(Constitutional Amendment and Slavery),Historically Important Petition Proposing th e XIII Amendment Abolishing Slavery

Description:

(Constitutional Amendment and Slavery),Historically Important Petition Proposing the XIII Amendment Abolishing Slavery, Manuscript document signed, one page, November, 1864, on vellum, folio, signed by Schuyler Colfax as Speaker of the House, Hannibal Hamlin as Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate, and 110 members of Congress, many with associated designations of states; Resolution text in full: Duplicate. Thirty Eighth Congress of the United States at the Second Session begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday the Fifth day of December, One Thousand eight hundred and Sixty four. A Resolution. Submitting to the Legislatures of the several States a proposition to amend the Constitution of the United States. Resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America, In Congress assembled (two thirds of the number of both houses concurring). That the United States, which when ratified by three fourths of said Legislatures, shall be valid to all intents and purposes as a part of the said Constitution; I namely:______. Article XIII Section I. 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; Section 2._Congress shall have power to enforce this article by Appropriate Legislation. I certify that this Resolution Originated in the Senate. Secretary___, 21 3/4 x 15 5/8 in., (creasing and minor smudging, lightly faded, age-typical).

Note: The respected Abraham Lincoln scholar, the Honorable Frank J. Williams, notes: "This extremely rare holographic copy of the joint resolution of Congress proposing the XIII Amendment if one of only a few copies extant. This historic document was the formal proposal being submitted to the states for ratification on the abolishment of slavery once and for all. Passage of the Joint Resolution by Congress was so important to President Abraham Lincoln, who worked assiduously for its adoption, that he signed thirteen copies, to the ire of some in Congress as the President was not required to sign such a resolution by the legislative branch. Lincoln's home state of Illinois was the first to ratify the amendment on February 1, 1865. By the end of the Civil War twenty states had ratified it, including the slave states of Maryland, Virginia, Missouri, Louisiana, and Tennessee, but it was not until December 18, 1865 that ratification was made by three-quarters of the states.
Estimate $200,000-300,000

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