Ratified December 6, 1865
The first of the three "Reconstruction Amendments" passed after the Civil War. It abolishes slavery and involuntary servitude throughout the United States — with one narrow, still-debated exception for punishment of a crime — and gives Congress power to enforce the ban by law.
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.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.