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. -13th Amendment
Now I'm not sure if this is funny or not just yet. I'm having a weird day, but this is all a little silly to me. We all know, well I hope we know.. that the 13th Amendment abolishes slavery. The above amendment is simple, to the point, and very easy to understand. What I can't understand is how Mississippi has managed to go 150yrs without ratifying it, and how everyone is calling that a mishap. I'd be amazed to learn of how many of these "mishaps" exist across the country.
Let's be clear. By 1865 the majority of our 36 states (at the time) had adopted the amendment. The last to do so?? You guessed it- Mississippi, and get this.. that was in 1995!!! I know, it get's more interesting. So, after a state adopts an amendment, they must do the groundwork to notify the Feds and make this whole formal acceptance or whatever. Well, Mississippi somehow never sent their resolution to the Office of Federal Register, which to say the least meant that their ratification was not official.
It wasn't until a Professor from Mississippi Medical Center, Ranjan Batra got a little curious after seeing the Lincoln movie, that this travesty was brought to better light. Unbelievable actually. 150 yrs. later and somebody just happened to be nosy enough to investigate the most segregated and racist State over our country's history to find... they haven' t abolished slavery! The sad part is I have to ask myself if I'm surprised...I'm not.
What happened you asked? Well, they sent the paper work over to the Feds and once it was officially filed... the director of the Federal Register sent Mississippi a notification that it had officially ratified the 13th Amendment- on February 7, 2013. Ridiculous.
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