THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.
Article V. of the Constitution of the United States clearly and distinctly sets forth the mode and manner in which that instrument may be amended, as follows:
"The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which in either case shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress."
In accordance with this article of the Constitution, the following resolution was proposed in the Senate, on February 1, 1864, adopted April 8, 1864, by a vote of 38 to 6, and was proposed in the House June 15, 1864, adopted Jan. 31, 1865, by a vote of 119 to 56:
Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two-thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following article be proposed to the Legislatures, of the several States, as an amendment to the Constitution of 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, namely:
Art. XIII. 1st. 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.
The amendment was now sent by the Secretary of State to the Governors of the several States for ratification by the Legislatures; a majority vote in three-fourths being required to make it a law of the land.
On Dec. 18, 1865, Secretary Seward officially announced to the country the ratification of the Amendment as follows:
To all to whom these presents may come, Greeting: