Compare these two 13th amendments. They look very much alike, but their content could not be more different
The 1861 unratified amendment would have prevented the Federal Government from ever interfering with slavery.
The 1865 ratified amendment forever freed 4 million men and women held in bondage.
Stay tuned...
We have many more discoveries to share about emancipation and other consequences of the Civil War. Join us in November 2010, when the second half of "Discovering the Civil War" opens here in the Lawrence O'Brien Gallery of the National Archives.
