slavery. It was created when southern representatives were not present for the debate though one would think since the southern representatives were not …show more content…
The gag rule was created to limit the debate on slavery, though once it was repealed in 1844, people began to once again talk about the issue of slavery. The abolitionism was a movement to end slavery, and the argument was founded on the Declaration of Independence and Preamble of the Constitution. The final reason on why the thirteenth amendment was created was the Emancipation Proclamation. It was proposed by Abraham Lincoln to free slaves in the Southern states, so the Confederates could no longer use them to support the army in the field. Though prior to the Civil war, the first draft of the thirteenth amendment allowed slave states to keep their slaves. However, later on, a new draft of the Thirteenth amendment was created on January 31, 1865, to formally abolish