The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution made slavery and involuntary servitude illegal, except as punishment for a crime. The amendment was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, by
Abolitionist imagery focused on atrocities against slaves. (Photo of Peter, 1863.)
Abraham Lincoln
Representative James Mitchell Ashley proposed an amendment abolishing slavery in 1863.
Celebration erupts after the Thirteenth Amendment is passed by the House of Representatives.
Dred Scott v. Sandford
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Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393, was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that held that the United States Constitution did not extend American citizenship to people of black Afr
The Missouri Compromise created the slave-holding state Missouri (Mo., yellow) but prohibited slavery in the rest of the former Louisiana Territory (here, marked Missouri Territory 1812, green) north of latitude 36°30' North. Modern state boundaries are also shown.
Dred Scott
Chief Justice Roger Taney, the author of the majority opinion in the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision
Dred and Harriet Scott Statue in St. Louis