In order to participate in the process of amending the Constitution it is required that two thirds of the representatives in both the House and the Senate vote in favor of all proposed amendments. Territories that were to become states in the future were not allowed to participate in the amendment process.
When the originally proposed 13th Amendment was passed by Congress in 1810, there were only 17 states and only 13 states needed to ratify the amendment for it to be added to the Constitution.
Any state admitted to the Union after it was ratified by 13 of the 17 states did not a have a right to vote on its ratification. Since Alaska and Hawaii were not states when the 17th Amendment was submitted to the states for ratification in 1913 they did not have a right to cast a vote for or against its ratification.
States that joined the Union after the ratification of an amendment automatically ratify it when they admitted as new states.
The 33 states that joined the Union after the ratification of the original 13th Amendment all had to accept the Constitution as it was written and all of the amendments.
| State | Entered Union | Year Settled |
| Delaware | Dec. 7, 1787 | 1638 |
| Pennsylvania | Dec. 12, 1787 | 1682 |
| New Jersey | Dec. 18, 1787 | 1660 |
| Georgia | Jan. 2, 1788 | 1733 |
| Connecticut | Jan. 9, 1788 | 1634 |
| Massachusetts | Feb. 6, 1788 | 1620 |
| Maryland | Apr. 28, 1788 | 1634 |
| South Carolina | May 23, 1788 | 1670 |
| New Hampshire | June 21, 1788 | 1623 |
| Virginia | June 25, 1788 | 1607 |
| New York | July 26, 1788 | 1614 |
| North Carolina | Nov. 21, 1789 | 1660 |
| Rhode Island | May 29, 1790 | 1636 |
| Vermont | Mar. 4, 1791 | 1724 |
| Kentucky | June 1, 1792 | 1774 |
| Tennessee | June 1, 1796 | 1769 |
| Ohio | Mar. 1, 1803 | 1788 |
Can states change their vote on the ratification of an amendment?
- Louisiana – June 11, 1914
- Alabama – April 11, 2002[38]
- Delaware – July 1, 2010[39] (After rejecting the amendment on March 18, 1913)
- Maryland – April 1, 2012[40][41][42]
- Rhode Island – June 20, 2014
Fourteenth Amendment were:[22]
- Connecticut – June 30, 1866
- New Hampshire – July 6, 1866
- Tennessee – July 18, 1866
- New Jersey – September 11, 1866 (rescinded ratification – February 20, 1868/March 24, 1868; re-ratified – April 23, 2003)
- Oregon – September 19, 1866 (rescinded ratification – October 16, 1868; re-ratified – April 25, 1973)
- Vermont – October 30, 1866
- New York – January 10, 1867
- Ohio – January 11, 1867 (rescinded ratification – January 13, 1868; re-ratified – March 12, 2003)
- Illinois – January 15, 1867
- West Virginia – January 16, 1867
- Michigan – January 16, 1867
- Minnesota – January 16, 1867
- Kansas – January 17, 1867
- Maine – January 19, 1867
- Nevada – January 22, 1867
- Indiana – January 23, 1867
- Missouri – January 25, 1867
- Pennsylvania – February 6, 1867
- Rhode Island – February 7, 1867
- Wisconsin – February 13, 1867
- Massachusetts – March 20, 1867
- Nebraska – June 15, 1867
- Iowa – March 16, 1868
- Arkansas – April 6, 1868
- Florida – June 9, 1868
- North Carolina – July 4, 1868 (after rejection – December 14, 1866)
- Louisiana – July 9, 1868 (after rejection – February 6, 1867)
- South Carolina – July 9, 1868 (after rejection – December 20, 1866)
If rescission by Ohio and New Jersey were invalid, South Carolina would have been the 28th State. Rescission by Oregon did not occur until later. These rescissions caused significant controversy. However, ratification by other states continued during the course of the debate:
- Alabama – July 13, 1868
On July 20, 1868, Secretary of State William H. Seward certified that if withdrawals of ratification by New Jersey and Ohio were ineffective, then the amendment had become part of the Constitution on July 9, 1868, with ratification by South Carolina.[23] The following day, Congress adopted and transmitted to the Department of State a concurrent resolution declaring the Fourteenth Amendment to be a part of the Constitution and directing the Secretary of State to promulgate it as such.[24] Both New Jersey and Ohio were named in the congressional resolution as having ratified the amendment, although Alabama was also named, making 29 states total.[25][26]
On the same day, one more State ratified:
- Georgia – July 21, 1868 (after rejection – November 9, 1866)
On July 27, Secretary Seward received the formal ratification from Georgia.[27] The following day, July 28, Secretary Seward issued his official proclamation certifying the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment.[25] Secretary Seward stated that his proclamation was "in conformance" to the resolution by Congress, but his official list of States included both Alabama and Georgia, as well as Ohio and New Jersey.[26][28]
The inclusion of Ohio and New Jersey has led some to question the validity of rescission of a ratification. The inclusion of Alabama and Georgia has called that conclusion into question. While there have been Supreme Court cases dealing with ratification issues, this particular question has never been adjudicated.
The Fourteenth Amendment was subsequently ratified:[22]
- Virginia – October 8, 1869 (after rejection – January 9, 1867)
- Mississippi – January 17, 1870
- Texas – February 18, 1870 (after rejection – October 27, 1866)
- Delaware – February 12, 1901 (after rejection – February 8, 1867)
- Maryland – April 4, 1959[29] (after rejection – March 23, 1867)
- California – May 6, 1959
- Kentucky – March 30, 1976 (after rejection – January 8, 1867)
Since Ohio and New Jersey re-ratified the Fourteenth Amendment in 2003, all U.S. states that existed during Reconstruction have ratified the amendment.
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