On what date was the Thirteenth Amendment ratified, abolishing slavery in the United States?

The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified on December 6, 1865, abolishing slavery in the United States.

The amendment made slavery and involuntary servitude illegal, except as punishment for a crime. The Senate approved it on April 8, 1864, and the House of Representatives passed it on January 31, 1865. It became part of the Constitution after the required 27 of the 36 states ratified it.

Secretary of State William H. Seward formally proclaimed the amendment on December 18, 1865. That proclamation followed ratification by Georgia, which supplied the final approval needed for constitutional adoption.

The amendment differed from the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. Lincoln’s proclamation applied mainly to enslaved people in areas controlled by the Confederacy, whereas the Thirteenth Amendment created a nationwide constitutional prohibition. It was the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments adopted after the Civil War.