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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: 1863-12-17 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 8139: 1863-12-17 12:00:00

Mr. Edgerton submits a Resolution on the Protection of Domestic Institutions, which is laid on the table.

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Resolution on the Protection of Domestic Institutions

There is 1 proposed amendment related to this document on which a decision has not been taken.

Whereas the proclamations of the President of January 1, 1863, and Decembers 8, 1863, in relation to emancipation, impose conditions of pardon and amnesty to the persons. who have participated in the existing rebellion, as well as conditions precedent to the establishment and recognition of State government in the States to which said proclamations apply, which, in the judgment of a large number of faithful citizens, have a tendency to give to the rebellion "the advantage of a changed issue," and "to reinvigorate the otherwise declining insurrection in the South," and to prolong the war; and whereas this House cannot but regard with anxiety the unprecedented and extraordinary claims and assumption of high prerogative by the President in said proclamations, especially in view of the fact that the President, in his inaugural address of the 4th day of March, 1861, declared, "I have no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists; I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so:" Therefore,

Resolved, As the judgment of this House, that the maintenance inviolate of the constitutional powers of Congress, and the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to the balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric of Federal union depends; and we denounce, as among the gravest of crimes, the invasion or occupation, by armed force, of any State, under the pretext or for the purpose of coercing the people thereof to modify or abrogate any of their laws or domestic institutions that are consistent with the Constitution of the United States; and we affirm the principle declared in this resolution to be a law, alike to the president and the people of the United States.

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