United States.

%482. The Thirteenth Amendment%.--This amendment was sent out to the
states by Congress in February, 1865, and was necessary to complete the
work begun by the Emancipation Proclamation. That proclamation merely
set free the slaves in certain parts of the country, and left the right
to buy more untouched. Again, certain slave states (Delaware, Maryland,
West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri) had not seceded, and in them slavery
still existed. In order, therefore, to abolish the institution of
slavery in every state in the Union, an amendment to the Constitution
was necessary, as many of the states could not be relied on to abolish
it within their bounds by their own act. The amendment was formally
proclaimed a part of the Constitution on December 18, 1865.[1]

[Footnote 1: Before an amendment proposed by Congress can become a part
of the Constitution, it must be accepted or ratified by the legislatures
of three fourths of all the states. In 1865 there were thirty-six states
in the Union, and of these, sixteen free, and eleven slave states
ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, and so made it part of the
Constitution. When an amendment has been ratified by the necessary
number of states, the President states the fact in a proclamation.]

%483. Treatment of the Freedmen in the South%.--Had the Southern
legislatures stopped here, all would have been well. But they went on,
and passed a series of laws concerning vagrants, apprentices, and
paupers, which kept the negroes in a state of involuntary servitude, if
not in actual slavery.

To the men of the South, who feared that the ignorant negroes would
refuse to work, these laws seemed to be necessary. But by the men of the
North they were regarded as signs of a determination on the part of
Southern men not to accept the abolition of slavery. When, therefore,
Congress met in December, 1865, the members were very angry because the
President had reconstructed the late Confederate states in his own way
without consulting Congress, and because these states had made such
severe laws against the negroes.

%484. Congressional Plan of Reconstruction%.--As soon as the two
houses were organized, the President and his work were ignored, the
senators and representatives from the eleven states that had seceded
were refused seats in Congress, and a series of acts were passed to
protect the freedmen.

One of these, enacted in March, 1866, was the "Civil Rights" Bill, which
gave