What was the last state to free the slaves?

Asked by: Corbin Witting  |  Last update: May 12, 2026
Score: 4.1/5 (7 votes)

The last state to officially abolish slavery by ratifying the 13th Amendment was Mississippi, which finally certified its ratification in 2013, after initially rejecting it for 130 years following the Civil War. While Texas was the last Confederate state to have slavery enforced (freed on Juneteenth in 1865), Mississippi was the final state to legally complete the amendment process decades later.

What state was last to abolish slavery?

On Feb. 7, 2013, Mississippi certified its ratification of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, making it the last state to officially abolish slavery.

What was the last country to abolish slavery?

Slavery has been outlawed globally since 1981, when Mauritania became the last country to legally abolish the practice.

Was Texas the last state to free slaves?

Texas was the last Confederate state to get the news, over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, but at that time slavery remained legal in other states.

What state forgot to ban slavery?

Mississippi lawmakers rejected the 13th Amendment — the law that abolished slavery — at the end of the Civil War. And then the state failed to do anything about it — for the next 130 years.

Why Texas was the Last to Free Slaves - Juneteenth Documentary

24 related questions found

Which president had 600 slaves?

Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. President and author of the Declaration of Independence, enslaved over 600 Black men, women, and children during his lifetime, the most of any U.S. president, working them at his Monticello estate and even in the White House. Despite his ideals of liberty, Jefferson's life was deeply intertwined with slavery, holding people at Monticello and other properties, with around 400 enslaved at Monticello at any given time. 

What was the last city to end slavery?

See a state-by-state timeline of Emancipation below, ending with the June 19, 1865 announcement in Galveston, Texas, which is widely acknowledged as the final end to slavery in the United States.

Which states still had slaves after Juneteenth?

After Juneteenth (June 19, 1865), slavery was still legal in the border states of Delaware and Kentucky, as the Emancipation Proclamation didn't apply to them; they continued to hold enslaved people until the 13th Amendment was ratified in December 1865, making them the last states to abolish the practice. 

Did Texas ever own slaves?

The Mexican government was opposed to slavery, but even so, there were 5000 slaves in Texas by the time of the Texas Revolution in 1836. By the time of annexation a decade later, there were 30,000; by 1860, the census found 182,566 slaves -- over 30% of the total population of the state.

Who actually stopped slavery?

Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 freed enslaved people in areas in rebellion against the United States. He had reinvented his "war to save the Union" as "a war to end slavery." Following that theme, this painting was sold in Philadelphia in 1864 to raise money for wounded troops.

Which country no longer exists?

Many countries no longer exist due to dissolution, annexation, or name changes, with prominent examples including the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Austria-Hungary, Tibet, Persia (now Iran), and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), as well as shorter-lived entities like the Kingdom of Hawaii and the Republic of Vermont.
 

When did Russia abolish slavery?

Slavery, by contrast, was an ancient institution in Russia and effectively was abolished in the 1720s. Serfdom, which began in 1450, evolved into near-slavery in the eighteenth century and was finally abolished in 1906.

Did white people end slavery?

Everyone practised slavery at that time, from the Africans themselves through the Middle East and Asians. White people did it too but it was white people who ended it and otherwise there would still be global slavery.

When were the last slaves actually freed?

The last enslaved people in the United States were effectively freed on June 19, 1865, known as Juneteenth, when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation, though the 13th Amendment formally abolished slavery nationwide on December 6, 1865, after Delaware and Kentucky ratified it. Slavery persisted in pockets like Texas and Indian Territory after the war, making Juneteenth the symbolic end for the last group, though some argue slavery's vestiges lingered even longer. 

What state was the first to stop slavery?

Such an opportunity came on July 2, 1777. In response to abolitionists' calls across the colonies to end slavery, Vermont became the first colony to ban it outright. Not only did Vermont's legislature agree to abolish slavery entirely, it also moved to provide full voting rights for African American males.

Who brought the first slaves to America?

Spanish explorers first brought enslaved Africans to the territory that would become the United States in 1526, to a short-lived colony in present-day South Carolina, though English privateers brought the first recorded Africans to the English mainland colonies in Virginia in 1619, trading them for supplies. These early arrivals were brought by various European powers, including the Portuguese and Spanish, long before the establishment of chattel slavery, with the 1619 landing marking a key point for the start of race-based bondage in English North America. 

What state freed slaves first?

Vermont abolished slavery on July 2, 1777, less than a year after the Declaration of Independence had been read to the public in Philadelphia.

What race was enslaved for 400 years?

People of African descent were forcibly enslaved for approximately 400 years in the Americas, beginning with the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in the English colonies in 1619, marking the start of centuries of brutal chattel slavery that profoundly shaped the United States and its people.
 

Where is slavery still common?

The 10 countries with the highest prevalence of modern slavery are:

  • North Korea.
  • Eritrea.
  • Mauritania.
  • Saudi Arabia.
  • Türkiye.
  • Tajikistan.
  • United Arab Emirates.
  • Russia.

What was the last country to have legal slavery?

In 1981, Mauritania became the last country in the world to officially abolish slavery, when a presidential decree abolished the practice. However, no criminal laws were passed to enforce the ban. In 2007, under international pressure, the government passed a law allowing slaveholders to be prosecuted.

What city did slavery start in?

Today we reflect on a grim chapter in our nation's history — the beginning of a 400-year story filled with tragedy, inequality, resilience and survival. On Aug. 20, 1619, a ship carrying 20 enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, changing the course of American history.

When did blacks go into slavery?

August 1619 — July 1860

Within several decades of being brought to the American colonies, Africans were stripped of human rights and enslaved as chattel, an enslavement that lasted more than two centuries. Slavers whipped slaves who displeased them. Clergy preached that slavery was the will of God.

What state did not abolish slavery?

The amendment was adopted in December 1865 after the necessary three-fourths of the then 36 states voted in favor of ratification. Mississippi, however, was a holdout; at the time state lawmakers were upset that they had not been compensated for the value of freed slaves.