Ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment

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When the 13th Amendment was first proposed in 1810 there were 17 states that participated in the Congressional Debates before it was submitted to the states for ratifi

Legislative and ratification history

 

Ratification status

  Ratified amendment

  Rejected amendment

The Titles of Nobility Amendment was introduced in the Senate by Democratic–Republican Senator Philip Reed of Maryland,^[4] was passed on April 27, 1810, by a vote of 19–5^[5] and sent to the House of Representatives for its consideration. It was passed by the House on May 1, 1810, by a vote of 87–3.^[6] Having been approved by Congress, the proposed amendment was sent to the state legislatures for ratification and was ratified by the following states:^[7]

1. Maryland – December 25, 1810
2. Kentucky – January 31, 1811
3. Ohio – January 31, 1811
4. Delaware – February 2, 1811
5. Pennsylvania – February 6, 1811
6. New Jersey – February 13, 1811
7. Vermont – October 24, 1811
8. Tennessee – November 21, 1811
9. North Carolina – December 23, 1811
10. Georgia – December 31, 1811
11. Massachusetts – February 27, 1812
12. New Hampshire – December 9, 1812

The amendment was rejected by Virginia (February 14, 1811) New York (March 12, 1812), Connecticut (May 13, 1813), and Rhode Island (September 15, 1814). No other state legislature has completed ratification action on it.

When the proposed amendment was submitted to the 17 states that existed at that time and the, ratification by 13 states was required for it to become part of the Constitution; 11 had done so by early 1812.

New Hampshire ratified it in December 1812, the proposed amendment again came within 1 state short of being ratified. No additional states ratified the proposed amendment

Louisiana, Indiana and Mississippi all became states after the 13th Amendment was proposed in1810 and were not eligible to participate in the ratification of the amendment.

On February 27, 1818, President James Monroe communicated to Congress the record shown above. He and Congress were both satisfied that the required number of ratifications had not been reached. A law, passed April 20, 1818, placed official responsibility for overseeing the amendment process into the hands of the Secretary of State, where it remained until 1950.