Having passed the House of Representatives 119-56 on January 31, the amendment banning slavery and involuntary servitude went to the states on February 1, 1865. President Abraham Lincoln, though his signature wasn't constitutionally required, added his own approval to the document. Ratification followed by December 1865, formally ending legal slavery in the United States.
The amendment's passage came after a bruising, uncertain fight; the measure had actually failed in the House the previous year before Lincoln threw his political weight behind it during the 1864 campaign and pressed lame-duck congressmen hard in the following session for votes, including offers of patronage and, by some accounts, outright deals.
When the vote finally passed on January 31, 1865, by a margin of just a few votes over the required two-thirds, the House chamber erupted — representatives, spectators, and even some Black Americans in the gallery wept and cheered. Lincoln called it 'a King's cure for all the evils' the following day and, though not required, signed the joint resolution himself, an unusual gesture reflecting how personally invested he was.
Lincoln would not live to see ratification completed; he was assassinated in April, months before the amendment took effect in December 1865. February 1st is now observed in the U.S. as National Freedom Day, commemorating this moment when the document went out for ratification.
Key people: Abraham Lincoln