Thirteenth Amendment, Section 1:

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.

Section 1 of the Thirteenth Amendment prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude in all places subject to U.S. jurisdiction.1 Since the states ratified the Amendment in 1865, the Supreme Court has decided cases interpreting the Prohibition Clause and applying it to various forms of government or private action. In particular, the Court has examined: (1) whether particular burdens imposed on individuals constitute prohibited “badges” or “incidents” of slavery;2 and (2) the meaning of “involuntary servitude.” 3

Footnotes

1

U.S. Const. amend. XIII, § 1. The Thirteenth Amendment prohibits the enslavement of all races of people. See The Slaughter-House Cases, 83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 36, 72 (1872).

2

See, e.g., The Civil Rights Cases, 109 U.S. 3, 20–22 (1883). In a pair of cases decided shortly after ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court concluded that, although the Amendment freed slaves from bondage, it did not annul contracts that private parties had entered into for the sale of slaves before ratification. Boyce v. Tabb, 85 U.S. (18 Wall.) 546, 548 (1873); Osborn v. Nicholson, 80 U.S. (18 Wall.) 654, 662–63 (1872).

3

See, e.g., Clyatt v. United States, 197 U.S. 207, 215 (1905).