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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: 1864-01-25 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 8187: 1864-01-25 12:00:00

Mr. McDowell submits Resolutions on the Rights of Citizens; Mr. Edgerton submits Resolutions Censuring the President's Actions; both are laid over under the rules.

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Resolutions Censuring the President's Actions

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Whereas this House on the 17th day of December last adopted, with but one dissentient vote, the following resolution, to Wit:

"Resolved, That we hold it to be the duty of Congress to pass all necessary bills to supply men and money, and the duty of the people to render every aid in their power to the constituted authorities of the Government in the crushing out of the rebellion, and in bringing the leaders thereof to condign punishment:" Therefore, in explanation of the foregoing resolution, and in further expression of the opinion and purpose of this House,

Resolved, That the aid hitherto liberally supplied in men and money, by the people of the United States, to enable the Federal Executive to prosecute the existing civil war, has been so supplied, by all citizens truly faithful to the Federal Union and Constitution, for the purpose. and no other, expressed in the resolution adopted by Congress in July, 1861, declarative of the object of the war, and commonly known as "the Crittenden resolution;" and public faith, true Christian humanity, and wise statesmanship alike demand strict adherence by "the constituted authorities of the Government" to the purpose or object of the war as thus declined by Congress and accepted by the people.

Resolved, That the demand of the President, in his proclamation of December 8, 1863, that the people of the States wherein rebellion exists shall swear to abide by and support his proclamations of emancipation (in other words, change, or submit to the change, at his dictation, of their State constitutions, local laws, and domestic institutions, not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States) before such States or their people will by him be considered to have ceased to be in rebellion, and entitled to pardon or amnesty, and entitled to their constitutional rights of State government, in harmony with the Government of the United States, is, in the judgment of this house, an oppressive and unconstitutional demand, the tendency and effect of which, if persisted in and enforced by war, will be to substantially change the object and character of the war on the part of the Federal Government, from one to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States as the supreme law of the land, to a revolutionary war against the constitutional rights and sovereignty of Federal States, and virtually subversive of the constitutional Government of the United States, and of such a war we now record our disapproval.

Resolved, That in view of the immense power of war demanded by the President and supplied to him by a patriotic people, and hitherto wielded by him according to his own will, with little deference or regard to the opinions and convictions of the very large number, if not majority, of faithful Union citizens, in the United States who have doubted or disapproved his policy in the conduct of the war and his extraordinary assumptions of executive power, and in view of the dangers to constitutional liberty and the manifold evils that ever attend civil war, we desire peace and the replacement under its healthful and benign influence, with the least possible further waste of the blood and treasure of the people, of all the relations and functions of constitutional Government, State and Federal, now disturbed and endangered; and we therefore deprecate all vindictive and revolutionary measures and policy, military or civil, as tending to divide the Union men of the country, to aggravate the evils and to intensify the animosity of the war and prolong its duration, and we advise, and do cordially invite, and pledge our cooperation in negotiations, proposals and efforts for peace upon the basis of a restoration of the Federal Union under the Constitution as it is, leaving to the free constitutional action of the people the questions of amendments of the Federal Constitution, and leaving also to the people of each State, as their unquestionable right, the right, and its free exercise, to form. regulate, and control their State constitutions, laws, and domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States.

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