This Day in History: Slavery Is Abolished in America (Sunday, December 18th)

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