Which Amendment Ended Slavery

In the history of the United States of America, no other issue has been as contentious as the issue of slavery - which first dominated the social spectrum and then dominated the political spectrum of the country.

Slavery existed in the United States as a legal institution for more than a century from 1619, when the first group of African slaves set foot in Virginia (the first English colony in North America,) to 1865, when it was abolished by an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Before we get to know which amendment ended slavery in America, we need to know how the process of thinking was changed for the Americans. It would be better to go through a timeline which stresses on various events that formed the basis of this amendment.

The American Civil War is the first thing taken into consideration whenever the reformation of America is talked about. The American Civil War was triggered when the eleven Southern slave states decided to secede from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America.

The Emancipation Proclamation in course of the Civil War was one of the best attempts to curb slavery.

An executive order issued by the then President of the United States - Abraham Lincoln, gifted freedom to all slaves from the Confederate States which unsuccessfully tried to secede from the Union.

Slavery was one of the main reasons for the outbreak of Civil War as it pitched the industrialized Northern States and Southern States against each other. The Southerners supported slavery as it provided them with cheap labor to work at their plantations, and when they realized that the Northern States didn't, they concluded that secession was the only way.

In the meanwhile, on 22nd September, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln, announced that he would issue a formal emancipation of all the slaves from the Confederate States if they did not return to the Union by 1st January, 1863. When none of the states returned by the given deadline, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation on 1st January, 1863.

The step from the U.S. President meant freedom for more than 3 million slaves in the United States. This was the point when the emancipation of slaves became the focal point of American Civil War with some states lobbying for slavery, and others against it.

The Emancipation Proclamation brought to an end to the concept of slavery in the states which tried to secede from the Union. The same continued unabated in states like Missouri, Delaware and Kentucky, which didn't attempt to secede. It was believed that the war powers of the U.S. President were only restricted to regions which had attempted a rebellion.

Taking that into consideration, the Congress of the United States began working on bringing about an end to slavery in the remaining parts of the United States of America and proposed the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which eventually ended slavery in the country.

It stated that concepts like slavery and involuntary servitude didn't have a place in the United States or any region under its jurisdiction, unless it was a part of the punishment process backed by proper conviction of the person in question.

The 13th Amendment was approved by the U.S. Congress in January, 1865, and sent for ratification by states. Ratification of the amendment by three-fourth of the total states was mandatory for it to be added to the Constitution, and that was achieved on 18th December, 1865, when the Congress succeeded in getting it ratified from the required number of states.

Whether the country would have been same without this amendment is a subject of debate; and that isn't quite surprising as most of the historical events, if not all, fall in the 'debatable' category at some or the other point of time.