Thirteenth Amendment Display April 14, 2012

In conjunction with Richmond’s citywide Civil War & Emancipation Day activities, the Virginia Historical Society (VHS) will display an original congressional copy of the Thirteenth Amendment Resolution that ended slavery in the United States. The rare document is one of only thirteen copies signed by President Abraham Lincoln, Vice President Hannibal Hamlin, thirty-seven senators, and 111 congressmen who supported the resolution. The permanent emancipation of all slaves required a constitutional amendment which was ratified by the states in December 1865.
Lincoln signed this copy of the Thirteenth Amendment Resolution in early February 1865, just two months before he was assassinated. There are only six surviving congressional copies of the Thirteenth Amendment signed by Lincoln and members of both houses of Congress who voted in favor of the resolution. This document has never before been displayed in Virginia.