The 13th Amendment

The Emancipation Proclamation, which President Abraham Lincoln issued on January 1, 1863, was destined to be a temporary measure. It invoked the war powers of the presidency, and it declared that slaves in the states in rebellion to the United States were free.

In a practical sense, the Emancipation Proclamation did not actually free many slaves. For complicated political reasons, the border states during the Civil War were exempt from Lincoln's proclamation. And slaves were not actually freed in the South until the Union Army took possession of a region.

What was needed was an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and one was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865. The 13th Amendment, which would end slavery in the United States, was signed the next day by President Lincoln.

As part of the process of ratification, the new amendment was submitted to the states for passage by their legislatures. After enough states approved it, the text of the 13th Amendment was considered ratified and it became part of the Constitution on December 6, 1865.