Finally!
On February 1, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln approved the Joint Resolution of Congress that would add the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and officially end slavery. The proposed Amendment was then sent to the then-36 state legislatures for ratification. On December 6, 1865, three-fourths of the states – enough to pass – ratified the proposed Amendment. Three of the no-vote states – New Jersey, Delaware and Kentucky – ratified the Amendment in the following years.
The state of Mississippi, however, did not ratify the 13th Amendment until 1995. That’s right, 1995. And even in 1995 it wasn’t made official because the state had neglected to notify the U.S. Archivist about the ratification. That didn’t happen until 2013 after Ranjan Batra, a resident of Mississippi, saw the motion picture Lincoln. He became curious to learn more about the four states that didn’t ratify the Amendment and made some inquiries. It took a movie to get Mississippi’s ratification officially documented. 1995 is shameful enough…but, 2013?!
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