13th Amendment Thesis

The Thirteenth Amendment, ratified by 27 states by December 1865, represents the beginning of a new constitutional order in the United States (Fletcher 52). The 13th amendment completed what the Emancipation Proclamation began - to abolish slavery. With Civics classes no longer being a requirement in high schools, there are some who make it into adulthood without knowing which amendment freed the slaves. The Thirteenth Amendment not only affected the slaves, it also immensely impacted those slave owners who thrived economically from slave labor. To understand how the 13th amendment sought to fundamentally reshape American society, one must examine the status of African Americans prior to the Civil War.

According to Eric Forner, “on the eve

In September of 1861, Lincoln issued, what would later be known as the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

“. . . The Emancipation Proclamation was the most revolutionary pronouncement ever signed by an American President, striking the legal shackles from four million black slaves and setting the nation’s face toward the total abolition of slavery. . .” (Guelzo

The Emancipation Proclamation was used as a “necessary war measure, it would be considered a temporary emergency measure- not a law passed by Congress” ( Woog 26). However the Emancipation Proclamation led the way for the 13th amendment. Lincoln knew that the Emancipation Proclamation could be easily overturned at the completion of the war. He knew that he would need an amendment to guarantee the end of slavery. The amendment however, would not come easy. “The amendment proposal failed at this point, in part, because of the makeup of the House. Abolition primarily was a Republican concern and most Democratic lawmakers seemed indifferent, if not actively opposed, to it” (Woog 78). President Lincoln address