1. The Abolition of Slavery
Banning slavery constitutionally was necessary, because Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation did not prevent Southern states, on re-admission to the Union, from reinstituting slavery.
The Thirteenth Amendment states that “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.” – “Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
The Thirteenth Amendment was the first of three Reconstruction Era amendments (the 13th, 14th, and 15th) that eliminated slavery, guaranteed due process, equal protection and voting rights to all Americans.
Although some may have questioned whether persons other than African Americans could share in the amendment’s protection, the Court held that the amendment “forbids any other kind of slavery, now or hereafter. If Mexican peonage (the practice of forcing someone to work against one’s will to pay off a debt) or the Chinese coolie labor system shall develop slavery of the Mexican or Chinese race within our territory, this amendment may safely be trusted to make it void.”
In more recent cases, the Supreme Court has defined involuntary servitude broadly to forbid work forced by the use or threat of physical restraint or injury or through law but the Supreme Court has rejected claims that define mandatory community service, taxation, and the draft as involuntary servitude.