Lucky Thirteen

One hundred and forty five years ago today, on December 6th 1865, the first amendment to the constitution of the United States of America in over sixty years was adopted into law. The Thirteenth Amendment to the constitution reads as follows:

"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

The legislatures of twenty-seven of the union’s thirty-six states needed to ratify the amendment before it would become part of the constitution. Georgia, on December 6th 1865, was the state whose ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment completed the process.

Mississippi, on March 16th 1995, became the last state to ratify the amendment.