Frequently Asked Questions
Slavery is a deep moral wrong, a violation of our best values, and a stain on our nation and its history. No person should ever be enslaved or treated as a slave for any reason.
Yes. The 13th Amendment reads, “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 exception in the 13th amendment allows actual slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States, as long as it can be described as a punishment for crime. This is a moral wrong.
- The exception has been abused before and can always be abused until it is removed.
- It means we have never fully abolished constitutional slavery in this nation, and it is past time for us to finish that task.
- The 13th Amendment was difficult to pass and the exception made it more palatable to slave states. Many states simply echo the same language in their state constitutions, or say nothing, allowing the 13th Amendment exception to stand.
- The exception was immediately exploited by many states to continue slavery in another form. Formerly enslaved people were arrested for minor crimes such as vagrancy and then put to work in conditions not much different than slavery. In 1898, for example, the state of Alabama got more than 70% of its state revenue from convict leasing, essentially another form of slavery
- Slave-like conditions still exist in many prisons, including private prisons that profit off of forced labor or warehouse bodies for profit. Slavery in any form should not be tolerated, whether in prisons, through human trafficking, through forced labor or wage theft.
- Laws allowing convict leasing were gradually phased out through the 1940s, but there is no constitutional barrier to that practice being revived. In fact, it would not clearly violate the Constitution for prisoners to be placed on an auction block and sold as slaves to the highest bidder, as long as it could be framed as punishment for crime. The abolition of slavery and involuntary servitude will never be complete until the 13th Amendment exception is gone.
Involuntary servitude is essentially slavery by another name, and it was included in the 13th Amendment for that reason. We should not allow back-door loopholes allowing slavery by calling it something else.
No, not amended directly, but it can be repealed and replaced by a new amendment that has the same language without the exception allowing slavery and involuntary servitude. This will require Congress to pass a bill with new language, and then one-third of US states will have to vote in favor of this amendment.
- The Abolish Slavery National Network supports repealing and replacing the 13th Amendment with full abolition of slavery and involuntary servitude in all circumstances. We believe that abolition should occur in all state constitutions as well.
- Amending the U.S. Constitution is not easy, and we can build awareness and momentum toward that goal with earlier impact by abolishing slavery and involuntary servitude in state constitutions, as happened in Colorado in 2018, Utah and Nebraska in 2020, and Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont in 2022.
- Abolition of slavery and involuntary servitude will provide constitutional backing for addressing and preventing slavery and slave-like conditions in any circumstances where they occur. No one should be forced to work against their will, and no one should profit from the forced labor of others.
- Changing the Constitution does not immediately create or eliminate state or federal laws, but it provides a new context for changes in law.
- It would be worth abolishing slavery and involuntary servitude even if it were primarily symbolic, as a healing symbol in divided times, and as a protection for the future.
- No. Work programs and community service can be structured in ways that do not constitute slavery or involuntary servitude, and desirable work programs or job training would clearly not be prohibited.
- Colorado abolished constitutional slavery and involuntary servitude in 2018, and it has not affected these sorts of programs.
- Whatever our criminal justice system may be, it should not be slavery or involuntary servitude.
- No. Seven states have voted to abolish slavery and involuntary servitude so far—Colorado, Utah, Nebraska, Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont—and in all three cases the initiative was bipartisan and placed on the ballot by a unanimous vote of legislators.
- 18 states have language identical to or similar to the exception in the 13th Amendment, and they need to remove the exception from their state constitutions (which 7 states have done since 2018). 25 states say nothing, and they would need to add abolition language with no exception.
- Abolition ballot measures are on the ballot this November in California and Nevada, and at least 20 other states are considering abolition.
- Read through state constitution language below.
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More than 20 states are organizing to abolish slavery in their state constitutions. CA & NV are expecting ballot initiatives in 2024, and over 15 other states are organizing for future legislation. Contact us for partnership opportunities.
List of US states that have slavery language in their constitutions:
Note: 25 states have no language whatsoever for or against slavery. Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Texas, and Virginia Abolitionists are currently advocating for legislation that adopts anti-slavery language into their state constitutions.
AMENDED TO ABOLISH SLAVERY IN 2022: That no form of slavery shall exist in this state; and there shall not be any involuntary servitude. , otherwise than for the punishment of crime, of which the party shall have been duly convicted. Alabama Constitution, Section 32
There shall be no slavery in this State, nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime. No standing army shall be kept in time of peace; the military shall, at all times, be in strict subordination to the civil power; and no soldier shall be quartered in any house, or on any premises, without the consent of the owner, in time of peace; nor in time of war, except in a manner prescribed by law. Arkansas Constitution, Article 2, Section 25.
Slavery is prohibited. Involuntary servitude is prohibited, except to punish crime. Article I, Section 6.
AMENDED TO ABOLISH SLAVERY IN 2018: There shall never be in this state either slavery or involuntary servitude. , except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. Colorado Constitution, Article 2, Section 26
There shall be no involuntary servitude within the State of Georgia except as a punishment for crime after legal conviction thereof or for contempt of court. Article I, Section 1 Paragraph XXII.
There shall be neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude, within the State, otherwise than for the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. Article 1, Section 37
There shall be no slavery in this State; nor shall there be involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime. Article I, Section 23.
There shall be no slavery in this state; and no involuntary servitude, except for the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
Slavery and involuntary servitude in this state are forbidden, except as a punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. Article I, Section 25
No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws. No law shall discriminate against a person because of race or religious ideas, beliefs, or affiliations. No law shall arbitrarily, capriciously, or unreasonably discriminate against a person because of birth, age, sex, culture, physical condition, or political ideas or affiliations. Slavery and involuntary servitude are prohibited, except in the latter case as punishment for crime. Article I, Section 3.
An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery” by a vote of 34 to 21 on March 1, 1870.
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crimes, shall ever be tolerated in this State. Article I, Section 9.
No member of this state shall be disfranchised or deprived of any of the rights or privileges secured to any citizen thereof, unless by the law of the land or the judgement of his peers. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the state, otherwise than as punishment for a crime of which the party has been convicted. Article I, Section 2
There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this State, otherwise than in the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. Article 3, Section 15
Emancipation Ordinance of Missouri
An ordinance abolishing slavery in Missouri 1/11/1865
SEC. 2. That Slavery, or involuntary servitude, except in punishment of crime, shall cease to exist in Missouri on the 4th of July, 1870 and all slaves within the State on that day are hereby declared to be free. Provided, however, that all persons emancipated by this ordinance shall remain under the control and be subject to their late owners, or their legal representatives, as servants during the following period to wit: Those over ??? years of age, for and during their lives; those under 12, until they arrive at the age of 23; and those of all other ages, until the Fourth of July, 1876. The persons, or their legal representatives, who, up to the moment of emancipation, were owners of slaves thereby freed, shall, during the period for which the services of such freedmen are reserved to them, have the same authority and control over the said freedmen for the purpose of receiving the possessions and services of the same that are now held by the master in respect of his slaves: provided, however, that after the said 4th of July, 1870, no person so held to service shall be sold to non-residents, or removed from the State by authority of his late owner, or his legal representative.
AMENDED TO REMOVE SLAVERY LANGUAGE IN 2020: There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this state. , otherwise than for punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. Nebraska Constitution, Article I, Section 2
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crimes, shall ever be tolerated in this State. Article 1, Section 17.
Slavery is forever prohibited. Involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the parties have been adjudged guilty, is forever prohibited.
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crimes, shall ever be tolerated in this State. Article 1, Section 17
There shall be no slavery in this state; nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime. Article I, Section 6.
AMENDED TO ABOLISH SLAVERY IN 2022: (1) There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this state. the State, otherwise than for the punishment of crime, of which the party shall have been duly convicted.
(2.) Upon conviction of a crime, an Oregon court or a probation or parole agency may order the convicted person to engage in education, counseling, treatment, community service or other alternatives to incarceration, as part of sentencing for the crime, in accordance with programs that have been in place historically or that may be developed in the future, to provide accountability, reformation, protection of society or rehabilitation.
Oregon Constitution, Article 1, Section 34
AMENDED TO ABOLISH SLAVERY IN 2022: Slavery and involuntary servitude ,except as punishment for a crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, are forever prohibited. are forever prohibited. Nothing in this section shall prohibit an inmate from working when the inmate has been duly convicted of a crime. Tennessee Constitution, Article 1, Section 33.
The General Assembly shall make no law recognizing the right of property in man. Tennessee Constitution, Article 1, Section 34
AMENDED TO REMOVE SLAVERY LANGUAGE IN 2020: (1) Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within this State. (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to the otherwise lawful administration of the criminal justice system. Utah Constitution, Article 1, Section 21
AMENDED TO ABOLISH SLAVERY IN 2022: That all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent, and unalienable rights, amongst which are the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety; therefore slavery and indentured servitude in any form are prohibited. therefore no person born in this country, or brought from over sea, ought to be holden by law, to serve any person as a servant, slave or apprentice, after he arrives to the age of twenty-one years, unless he is bound by his own consent, after he arrives to such age, or bound by law for the payment of debts, damages, fines, costs, or the like. Vermont Constitution, Chapter I, Article 1
There shall be neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude in this state, otherwise than for the punishment of crime, of which the party shall have been duly convicted.
1862 An Act for the Release of certain Persons held to Service or Labor in the District of Columbia
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all persons held to service or labor within the District of Columbia by reason of African descent are hereby discharged and freed of and from all claim to such service or labor; and from and after the passage of this act neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except for crime, whereof the party shall be duly convicted, shall hereafter exist in said District.
No existirá la esclavitud, ni forma alguna de servidumbre involuntaria salvo la que pueda imponerse por causa de delito, previa sentencia condenatoria.
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