Which Southern state never ratified the 13th Amendment?
Asked by: Dr. Fabiola Mraz MD | Last update: October 29, 2025Score: 5/5 (19 votes)
After watching the film, which depicts the political fight to pass the 13th Amendment, Batra did some research. He learned that the amendment was ratified after three-fourths of the states backed it in December 1865. Four remaining states all eventually ratified the amendment -- except for Mississippi.
What states did not ratify the 13th Amendment?
The exceptions were Kentucky and Delaware, and to a limited extent New Jersey, where chattel slavery and indentured servitude were finally ended by the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865.
Why did Kentucky not ratify the 13th Amendment?
Prominent politicians and other public figures harshly criticized President Lincoln and members of Congress, and the Kentucky legislature expressed their disapproval of the amendment's adoption by politically siding with the former Confederacy throughout the post-Civil War era.
Why did Delaware not ratify the 13th Amendment?
Delaware was a slave state on the Mason-Dixon line. All efforts to abolish slavery in Delaware prior to the Civil War failed due to a small number of Delawareans who were slave owners with an outsized political influence. The Emancipation Proclamation only applied to the Confederate States.
Why did Mississippi not ratify the 13th Amendment?
The state rejected the Amendment on December 5, 1865 because lawmakers were unhappy they had not been reimbursed for the value of freed slaves.
Lincoln Abolishes Slavery with the 13th Amendment | Abraham Lincoln
When did South Carolina ratify the 13th Amendment?
However, South Carolina (November 13, 1865), Alabama (December 2, 1865), North Carolina (December 4, 1865) and finally Georgia (December 6, 1865) agreed to ratify the amendment.
Was Missouri the last state to abolish slavery?
The ordinance passed three weeks before the U.S. Congress proposed the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery. Missouri was the eighth state to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ending slavery on February 6, 1865.
Did Georgia refuse to ratify the 13th Amendment?
On December 6, 1865, nearly twelve months after President Lincoln had ceremoniously signed the document, Georgia became the 27th state to ratify the 13th Amendment. The three-quarters of the states needed to make the amendment law had finally been reached, and shortly afterward Seward made his historic announcement.
What was the last state to free slaves?
Juneteenth honors the date, June 19, 1865, when the last Confederate community of enslaved Americans in Galveston, Texas, received word that they had been freed from bondage. Union General Gordon Granger led the unit in Galveston who would ensure the proclamation was enforced.
How did Southern states avoid the 13th Amendment?
In 1865 and 1866 southern states pass "Black Codes" which were laws to restrict the freedom of Blacks in the region. In the north these codes were viewed as a way to get around the 13th amendment and to allow slavery to exist under a different name.
What was the last state to abolish slavery in 2013?
Nearly 20 years later, in late 2012, two Mississippi residents discovered that the ratification was not yet official and notified the secretary of state. Several weeks later, the required paperwork was filed, and Mississippi's ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment was legally recorded on February 7, 2013.
What states didn't vote for the Constitution?
North Carolina: November 21, 1789. Rhode Island: May 29, 1790 (Rhode Island did not hold a Constitutional Convention.)
Why did Texas wait to free slaves?
It was a perilous time for Black people, and some former slaves who were freed or attempted to get free were attacked and killed. For Confederate states like Texas, even before Juneteenth, there existed a "desire to hold on to that system as long as they could," Walsh explained to NPR.
Did Texas ratify the 13th Amendment?
Eighteen states ratified it very shortly after Congress formally approved it. After much delay by the former Confederate states, it was ratified by the minimum of twenty-seven of the thirty-six states on December 6, 1865. Texas did not formally ratify the 13th Amendment until February 18, 1870.
What state was the first to abolish slavery?
Well before the Revolutionary War was won, Pennsylvania became the first state to pass an act that gradually abolished slavery.
Who opposed the 13th Amendment?
In April 1864, the Senate, responding in part to an active abolitionist petition campaign, passed the Thirteenth Amendment to abolish slavery in the United States. Opposition from Democrats in the House of Representatives prevented the amendment from receiving the required two-thirds majority, and the bill failed.
What state has no slavery?
Yes. Slavery was never legal in Vermont, never legal in the Northwest Territories and the five states created from it, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Slavery was never legal in Iowa, Minnesota, California, Oregon or Nevada.
Which president did not own slaves?
Twelve U.S. presidents owned slaves at some point in their lives; of these, eight owned slaves while in office. Ten of the first twelve American presidents owned slaves, the only exceptions being John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams, neither of whom approved of slavery.
What states rejected the 13th Amendment?
In the same period, it was rejected by three states, Delaware, Kentucky, and New Jersey. With former Confederate states part of the ratification process, Virginia and Louisiana approved the Thirteenth Amendment in February followed by Tennessee and Arkansas in April.
Who is the person who ended slavery?
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."
What is the missing 13th Amendment?
That "missing" proposal was called the “Titles of Nobility Amendment” (or TONA). It sought to ban any American citizen from receiving any foreign title of nobility or receiving foreign favors, such as a pension, without congressional approval. The penalty was loss of citizenship.
Where did most free African Americans live in the South?
In fact, more free blacks lived in the South than in the North; roughly 261,000 lived in slave states, while 226,000 lived in northern states without slavery. Most free blacks did not live in the Lower, or Deep South: the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas.
What is the black code in Missouri?
The French implemented the Code Noir , or “Black Code,” attempting to define the parameters of slavery in the area that later became the state of Missouri. It codified a way of life that separated the races and defined the circumstances under which the free community and slaves, black or Indian, would co-exist.
Which state had the most slaves in 1740?
Expert-Verified Answer. In 1740, Virginia had the most slaves among the American colonies, with around 40% of its population enslaved. The state's agricultural economy, particularly the demand for labor on tobacco plantations, drove the growth of slavery during this period.