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  1. Overview: United States Thirteenth Amendment 1863-65
  2. Full Record: United States Thirteenth Amendment 1863-65
  3. Committee:The House of Representatives
  4. Session: 1863-12-14 12:00:00
  5. Event type: CREATE

United States Thirteenth Amendment 1863-65

An amendment to the United States Constitution to abolish slavery introduced during the American Civil War.

The House of Representatives

The House of Representatives of the Thirty-Eighth Session of Congress

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Session 3522: 1863-12-14 12:00:00

The newly elected Chaplain is sworn in; the Standing Committees are appointed by the Speaker; H. R. 14, H. R. 21, H. R. 24, and H. Res. 9 are first introduced and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary; Mr. Fink, Mr. Harding, Mr. Wadsworth, and Mr. Holman present resolutions to the House.

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Resolutions on the Protection of the Established Institutions of the States

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Resolved, That the doctrine recently announced, that the States in which an armed insurrection has existed against the Federal Government have ceased to be States of the Union, and shall be held, on the ultimate defeat of that insurrection, as Territories or subjugated provinces, and governed as such by the absolute will of Congress and the Federal Executive, or restored to the Union on conditions unknown to the Constitution of the United States, ought to be rebuked and condemned as manifestly unjust to the loyal citizens of those States, tending to prolong the war and to confirm the treasonable theory of secession; and, if carried into effect, must greatly endanger the public liberty and the constitutional powers and rights of all the States, by centralizing and consolidating the powers of the Government, State and national, in the Federal Executive.

Resolved, That the only object of the war ought to be to subjugate the armed insurrection which, for the time being, suspends the proper relations of certain States with the Federal Government, and to reestablish the supremacy of the Constitution; and the loyal citizens of those States, and the masses of the people thereof, submitting to authority of the Constitution, ought not to be hindered from restoring the proper relations of their respective States with the Federal Government, so far as the same is dependent on the voluntary act of the people, by any condition, except unconditional submission to the Constitution and laws of the United States in the language heretofore solemnly adopted by Congress, the war ought not to be waged on our part for any purpose of conquest or subjugation or purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union, with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired, and as soon as those objects are accomplished the war ought to cease.

Resolved, That all necessary and proper appropriations of money ought to be promptly made by this Congress for the support of the military and naval forces of the Government, and all measures of legislation necessary to increase and promote the efficiency of the Army and Navy and to maintain the public credit, ought to be adopted, that, through a vigorous prosecution of the war, peace on the basis of the union of the States and the supremacy of the Constitution may be the more speedily obtained.

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