After 148 years, Mississippi finally ratifies 13th Amendment, which banned slavery

CBS ^ | February 18, 2013

[JerseyanExile]

The 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery, was ratified in 1865. Lawmakers in Mississippi, however, only got around to officially ratifying the amendment last month -- 148 years later -- thanks to the movie "Lincoln."

The state's historical oversight came to light after Mississippi resident Ranjan Batra saw the Steven Spielberg-directed film last November, the Clarion-Ledger reports.

After watching the film, which depicts the political fight to pass the 13th Amendment, Batra did some research. He learned that the amendment was ratified after three-fourths of the states backed it in December 1865. Four remaining states all eventually ratified the amendment -- except for Mississippi. Mississippi voted to ratify the amendment in 1995 but failed to make it official by notifying the U.S. Archivist.

Batra spoke to another Mississippi resident, Ken Sullivan, who contacted Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann about the oversight. Finally, on Jan. 30, Hosemann sent the Office of the Federal Register a copy of the 1995 resolution, and on Feb. 7, the Federal Register made the ratification official.

[Puppage]

I bet Alec Baldwin is pissed.

[Red Badger]

Banned slavery? It did not...................

[KTM rider]

Ratify, Schmatify !

who needs a constitution when you have a popular president ! Hell, he doesn't even need to be qualified as long as hes popular.

he can even murder his own people when they protest just like Lincoln did and they will make him into a folk hero because of it !

[HiTech RedNeck]

Mississippi long ago acquiesced to this... it’s not like they’ve been secretly hankering for the old slave order to come back all these years. Amendments don’t need unanimous ratification to pass. Fine for a symbolic move, I guess, but Mississippi hasn’t particularly been misbehaving.

[HiTech RedNeck]

At least naked chattel slavery, it did. The soft slavery of dependence, it didn’t.

[Da Coyote]

I’ve lived in Mississippi.

No problems.

I’d NOT live in Obamacago....evah...without armor.

Liberals are the baseline from which all intelligence and morality should be measured.

[HiTech RedNeck]

In Mississippi, the (white) rednecks generally will not give black people grief. It’s the urban jungles that are fearsome, and almost always their clashes are black-on-black.

[rockrr]

“Hey, I said we we’d get ‘round to it!”

[ZULU]

I LOVE that last line!!!

[ZULU]

I LOVE that last line!!!

[struggle]

It’s because Mississippi has a primarily Republican congress now.

[Red Badger]

Amendment XIII

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 2.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you are convicted of a 'crime' where the punishment is 'involuntary servitude' or 'slavery', it is constitutional.

So, if the Congress makes the punishment for owning an 'unlawful' weapon or light bulb.........

[Red Badger]

I was raised in Mississippi and we all got along really well, especially the poorest of us........

[re_nortex]

The beautiful state of Mississippi is among the most free and liberty-loving states in all of America as the first map below vividly illustrates:

Individual initiative, capitalism and free-enterprise are found in Mississippi and throughout all of Dixie. The slave states of the 21st Century are clustered along the west coast, the northeast and all of New England. Isn't that odd, the Yankee abolitionists were from that latter region and now slavery is enforced by the edict of law there with forced unionism. The tyranny of Big Labor and its thugs are given free reign in the new slave states.

Just as remarkable is the 2012 election map, above. The states where union thuggery is permitted by law also voted to continue the slavery of the Obama administration. The comparison between the modern free states and the modern slave states is striking. Where liberty is truly cherished, Marxism is soundly repudiated.

Unions: The new slavemasters.

[Truth29]

"It’s because Mississippi has a primarily Republican congress now."

Therefore, it will somehow be Republicans' fault that Mississippi has not taken the last step until now.

[SkyDancer]

Well then too, there are some states that never ratified the 16th. amendment. There’s plenty of back and forth on that but it’s an interesting read:http://www.givemeliberty.org/features/taxes/notratified.htm

[WKB]

Better late than never ping, I guess

[reg45]

None of the new states admitted to the union after 1867 (Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, or Hawaii) would have ratified the 13th. Amendment either. So, big deal!

[SkyDancer]

I was just saying -

[Have Ruck - Will Travel]

Same goes for me. I was raised so far back off in the sticks in deep south Mississippi that we had to pipe in sunshine and I can’t remember many problems between blacks and whites.

I grew up in a little town that was about 80% black and we all got along just fine. There were some rich folks in town, but most of our parents were just poor working folk trying to make ends meet. And my mamma would have beat me just as raw for not being polite and respectful to a black man or woman as if it was a white man or woman. It just wasn’t done. Everybody knew everybody there and we didn’t tolerate that kind of mess.

Maybe it is just the innocent memories of a child, but I remember us getting along just fine down home.

[Tea Party Terrorist]

Curses on the ancestors of those who first brought slaves to the New World.

[castlegreyskull]

This brings up a unique teenage memory from the 1990s. Michael Moore was on HBO and did a “TV Nation” on this very subject, and I watched it when I was 16 or so. It was in Alabama or Mississipi, and he even had slaves to prove a point like the jerk he is. He was fat then but it was at least 100lbs ago.

[SuziQ]

So they ratified it back in 1995. Doesn’t sound like last month to me.

[onyx]

Better late than never ping, I guess

Bump.

[Red Badger]

You ALWAYS referred to an adult, no matter the color, as MR. or MRS. Smith, etc.........

[Scoutmaster]

I remember us getting along just fine down home.

James Meredith's experience was different than your memories, as were the experiences of James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael “Mickey” Schwerner.

[Have Ruck - Will Travel]

Gee, I’m sorry but I refuse to take the blame for the actions of others that I did not encourage nor condone. I merely wrote about the town I grew up in and the way I was raised.

I really don’t care about your opinion of my home state or my town. You’ve probably never been there and for that we are thankful. However, passing your ignorance off as the opinions of a real Scoutmaster is a bit offensive. Your actions bring discredit upon you and the BSA. But, that was probably your intention in choosing that screen name in the first place.

[Scoutmaster]

I apologize if you were only talking about your hometown. In recent threads we’ve had others talking about Mississippi in general, a state I’ve visited often and with which I’m quite familiar.

[Have Ruck - Will Travel]

Thank you, I accept your apology.

However, know that Mississippi IS my home and I am very proud of her. The state hasn’t always been right, her people haven’t always been right, but it is a great place nonetheless. No state in the US has a perfect history.

To one degree or another ALL states and all groups of people have been guilty of persecution, murder, debauchery, and slavery whether legalized or just state condoned at one time or another. Judging a state or any other group of people by what has happened in their past is just another liberal way of pushing them down and keeping them in their place. Such is not appropriate in a conservative forum.