An amendment to the United States Constitution to abolish slavery introduced during the American Civil War.
The House of Representatives of the Thirty-Eighth Session of Congress
To see the full record of a committee, click on the corresponding committee on the map below.
The Senate informs the House that they have passed S. Res. 16 and ask the concurrence of the House.
JOINT 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. Hereafter every sale, transfer, or assignment of the right of one person to the service or labor of another, shall be void; and by the mere fact of the consent of the owner to such sale, assignment, or transfer, the person owing service or labor shall be released from all such obligation and become free.
SEC. 2. All females, such as are usually termed slaves, owing service or labor to others, are hereby released from such obligation, and are and shall be wholly free.
SEC. 3. From and after the 1st day of January, A. D. 1880, slavery, and all involuntary service, except that arising from the relations of parent and child, master and apprentice, guardian and ward, or that imposed as a punishment for crime, are and shall be abolished.
SEC. 4. Congress shall by law provide compensation for the actual and direct damage or loss sustained through the operation of this law, by loyal citizens of the United States.