On This Day - December 18th 1865
Slavery is abolished in the United States of America.
The first African slaves arrived in north America in 1526, and though the practice of slavery took many years to become popular, it thrived under British colonialism. On 1 January 1808 American Congress voted to ban further importation of slaves, but children of slaves automatically became slaves themselves. There was no legislation against the internal US slave trade, or against the involvement in the international slave trade and the outfitting of ships for that trade by US citizens.
Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, was not in favour of abolition of slavery, but he opposed its expansion into new territories and states in the American West. It was this issue that led to the secession of the southern states to form the Confederate States of America, and ultimately also led to the Civil War. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 made the abolition of slavery an official war goal and it was implemented as the Union of northern states retook territory from the Confederacy. The Republican Party introduced the Thirteenth Amendment into Congress to enable the implementation of the Proclamation as the War drew to a close. When the last Confederate troops surrendered on 26 May 1865, the final ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment took place on 6 December 1865, officially ending chattel slavery in the United States. Final recognition of the amendment occurred on 18 December 1865.