Amendments
Amendment XIII
Constitution of the United States
Official text
Section 1. 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.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Passed by Congress January 31, 1865. Ratified December 6, 1865. A portion of Article IV, section 2, of the Constitution was superseded by the 13th amendment.
In plain English
Slavery and involuntary servitude are abolished everywhere in the United States, except as punishment for a crime after a lawful conviction. Congress may pass laws to enforce this. Ratified in December 1865, it made permanent nationwide what the Emancipation Proclamation (1863) had ordered as a war measure in the rebelling states.
Plain-English summary drafted by Christian Vote USA; editor review pending. Always read the official text above.
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