Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00263
Place Written: Washington
Type: Document signed
Date: 1 February 1865
Pagination: 1 p : vellum ; 51 x 38.1 cm.
Summary of Content: Congressional copy. One of the most significant copies of the Thirteenth amendment resolution ending slavery, signed by Lincoln, Hamlin, Colfax (twice), Forney, McPherson, 37 senators, and 111 Congressmen. It is Ex-Barrett. Of Senators who voted for the Amendment Resolution, only two did not sign this copy: William Pitt Fessenden and B. F. Harding, though L. M. Morrill signed twice. Of Congressmen who voted for the Resolution only nine did not sign this copy: James S. Rollins, George W. Julian, John A. J. Creswell, William Radford, John F. Starr, Walter D. McIncloe, Ambrose W. Clark, Amos Myers, and John Ganson. One of thirteen souvenir copies signed by Lincoln. Dimensions matted 71 x 56 cm.
Full Transcript: Thirty-Eighth Congress , of the United States of America at the second session begun and held at the City of Washington, on Monday, the fifth day of December one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four., A Resolution, submitting to the legislatures of the several states a proposition to amend the Constitution of the United States., Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, (two thirds of both Houses concurring.) That the following ”article be proposed to the legislatures of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States which, when ratified by three-fourths of said legislatures shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as a part of the said Constitution, namely:, Article XIII., Sec. 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. , Sec. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation., I certify that this Resolution originated in the Senate. , J. W. Forney, Secretary, Schuyler Colfax Speaker of the House of Representatives, H. Hamlin. Vice-President of the United States and, President of the Senate, Attest. E. McPherson, Clerk of the House of Representatives, Approved February 1. A.D. 1865. Abraham Lincoln, In the Senate April 8. 1864, 1. S. C. Pomeroy 11. Lyman Trumbull , 2. W. T. Willey 12. L. F. S. Fosters - , 3. H S Lane 13. Solomon Foot 21. J. Collamer 28. Edgar Cowan 36. Timy. O. Howe, 4. L. M. Morrill 14. Jn C Ten Eyck 22. B. F. Wade 29. John P Hale 37. James W. Grimes, 5. J W Nesmith 15. James Dixon 23. J. B. Henderson 30. B Gratz Brown 38., 6. J R Doolittle 16. J H Lane 24. Ira Harris 31. J. M. [Howard] , 7. Reverdy [Johnson] 17. Alex. Ramsey 25.Wm Sprague 32. H. B. [Anthony] , 8. P. G. Van Winkle 18. Jas Harlan 26.Charles Sumner 33. John Conness , 9. M. S. Wilkinson 19. E D Morgan 27.L. M. Morrill 34. Henry Wilson , 10. Z. Chandler 20. Daniel Clark. 35. John Sherman , In the House of Representatives January 31. 1865., Schuyler Colfax Henry G. Worthington Thaddeus Stevens Alex. H. Rice., Isaac N. Arnold Henry C. Deming E. R. Eckley Justin S. Morrill Amasa Cobb, J. F. Driggs Fredck E. [Woodbridge] Wm. Higby N. B. Smithers J. M. Broomall, Luc. Anderson Cornelius Cole D. W. Gooch Theodore M. Pomeroy C. T. Hulburd N.Y., J. M. Marvin John D. Baldwin Portus Baxter W. B. Washburn R. B. Van Valkenburgh, J. A. Garfield Wm. B. Allison F. W. Kellogg A. W. Hubbard Francis Thomas, Oakes Ames Mass. E Dumont Rufus P. Spalding Chas. O’Neill J.W. Patterson N. H., H. Price Geo. S. Boutwell Jesse O. Norton H. W. Tracy John A. Kasson , E. C. Ingersoll S. Hooper John B. Steele Jno. W. Longyear E. B. Washburne Ill. , H. L. Dawes M. Russell Thayer Thomas D. Eliot. James T. Hale Sidney Perham, John H. Rice A. Myers Pa. Wm. D Kelley D. Morris N.Y. Wm. G. Brown W Va, F. C. Beaman J. M Ashley D. C. Littlejohn John H Hubbard J. F. Farnsworth, Sempronius H. Boyd T. A. Jenckes Nathan F. Dixon R. I. A. C. Wilder Kan. S. F. Miller NY, James F. Wilson I. C. Sloan Orlando S. [Kellogg] Chas. Upson Henry T. Blow, F. Clarke J. W. McClurg Mo Leonard Myers. John A. Griswold Thos. T. Davis Ny, Jno R. McBride Thom Williams, Pa. Edwin H. Webster Aug. C. Baldwin Wm Windom, James E. English Ignatius Donnelly A. McAllister Godlove S. Orth W. H. Randall, Augustus Frank Fred A Pike Giles W. Hotchkiss E. H. Rollins K V Whaley , Samuel Knox Benjn. F. Loan Mo. T. B. Shannon M. F. Odell Anson Herrick NY., [John B Alley Ma] Geo. H. Yeaman J. G. Blaine G. W. Scofield A. H. Coffroth , Augustus Brandegee J B Grinnell Iowa W. A. Hutchins Ezra Wheeler Jacob B Blair, G. Clay Smith J. K. Moorhead Pa. H. A. Nelson H. Winter Davis , Austin A. King Joseph Baily Rbt C. Schenck
Background: The Emancipation Proclamation freed only those slaves in states still at war. As a wartime order, it could subsequently be reversed by presidential degree or congressional legislation. The permanent emancipation of all slaves therefore required a constitutional amendment. , In April 1864, the Senate passed the Thirteenth Amendment to abolish slavery in the United States. Opposition from Democratic Representatives prevented the amendment from receiving the required two-thirds majority. If McClellan and the Democrats had won the election of 1864, as Lincoln and most Northerners expected in the summer, the amendment would almost certainly have been defeated and slave emancipation repudiated as a war aim. Only after Lincoln was reelected did Congress approve the amendment. Ratification by the states was completed in December 1865.
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