Looking back on it now, it’s almost astonishing to any modern American that we ever needed anything like the Thirteenth Amendment. The very fact that the U.S. government had to take this step to outlaw slavery in this country once and for all tells us that the most liberated way we think in modern times wasn’t always the way life was viewed a few hundred years ago. In light of the long, hard struggle that is black history in this country, it’s worth revisiting this simple, yet powerful amendment that simply states..
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist in the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
This amendment to the U.S. Constitution, along with the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, represent the most dramatic changes to this country’s fundamental civil rights law in American history. And it took the strong and courageous leadership of Abraham Lincoln to ensure that these provisions were so rooted in the fundamental definition of what America was, and that there would never be a chance for slavery to reappear within our borders.
The date to remember the passage of this historic amendment is April 8, 1864. It was the end of the Civil War and the South was defeated, still separated from the North before Reconstruction could begin the long task of remaking this nation. . The wisdom that President Lincoln had to take while the sounds of battle were still fresh in the ears of all Americans to set in stone the achievements of this bloody war cannot be ignored.
Until the Civil War, slavery was part of American life. It’s painful for all Americans, black and white, to look back to a time when most Americans considered it normal for one human being to own another. As the many great strides for civil rights and equality in the decades to come would stand in black history, this very basic restoration of the right of African-Americans to be treated as humans had to be a fundamental beginning to becoming full citizens of this great land.
And so, with the weapons of the Civil War recently silenced by the North’s victory, President Lincoln moved swiftly to make slavery a thing of the past forever. First, in 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, stating unequivocally that…
« All persons held as slaves in any State, or any designated part thereof, whose people shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall then, henceforth, and forever be free. »
But despite the power of this proclamation, Lincoln knew that the Constitution had to be amended to make the good intent of the Emancipation Proclamation the irrevocable law of the land. And so he championed the Thirteen Amendments through Congress to ensure that it became law and that slavery could never again become a common and accepted part of American life.
It was an important beginning. But we all know that true freedom had many more battles ahead. When slave owners across the country freed their slaves, African Americans everywhere knew a freedom they’d only dreamed of before. But this was just one step in a long and bitter struggle for equality and freedom that continues to this day.
Let us all look back on President Lincoln’s vision, forward thinking and courage, and let him inspire us with similar vision and courage to find ways to make American society free and equal for all citizens, black, white and for all races, creeds and colors. If we can achieve this, then we have contributed to join President Lincoln in the quest for freedom for all men.
See also our article: Marronage and the Maroons
