What did the abolition of slavery look like?

Emma Cartier van Dissel Kome 2TK

Introduction
Slavery was officially abolished in the United States of America in
December 1865, after having existed in the US for 245 years. The
first African slaves reached America in 1620, aboard a Dutch ship
set to arrive in Jamestown, Virginia. Almost 100 years later, In 1708,
about 3/5 of the population were blacks.

Civil War and the CSA

In 1860, when Lincoln was elected president, 7 southern states
came together to create a group called the Confederate States of
America (CSA). These 7 states- slave states- in the CSA were
Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, Florida,
and Texas. These states had decided to separate themselves from
the Union. After the civil war began in April 1861, 4 more states
joined the CSA, being Tennessee, Arkansas, Virginia, and North
Carolina. The civil war lasted 4 years, and became known as
Americas bloodiest war after 620,000 soldiers died in battle and of
diseases or starvation. In 1862, while the civil war was still in full
bloom, Congress prohibited slavery in all US territories and
authorized Lincoln and the Union to employ freed slaves into their
army.

The 13th Amendment

The 13th Amendment was passed by required 2/3 of the Republican
senate in April 1864. It states Neither slavery nor involuntary
servitudeshall exist within the United States, or any place subject
to their jurisdiction. In January 1865 The house of representatives,
which consists of mostly Democrats, passed the amendment by the
2/3 majority as well. In early December of 1865, Alabama became
the 27th state to consent to the amendment, which meant that 3/4
of all the states had approved it, thus making it the law of the land.
It was officially put into the constitution on December 18th 1865.
Slavery was formally abolished in all areas of the USA.
Who took part in the abolition of slavery?

Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the 3rd president of the United States, and he
was in office from March 1801 until March 1809. He was a slave
owner, and had acquired approximately 600 slaves through his
entire life. Jefferson himself, however, was black, as his father
was a mulatto (half white, half black). During his first term as
president, a rumour that he had fathered children with slave Sally
Hemings came out, and to this day it is still unknown whether this
was true or not. Throughout his life, Jefferson stood opposed to the
idea of slavery, calling it the Greatest threat to the survival of the
new American nation. He sought to make slavery a crime and
passed an act prohibiting slave import in 1807, and he signed it,
making it the law.

Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Honest Abe Lincoln was the 16th president of the US. His
presidency started on March 4th 1861 until his assassination on April
15th of 1865. He was the one to write and deliver the infamous
Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st 1863. The proclamation
was meant to change the legal status of over 3 million slaves to free
people, but it was not successful. The Emancipation Proclamation
was followed by the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution. Lincoln
did not live to see the 13th Amendment officially put into the
constitution, as he died just 7 months earlier.

Tom Paine
Thomas Paine was a political activist, and one of the founding
fathers of America. He was an author as well as a philosopher, and
his most famous book was titled Common Sense. He wrote an
essay titled African Slavery In America in 1774, which became one
of the first published works that was for the emancipation of slavery.
This prompted the first anti-slavery society to be formed in
Pennsylvania just a week after its publishing.
What happened after the abolition of slavery?

After the 13th Amendment

Slavery was abolished in the USA almost 35 years after England and
Canada had done so, and 15 years after France. The last slave-
carrying ship that we know of went to Cuba in 1867. Sadly, after the
abolition of slavery, things did not jump straight into the way they
are today. Lincolns successor, Andrew Johnson, was not as
interested in abolishing slavery as Lincoln was, and he did not care
about ensuring the freedom of blacks. Johnson appointed several
pro-slavery governors for southern states, creating conservative
governments. Laws were created that were designed to keep dark-
skinned people in a state of poverty and with many less rights than
whites.

Nowadays
Even today, while slavery is abolished, racism still exists all over the
world, and in the United States, even after the 13th Amendment, and
Segregation, and the Rosa Parks movement, and Martin Luther King
Jr; and Nelson Mandela. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
released statistics in 2015 showing that 47% of hate crimes
committed that year were related to race. More than 250 blacks got
shot by the police just in 2016, and when asked to take a survey by
USA Today back in 2011, approximately 86% percent of Americans
approved of Black/White marriage, leaving us the 14% that did not.
After Donald Trump was elected president in November of last year,
many people believe that racism will not lessen, if anything, it will
increase.
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Historical Society. Web. 19 Jan. 2017. <http://www.abraham-
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Constitution." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation,
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