[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 206 (Monday, December 7, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H6889-H6896]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            RECOGNIZING 155TH ANNIVERSARY OF 13TH AMENDMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2019, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield) is 
recognized for the remainder of the hour as the designee of the 
majority leader.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to 
the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Bass), the distinguished chair of 
the Congressional Black Caucus.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to commemorate the 155th anniversary of 
the ratification of the 13th Amendment.
  On December 18, 1865, the 13th Amendment was ratified, officially 
ending more than 256 years of enslavement in the United States for 
nearly 4 million enslaved African Americans.
  The 13th Amendment provides that: ``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.''
  After the Civil War, the 13th Amendment was the first of three 
reconstruction amendments adopted. The loophole sentence, however, 
``except as a punishment for crime,'' allowed for African Americans to 
continue cruel, involuntary labor under what is known as the Black 
Codes.
  To be enslaved, specific laws were passed to ensure that African 
Americans would be constantly arrested, and then the government would 
lease human beings out. As African Americans continued to be viewed as 
property, the government leased people out to businesses, farms, and 
other types of profit-making ventures.
  I would like to acknowledge the former chair of the Congressional 
Black Caucus, and the CBC's resident historian, to lead this Special 
Order hour acknowledging this very important anniversary.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Bass very much 
for those very kind words, and I thank her for her friendship and for 
her leadership over the last 2 years as she has led the 55 men and 
women of the Congressional Black Caucus. I certainly know from past 
experience that it is a daunting challenge to lead such a caucus. But I 
thank her so much for her leadership, and I look forward to the future 
leadership of our new chair, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty.
  Today, the Congressional Black Caucus is convening to present a 
Special Order, recognizing the 155th anniversary of the ratification of 
the 13th Amendment.


                             General Leave

  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members will have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks 
on this Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from North Carolina?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I have said for years that the passage 
and ratification of the 13th Amendment is one of the most significant 
pieces of legislation ever considered by this body. Had Congress and 
the States failed to eliminate the despicable institution of slavery, 
the American experiment would have failed and failed miserably.
  This afternoon, the Congressional Black Caucus lifts up this American 
history for the American people to see and understand.
  In the year 1860, the Republican candidate for President was Abraham 
Lincoln. Three candidates opposed Lincoln: Stephen Douglas from 
Illinois, representing the Northern wing of the Democratic Party; John 
Breckinridge from Kentucky, representing the Southern wing of the 
Democratic Party; and John Bell from Tennessee, representing the 
Constitutional Union Party.
  During this election, Mr. Speaker, the Southern States, the 
slaveholding Southern States, were very fearful that, if elected, 
Abraham Lincoln would find a way to end slavery and deprive them of 
their slaves.
  Over a period of 240 years, southern plantation owners had purchased 
African citizens who had been transshipped to the United States from 
the continent of Africa.

                              {time}  1630

  The original Constitution, which was effective March 4, 1789, 
addressed the issue of slavery. It contained a provision that would 
maintain the slave trade for at least 20 years after the ratification 
of the Constitution, until January 1, 1809. Though the legal end of the 
slave trade occurred in 1809, slave trafficking continued, to be sure.
  Slave women were impregnated by males of both races and encouraged to 
bear large numbers of children. By 1860, Mr. Speaker, there were nearly 
4 million slaves in the United States, mostly in Southern States. The 
border States of Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and West 
Virginia also had a large number of slaves.
  On November 6, 1860, Mr. Speaker, it was the Presidential election. 
The American voters spoke, and did they speak loudly. Abraham Lincoln 
became the 16th President of the United States of America, winning a 
very large number of electoral votes.
  Immediately following his election, Southern States, 11 Southern 
States began seceding from the Union, and that is the map I have here 
to my left.
  The first State to secede was South Carolina, right away, on December 
20; Mississippi, January 9; followed by Florida, Alabama, Georgia, 
Louisiana, and Texas.
  Then after those seven States had seceded from the Union, Abraham 
Lincoln takes the oath of office and becomes the 16th President of the 
United States. The oath of office took place on March 3. Today, as we 
all know, it is January 20, but during those times it was March 3.
  After Lincoln was installed and inaugurated as President, four more 
States seceded from the Union. They were Virginia, Arkansas, North 
Carolina, and Tennessee.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, the United States is faced with a constitutional 
crisis of monumental proportions. Eleven States, these 11 Southern 
States, are now considering themselves a separate nation. They refer to 
themselves as the Confederate States of America.
  The so-called Confederate States were formally created on March 11, a 
mere 8 days following Lincoln's inauguration. The Confederate States of 
America adopted a constitution. They created a currency, elected its 
political leaders, stood up a military, adopted a flag, and attempted 
to do everything a developing nation would do.
  Great tension now existed between the 23 Union States and the 11 
Confederate States. So, Mr. Speaker, we all know what happened then. On 
April 12, 1861, at 4:30 in the morning, Confederate soldiers opened 
fired upon Union soldiers at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in the city 
of Charleston, and the Civil War begins.
  It was a brutal war. Southern States had declared war on the Union. 
Thousands of soldiers lost their lives on both sides of the battle 
lines.
  President Lincoln, Mr. Speaker, became very weary. The war was taking 
its toll on him. It was taking its toll on the democracy. So on 
September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued what we now know as the preliminary 
Emancipation Proclamation, announcing that, if the rebels did not end 
the fighting and rejoin the Union by January 1, 1863, 100 days later, 
all slaves in the rebellious States would be free.
  On January 1, 1863, Lincoln did what he threatened he would do. 
President Lincoln, using his power as Commander in Chief of the 
military, issued an executive order. That order is referred to as the 
historic Emancipation Proclamation.
  Mr. Speaker, that proclamation is often recited, and I will recite it 
here today.
  It reads as follows. This is the Emancipation Proclamation. It says:
  ``On the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
eight hundred sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State 
or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in 
rebellion against the

[[Page H6890]]

United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the 
Executive Government of the United States, including the military and 
the naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of 
such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or 
any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.''
  A very powerful executive order by President Lincoln.
  But, Mr. Speaker, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was monumental. 
It proclaimed that slaves residing in the States that were in armed 
rebellion against the Union were free. Union military forces descended 
upon Southern States to quiet the rebellion and to bring freedom to the 
slaves.
  But, Mr. Speaker, there was great dispute--great dispute--among the 
legal scholars of that day as to the legal effect of the Emancipation 
Proclamation.
  Lincoln took the position that, as Commander in Chief, he possessed 
the authority to enter orders that would deprive the enemy of any 
instruments that would aid them in winning the war. The slaves were a 
major asset to the slaveholders who were in rebellion. So Lincoln took 
the position that he possessed the power, the absolute power as 
Commander in Chief, to free the slaves.
  But some scholars argued that the legal effect of the proclamation 
was doubtful. It was a singular act of the President, they said, 
without congressional approval or popular vote. There was some question 
whether the effect of the proclamation would cease at the end of the 
war, some question how the Supreme Court would rule if the President's 
order was eventually judicially reviewed.
  On April 8, 1864, right in the middle of the war, Mr. Speaker, just 
before the Presidential election, the United States Senate passed a 
13th Amendment to the Constitution, and it needed the approval of this 
body, the House of Representatives, for it to become law. But House 
approval was uncertain.
  So, 7 months later, after it had passed the Senate, 7 months later, 
on November 8, 1864, Lincoln was then reelected. Lincoln was determined 
now to take ownership of this legislation to abolish slavery. Lincoln 
demanded that this body, the House of Representatives, pass the 
legislation that had been passed by the Senate.
  Lincoln's election platform had promised that slavery would be 
abolished by amendment. Lincoln demanded action. White Northern 
abolitionists, Black abolitionists, demanded action. The war was now at 
a fever's pitch. Abolition, Mr. Speaker, had to happen.
  On January 31, 1865, finally, the House of Representatives, this 
body, finally took up the question of passage of the 13th Amendment. 
When the vote was taken that day, the 13th Amendment passed by a two-
vote margin, a two-vote margin above the needed two-thirds majority. 
The vote was 119-56.
  History reports, Mr. Speaker, that the galleries in this Chamber, the 
galleries which I see at this moment, the galleries were boisterous. 
There was applause. Women and men cried. They waived their 
handkerchiefs as the House of Representatives passed the 13th 
Amendment. It was a grand, grand event.
  Mr. Speaker, in the final vote, all 86 House Republicans voted in 
favor of the 13th Amendment, along with 15 Democrats, 14 unconditional 
Unionists, and 4 Union men. The opposition came from 50 Democrats and 6 
Union men.
  To amend the Constitution, not only does an amendment need to pass 
both Houses of Congress, but it must be ratified by three-fourths of 
the States.
  After the passage by the Senate and the House, the ratification 
process begins. On February 1, 1865, the very, very next day, the 
following day, though not required, President Lincoln signed the 13th 
Amendment, beginning ratification. It had to be ratified by 27 States.
  Ratification is now underway. The first State, as you can image, Mr. 
Speaker, was Lincoln's home State of Illinois, the very next day, 
February 1, 1865, followed by Michigan, Maryland, New York, 
Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Missouri, Maine, Kansas, Massachusetts, 
Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Nevada, Louisiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, 
Vermont, Tennessee, and Arkansas.
  And later that day, Arkansas, which is Mr. Davis' home State--I saw 
Mr. Davis walk on the floor a moment ago. Arkansas ratified the 
amendment on April 14, 1865.
  And later that day, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated here 
in Washington, D.C. But ratification continued, and they had needed six 
more States.
  On May 4, 1865, it was Connecticut, followed by New Hampshire, 
followed by South Carolina, followed by Alabama and then my home State 
of North Carolina on December 4, 1865. And then, finally, Mr. Speaker, 
on December 6 of 1865, the final State of Georgia ratified the 13th 
Amendment.
  When the State of Georgia ratified the 13th Amendment on December 6, 
1865, 245 years of slavery legally ended. Four million slaves are free. 
The former slaves now begin a long and difficult period of 
reconstruction.
  In 1868, the former slaves became citizens, with the 14th Amendment. 
They obtained the right to vote in 1870 under the 15th Amendment.
  In closing, Mr. Speaker, December 6 is Abolition Day in America, and 
we should observe it and recognize this history. As elected Members of 
Congress, Black and White, Democrat and Republican, we must rededicate 
ourselves to the complete elimination of intentional and systemic 
racism in America. Mr. Speaker, this is our challenge.
  Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield to the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Danny K. Davis).
  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, the period during which 
slavery legally existed represents the most horrific and most sordid 
period in the history of the United States; therefore, I commend and 
thank Representative G.K. Butterfield for facilitating and anchoring 
this Special Order highlighting the importance and relevance and impact 
of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments on changing America.
  Of course, we know that the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, the 
14th Amendment gave Blacks and former slaves citizenship, and the 15th 
Amendment gave newly freed slaves the right to vote.
  The period preceding, during, and after the Civil War, known as 
Reconstruction, is not only one of the most sordid, but the most 
violent and most repressive periods in our history.
  The most interesting part of all of this, though, is not yesterday. 
The most interesting part is that there are individuals and groups in 
our country today who are attempting to take us back to that period, 
and we can never let that happen.

                              {time}  1645

  In U.S. News Today, there is an article defining how some historians, 
some boards of education, some school boards have attempted to rewrite 
and teach a history that is very different than the real history.
  When you consider the number of individuals who are part of the mass 
incarceration system who are forced to work for nothing and whose 
rights are suspended, that takes us back a ways. And when you consider 
efforts to prevent and make it difficult or basically impossible for 
people to vote, that nullifies the 15th Amendment.
  So you see, Brother Butterfield, when you consider the times that we 
are in, one would have to conclude that the 13th, 14th, and 15th 
Amendments are all under serious attack, and we must glory in the fact 
that we have overcome some of the obstacles, but we also must be 
vigilant, vigilant to the extent of never going back to that period.
  We must be able to say even as a 12-year old girl said when she wrote 
a little poem that said: No chains on my hands, no chains on my feet, 
but the chains on my mind are keeping me from being free.
  So I thank you again for anchoring this Special Order, and I thank 
you for reminding us that freedom is a hard-won thing. Each generation 
has to win it and win it again.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Thank you, Congressman Davis, for your passionate 
leadership. You will recall, Congressman, that 5 years ago, President 
Obama graced us with his presence when we celebrated the 150th 
anniversary of the 13th Amendment, and your eloquence this afternoon 
really adds to that history.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

[[Page H6891]]

  

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I 
also thank the gentleman for bringing us together on such an important 
moment, and of course, as he reflected on the fact that I think we were 
together just a few years ago in the National Archives commemorating 
the importance of these amendments, but also the Emancipation 
Proclamation.
  And for those of us in Texas or in places past the Mississippi, if I 
might start with the question of freedom, we did not get the full 
impact of freedom until 1865. Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the slaves 
free with his pronouncement in 1863, and then it took General Granger 2 
years to come and present that to those of us west of the Mississippi.
  This is why I think this moment on the floor of the House, Mr. 
Speaker and Mr. Butterfield, is a sacred and somber moment. We can 
declare this a normal course of business, Mr. Mfume, that we are on the 
floor debating, as we usually do, but I really call this a sacred 
moment because it is a moment to educate the American people. It is a 
moment to go full circle, if you will, to all of the social justice 
advocacies that we have done, all of the issues that pretended to 
divide us.
  I think the reason is that, does anyone understand the legacy of 
those who are descendants of enslaved Africans?
  That we had to wait for an amendment to give us the fullness of a 
human being. We were not counted as human beings fully when the 
Constitution was written.
  Just imagine coming from a legacy where you were not counted as one, 
you were counted less than one. And until this amendment, the idea of 
slavery of which we had been property, counted as property. So I think 
it is important to read the 13th Amendment: ``Neither slavery nor 
involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the 
party shall have been fully convicted, shall exist within the United 
States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Congress shall have 
the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.''
  Think of that. Even indentured servants had a different status than 
anyone who was a descendent of enslaved Africans who came to this 
country in 1619 and a little bit before. That is what we discuss today. 
That is the issue of the 13th Amendment. And it is important to realize 
that the Framers never used the words slave, shareholder, master, or 
slavery anywhere in the Constitution. That is almost to say that we had 
no valid space even in a negative connotation.
  So to actually realize why this is so sacred, let me give you some of 
history. By 1861, when the Civil War broke out, more than four million 
people--nearly all of them African decent--were enslaved in 15 Southern 
and border States. By 1862, President Abraham Lincoln came to believe 
firmly that emancipating enslaved people in the South would help the 
Union crush the Confederate rebellion and win the Civil War. We became 
a practical part of saving the Union. We became the cornerstone, the 
descendents of enslaved Africans.
  The question of slavery was not based upon the brutality of the 
separation of families, the beating that was suffered, the sheer 
brutality of it. No, it was not that. I do not find fault for that era, 
but people need to understand that it was not because someone bowed 
their heads--they were the abolitionists--and said, Oh, how sad it is 
that human beings are being held in bondage. We became a calculating 
force.
  But look at the numbers. Four million enslaved. One would wonder why 
this is a sacred moment on the floor of the House.
  So Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which took effect in 1863, 
announced that all enslaved people held in the States--then in 
rebellion against the United States--shall be then there forward and 
forever free.
  But the Emancipation Proclamation itself did not end slavery in the 
United States, as it only applied to the 11 Confederate States then at 
war against the Union.
  Remember, we became the practical cornerstone of trying to end the 
war, to stop the rebellion, and to preserve the Union. I am glad the 
Union was preserved. I am glad we are the United States of America.
  Yet it is so crucial in the understanding of even this year of 2020, 
even understanding the horrors of George Floyd's death, what his family 
still suffers, and why there was such a rage of young people and why 
the words ``Black Lives Matter'' came because of the brutality of our 
history, and here, in the 21st century, we are still suffering from the 
inequities of those that did not understand not only the question of 
justice, but also the question of the brutality and the history of 
slavery.

  Maybe there would have been a better understanding if a little 
history was woven into where we are today. As I indicated, the 
Emancipation Proclamation did not do it because, as it said, it did not 
deal with States like Massachusetts and Ohio, to my understanding. It 
did not deal with those States.
  In April 1864, the United States Senate passed a proposed amendment 
banning slavery with the necessary two-thirds majority, but it faulted 
in the House of Representatives as more and more Democrats refused to 
support it. So it was not an easy journey.
  When Congress reconvened in December 1864, the emboldened Republicans 
put the proposed amendment up for a vote again, and Lincoln threw 
himself in the legislative process, something that gives leadership and 
substance to the idea of freeing slaves, freeing human beings.
  The Constitution now is a stronger document because, as he put 
himself into this, Lincoln and his allies see what is before you to 
focus on the most important thing that this amendment protects the 
slaves now born and in the United States, but also the millions yet to 
be born. He was committed to the passage of the 13th Amendment. He 
authorizes allies to entice House members with plum positions and other 
inducements, reportedly telling them: I leave it to you to determine 
how it shall be done, but remember that I am President of the United 
States, cloaked with immense power, and I expect you to procure the 
votes.
  The whip is on the floor, Mr. Clyburn. I am all the sudden elevated 
in my capacity as a whip because this President Lincoln was determined 
to have his agents on the floor use that authority to get what needed 
to be done. On January 31, 1865, the House of Representatives passed 
the proposed amendment with a vote of 119-56, with the required two-
thirds majority.
  Mr. Speaker, I started out by saying this is a sacred moment. I hope 
the people at home and our colleagues can see what slavery represented, 
the brutality of the back of this slave. It didn't take much to be 
whipped, whipped, and whipped. So scarred, so brutalized that you were 
almost to death. Or to see a family so like chattel, so like property, 
so demeaned. Families separated, babies separated. Children becoming 
more valuable than mom and dad; dad becoming more valuable.
  And I remember reading the Slave Narratives, and they said that a 
woman told her slave husband to come home quick from where he was 
working in another plantation because they are getting ready to sell 
their children in one place and her in another. We need you home, she 
said.
  Who would imagine that human beings would have collars around their 
necks, slavery so brutal that it was unspeakable and could not be 
heard?
  So today, as we commemorate the 155th anniversary of this important 
step, realizing that it had to go through as an amendment to all of the 
States, what a journey it was.
  I think the words of Sojourner Truth are telling, and that is why we 
fought to have her busts, her statue here when she was at an 
abolitionist meeting and someone said, Yes, sir, what do you want? And 
she said, Ain't I a woman? I born 13 children and I have seen most all 
of them sold into slavery.
  That is why we are on the floor today. We are on the floor today 
because of the continued misunderstanding of race in this Nation.
  We are on the floor today because more of us need to understand what 
H.R. 40 is all about. It is a magnificent piece of legislation that 
deals with the questions of the commission to study and develop 
reparation proposals. It is a reflection of the history of African 
Americans in this country. It is a simple process of getting a 
commission that dignifies what happened to us and

[[Page H6892]]

looks for reconciliation and restoration and proposal to deal 
systemically with the ongoing disasters that we see in our respective 
communities, from disparities in healthcare, COVID-19, housing, the 
criminal justice system, education. That is why we stand here today.
  So I thank Mr. Butterfield for yielding, and I thank this body for 
understanding this is a sacred moment.
  Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of this body and the Committee on the 
Judiciary, I am pleased to join my colleagues in this Special Order 
marking the anniversary of the passage on December 6, 1865 of the 13th 
Amendment to the Constitution and celebrating the passage of the 14th 
and 15th Amendments, known as the Civil Rights Amendments.
  I thank my colleague, Congressman Butterfield, for anchoring this 
important Special Order and am remembering our late colleague, John 
Lewis, a great and beloved man, who risked and gave his life to make 
real the promise of those amendments.
  The 13th Amendment, the first of the three great Civil War 
Amendments, was passed in 1865 and abolished slavery.
  The 14th Amendment conferred citizenship on the newly emancipated 
slaves, and the 1st Amendment prohibited abridging the right to vote on 
account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
  Taken together, these amendments were intended and have the effect of 
making former slaves, and their descendants, full and equal members of 
the political community known as the United States of America.
  By 1861, when the Civil War broke out, more than 4 million people 
(nearly all of them of African descent) were enslaved in 15 southern 
and border states.
  By 1862, President Abraham Lincoln came to believe firmly that 
emancipating enslaved people in the South would help the Union crush 
the Confederate rebellion and win the Civil War.
  Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which took effect in 1863, 
announced that all enslaved people held in the states ``then in 
rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and 
forever free.''
  But the Emancipation Proclamation itself did not end slavery in the 
United States, as it only applied to the 11 Confederate states then at 
war against the Union, and only to the portion of those states not 
already under Union control.
  To make emancipation permanent would take a constitutional amendment 
abolishing the institution of slavery itself.
  In April 1864, the U.S. Senate passed a proposed amendment banning 
slavery with the necessary two-thirds majority but it faltered in the 
House of Representatives, as more and more Democrats refused to support 
it.
  When Congress reconvened in December 1864, the emboldened Republicans 
put the proposed amendment up for vote again and Lincoln threw himself 
in the legislative process, inviting individual representatives to his 
office to discuss the amendment and putting pressure on border-state 
Unionists (who had previously opposed it) to change their position.
  Lincoln was committed to the passage of the 13th Amendment, telling 
his allies to ``see what is before you, to focus on the most important 
thing; that this Amendment protects the slaves now born and in the 
United States, but settles the question for all time for the millions 
yet to be born.''
  He authorized his allies to entice House members with plum positions 
and other inducements, reportedly telling them: ``I leave it to you to 
determine how it shall be done; but remember that I am President of the 
United States, clothed with immense power, and I expect you to procure 
those votes.''
  On January 31, 1865, the House of Representatives passed the proposed 
amendment with a vote of 119-56, just over the required two-thirds 
majority, and the following day, Lincoln approved a joint resolution of 
Congress submitting it to the state legislatures for ratification.
  Mr. Speaker, the United States is the world's only superpower and 
boasts the largest economy in the history of the world and for many 
years was the world's indispensable nation and the example that all 
aspiring democracies wished to emulate.
  But at the same time, this nation has also been home to many searing 
instances of social unrest resulting from racial injustices, as we 
witnessed this year on the streets of big cities and small towns in 
urban and rural communities.
  We saw Americans, by the millions across the country, coming from all 
races and ages, engaging in what the late John Lewis called ``good 
trouble'' by protesting and demanding an end to the systemic racial 
inequality in our criminal justice system that too often victimizes and 
disproportionately treats black Americans worse, ceteris paribus, when 
it comes to suspicion, apprehension, arrest, detention, trial, 
sentencing, and incarceration.
  While the brutal deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breanna 
Taylor in Louisville shocked the conscience of the nation, most black 
Americans will tell you what they experienced is not new, but has been 
occurring for generations, if not centuries.
  What is critically important to understand is that the instances of 
brutal and unfair treatment the nation has witnessed this year cannot 
be attributed to the proverbial few ``bad apples in the bushel'' but is 
instead the foreseeable consequence of systemic racism and racial 
inequality in the system.
  Not just the criminal justice system, but the health care system, the 
economic system, and the educational system to name the most glaring 
examples.
  To find our way out of this dark time, we need to understand how it 
came to be.
  That is why in January 2019, I introduced H.R. 40, which establishes 
a commission to examine slavery and discrimination in the colonies and 
the United States from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate 
remedies.
  Among other requirements, the commission shall identify (1) the role 
of federal and state governments in supporting the institution of 
slavery; (2) forms of discrimination in the public and private sectors 
against freed slaves and their descendants; and (3) lingering negative 
effects of slavery on living African-Americans and society.
  Official slavery ended with the Civil War and ratification of the 
Thirteenth Amendment.
  But unofficial slavery was continued with the new institution of 
sharecrop farming, a criminal justice system that would press convicts 
into work once done by slaves, and labor policies that dictated income 
for work done based upon skin color.
  And, of course, all of this was reinforced by the systematic 
disenfranchisement of black Americans, the ``discrete and insular 
minority'' excluded from ``those political processes ordinarily to be 
relied upon to protect'' them, to quote Chief Justice Hughes' famous 
Carolene Products Footnote 4.
  For these reasons, the history of the United States is intertwined 
with the history of enslaved Africans in the Americas.
  There is blood and there are tears, but there is also redemption and 
reconciliation.
   But to get there, we must have the complete truth and lay our 
history bare.
  It is the light that sheds the way to the more perfect union all 
Americans want .
  The Commission created and empowered by H.R. 40 is a necessary first 
step in that effort to get to truth and reconciliation about the 
Original Sin of American Slavery that is necessary to light the way to 
the beloved community we all seek.
  Finally, I join all my colleagues in pointing out that the most 
fitting and proper means of paying tribute to the beloved John Lewis's 
extraordinary life is for the Senate to immediately take up and pass 
the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, landmark legislation to 
protect the precious right to vote for all persons and to ensure that 
our democracy has the tools needed to remain strong.
  Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of this body and the Committee on the 
Judiciary, I am pleased to join my colleagues in this Special Order 
marking the anniversary of the passage on December 6, 1865 of the 13th 
Amendment to the Constitution and celebrating the passage of the 14th 
and 15th Amendments, known as the Civil Rights Amendments.
  I thank my colleague, Congressman Butterfield, for anchoring this 
important Special Order and am remembering our late colleague, John 
Lewis, a great and beloved man, who risked and gave his life to make 
real the promise of those amendments.
  The 13th Amendment, the first of the three great Civil War 
Amendments, was passed in 1865 and abolished slavery.
  The 14th Amendment conferred citizenship on the newly emancipated 
slaves, and the 15th Amendment prohibited abridging the right to vote 
on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
  Taken together, these amendments were intended and have the effect of 
making former slaves, and their descendants, full and equal members of 
the political community known as the United States of America.
  Section 2 of the 14th Amendment is noteworthy because it did two 
important things.
  First, it repealed Article I, Section 2, which counted slaves as 3/5 
of a person for purposes of taxation and apportionment of seats in the 
House of Representatives.
  Second, it punished states that denied the right to vote to any male 
citizen over the age of 21 (who was neither a felon nor had fought on 
the side of the Confederacy during the Civil War) by reducing their 
population for purposes of representation in Congress.
  The Framers knew then, and everyone knows now, that the male citizens 
over the age of 21 who were being denied the right to vote were the 
former slaves.

[[Page H6893]]

  The Framers of the 14th Amendment also knew which states were denying 
these citizens the right to vote.
  The Framers could have identified those states by name but elected 
not to do so.
  They chose not to do so because that would have required them to 
despoil the sanctity and revolutionary character of the Constitution by 
having to acknowledge explicitly that slavery had existed legally in a 
country founded on the ``self-evident truth'' that ``all men are 
created equal.''
  It is for this reason that the Framers never used the words 
``slave,'' ``slaveholder,'' ``master,'' or ``slavery'' anywhere in the 
original Constitution.
  The single reference in the Amendments is the declaration in the 13th 
Amendment that ``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.''
  The reason this is important is because it shows that when it comes 
to matters of race and politics in America, the Framers and Congress 
have always been masters of writing in code so as not to bruise the 
feelings or upset the tender sensibilities of their fellow citizens in 
the Southern states.
  The Framers and Congress were practiced in the art of expressing 
their true views and achieving their objectives without enshrining in 
the Constitution or laws the fact that certain of their countrymen 
trafficked in racism.
  By 1861, when the Civil War broke out, more than 4 million people 
(nearly all of them of African descent) were enslaved in 15 southern 
and border states.
  By 1862, President Abraham Lincoln came to believe firmly that 
emancipating enslaved people in the South would help the Union crush 
the Confederate rebellion and win the Civil War.
  Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which took effect in 1863, 
announced that all enslaved people held in the states ``then in 
rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and 
forever free.''
  But the Emancipation Proclamation itself did not end slavery in the 
United States, as it only applied to the 11 Confederate states then at 
war against the Union, and only to the portion of those states not 
already under Union control.
  To make emancipation permanent would take a constitutional amendment 
abolishing the institution of slavery itself.
  In April 1864, the U.S. Senate passed a proposed amendment banning 
slavery with the necessary two-thirds majority but it faltered in the 
House of Representatives, as more and more Democrats refused to support 
it.
  When Congress reconvened in December 1864, the emboldened Republicans 
put the proposed amendment up for vote again and Lincoln threw himself 
in the legislative process, inviting individual representatives to his 
office to discuss the amendment and putting pressure on border-state 
Unionists (who had previously opposed it) to change their position.
  Lincoln was committed to the passage of the 13th Amendment, telling 
his allies to ``see what is before you, to focus on the most important 
thing; that this Amendment protects the slaves now born and in the 
United States, but also the millions yet to be born.''
  He authorized his allies to entice House members with plum positions 
and other inducements, reportedly telling them: ``I leave it to you to 
determine how it shall be done; but remember that I am President of the 
United States, clothed with immense power, and I expect you to procure 
those votes.''
  On January 31, 1865, the House of Representatives passed the proposed 
amendment with a vote of 119-56, just over the required two-thirds 
majority, and the following day, Lincoln approved a joint resolution of 
Congress submitting it to the state legislatures for ratification.
  Mr. Speaker, let me recite the opening sentence of Section 1 of the 
14th Amendment: ``All persons born or naturalized in the United States 
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United 
States and of the State wherein they reside.''
  This text was and is a clear repudiation of the infamous Supreme 
Court's 1857 decision in Dred Scott, in which Chief Justice Roger Taney 
wrote that a black man, was so inferior to the white man that he had no 
rights the white man was bound to respect, and could never, even if 
born free, claim rights of citizenship under the federal constitution.
  The next clause in Section 1 states: ``No State shall make or enforce 
any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of 
the United States.''
  This greatly expanded the civil and legal rights of all American 
citizens by protecting them from infringement by the states as well as 
by the federal government.
  The third clause, ``nor shall any State deprive any person of life, 
liberty or property, without due process of law,'' expanded the due 
process clause of the Fifth Amendment to apply to the states as well as 
the federal government.
  Over time, this clause has been interpreted to guarantee a wide array 
of rights against infringement by the states, including those 
enumerated in the Bill of Rights (freedom of speech, free exercise of 
religion, right to bear arms, etc.) as well as the right to privacy and 
other fundamental rights not mentioned elsewhere in the Constitution.
  Finally, the ``equal protection clause'' (``nor deny to any person 
within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws'') was clearly 
intended to stop state governments from discriminating against black 
Americans, and over the years would play a key role in many landmark 
civil rights cases.
  It should be noted also, Mr. Speaker, that Section 2 of the 14th 
Amendment authorized the federal government to punish states that 
violated or abridged their citizens' right to vote by proportionally 
reducing the states' representation in Congress, and mandated that 
anyone who ``engaged in insurrection'' against the United States could 
not hold civil, military, or elected office (without the approval of 
two-thirds of the House and Senate).
  And Section 5 of the 14th Amendment gave Congress ``the power to 
enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.''
  In giving Congress power to pass laws to safeguard the sweeping 
provisions of Section 1, in particular, the 14th Amendment effectively 
altered the balance of power between the federal and state governments 
in the United States.
  Nearly a century later, Congress would use this authority to pass 
landmark civil rights legislation, including the Civil Rights Act of 
1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
  The 15th Amendment granting African-American men the right to vote 
was adopted into the U.S. Constitution in 1870.
  The 15th Amendment states: ``The right of citizens of the United 
States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or 
by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of 
servitude.''
  Despite the amendment, by the late 1870s discriminatory practices 
were used to prevent blacks from exercising their right to vote, 
especially in the South.
  It wasn't until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that legal barriers 
were outlawed at the state and local levels if they denied African-
Americans their right to vote under the 15th Amendment.
  Mr. Speaker, the United States is the world's only superpower and 
boasts the largest economy in the history of the world and for many 
years was the world's indispensable nation and the example that all 
aspiring democracies wished to emulate.
  But at the same time, this nation has also been home to many searing 
instances of social unrest resulting from racial injustices, as we 
witnessed this year on the streets of big cities and small towns in 
urban and rural communities.
  We saw Americans, by the millions across the country, coming from all 
races and ages, engaging in what the late John Lewis called ``good 
trouble'' by protesting and demanding an end to the systemic racial 
inequality in our criminal justice system that too often victimizes and 
disproportionately treats black Americans worse, ceteris paribus, when 
it comes to suspicion, apprehension, arrest, detention, trial, 
sentencing, and incarceration.
  While the brutal deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breanna 
Taylor in Louisville shocked the conscience of the nation, most black 
Americans will tell you what they experienced is not new, but has been 
occurring for generations, if not centuries.
  What is critically important to understand is that the instances of 
brutal and unfair treatment the nation has witnessed this year cannot 
be attributed to the proverbial few ``bad apples in the bushel'' but is 
instead the foreseeable consequence of systemic racism and racial 
inequality in the system.
  Not just the criminal justice system, but the health care system, the 
economic system, and the educational system to name the most glaring 
examples.
  To find our way out of this dark time, we need to understand how it 
came to be.
  That is why in January 2019, I introduced H.R. 40, which establishes 
a commission to examine slavery and discrimination in the colonies and 
the United States from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate 
remedies.
  Among other requirements, the commission shall identify (1) the role 
of federal and state governments in supporting the institution of 
slavery; (2) forms of discrimination in the public and private sectors 
against freed slaves and their descendants; and (3) lingering negative 
effects of slavery on living African-Americans and society.
  Official slavery ended with the Civil War and ratification of the 
Thirteenth Amendment.
  But unofficial slavery was continued with the new institution of 
sharecrop farming, a criminal justice system that would press convicts 
into work once done by slaves, and labor policies

[[Page H6894]]

that dictated income for work done based upon skin color.
  And, of course, all of this was reinforced by the systematic 
disenfranchisement of black Americans, the ``discrete and insular 
minority'' excluded from ``those political processes ordinarily to be 
relied upon to protect'' them, to quote Chief Justice Hughes' famous 
Carolene Products Footnote 4.
  For these reasons, the history of the United States is intertwined 
with the history of enslaved Africans in the Americas.
  There is blood and there are tears, but there is also redemption and 
reconciliation.
  But to get there, we must have the complete truth and lay our history 
bare.
  It is the light that sheds the way to the more perfect union all 
Americans want.
  The Commission created and empowered by H.R. 40 is a necessary first 
step in that effort to get to truth and reconciliation about the 
Original Sin of American Slavery that is necessary to light the way to 
the beloved community we all seek.
  Finally, I join all my colleagues in pointing out that the most 
fitting and proper means of paying tribute to the beloved John Lewis's 
extraordinary life is for the Senate to immediately take up and pass 
the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, landmark legislation to 
protect the precious right to vote for all persons and to ensure that 
our democracy has the tools needed to remain strong.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Congresswoman for 
delineating the important difference between the Emancipation 
Proclamation and the 13th Amendment. The Proclamation was a heroic 
action of President Lincoln; the 13th amendment was a historic action 
of this Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. 
Clyburn), the Democratic whip of the House.
  Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Butterfield for 
yielding to me to talk on this very momentous occasion. I thank him for 
bringing attention to this issue, the 155th anniversary of the 
ratification of the 13th Amendment.
  Now, having not listened to all of the discussion before, and I hope 
I am not too repetitive here, but I want to bring to the attention of 
all here this evening and our listeners two conflicting events.

                              {time}  1700

  Now, we often hear talk of the Emancipation Proclamation. The fact of 
the matter is, there were two Emancipation Proclamations, the first one 
freeing the formerly enslaved living in the District of Columbia, and 
that became effective upon its signing in 1862.
  The second one, also written in 1862 and signed by President Abraham 
Lincoln, was to become effective January 1, 1863, and that was to free 
the other enslaved people in the former slave States, which meant that 
in those States that did not have officially sanctioned slavery but did 
have slaves, in order for them to be free and in order for the 
descendants of those from the District of Columbia and those affected 
by those two proclamations, we needed a constitutional amendment, 
because as we know, executive orders could very well change with the 
next executive.
  So Abraham Lincoln set out to lay the groundwork for the Thirteenth 
Amendment, and so we are here celebrating the 155th anniversary of 
that.
  But we also this week will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of 
another momentous event. 150 years ago come Saturday, we will 
commemorate the swearing in to this august body the first African 
American to serve in the United States Congress, Joseph H. Rainey.
  Joseph Rainey was from Georgetown, South Carolina, and early in his 
life moved to Charleston. He worked as a barber. His father was a 
barber, and he took up the barbering trade, and made enough money as a 
barber to purchase his and his family's freedom.
  Now, the interesting thing about this is that I often talk about the 
French historian Alexis de Tocqueville, who came to this country in the 
1830s to study our penal system, but while here, he saw what he 
considered to be a certain magic about this country. Back around 1836, 
he wrote a book, a two-volume book, called ``Democracy in America.''
  Now, de Tocqueville, in trying to figure out what it was that he 
considered to be magical about this country, wrote in those books this 
little phrase:

       America is not great because it is more enlightened than 
     any other nation . . .

  Just think about that, not more enlightened than any other nation, 
because we had slavery. This was the 1830s. That was not an enlightened 
institution.
  But, he said:

       . . . rather, because it has always been able to repair its 
     faults.

  Just think about that. De Tocqueville said that this country is great 
because it is able to repair its faults, writing that at a time when we 
had slavery in this country in the 1830s. It was some 30 years later 
when slavery was abolished.
  Now, the thing that I like to point out is the fact that we talk 
about all of these things that happened during Reconstruction, and most 
times the things we are talking about did not happen during 
Reconstruction, they happened after Reconstruction.
  Reconstruction was ushered in by the freeing of slaves in 1863. It 
came to an end in 1877 when Rutherford B. Hayes removed all of the 
Federal oversight and this country lapsed into a period that we call 
the Jim Crow era starting around 1877 and lasting all the way up to 
Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
  Now, I wanted to point that out tonight as we celebrate these 
milestones in our history, the 155th anniversary of the Thirteenth 
Amendment and we will be celebrating this week the 150th anniversary of 
the first African American to come to this august body. But I want to 
point out something interesting about that.
  The last African American to serve in that century, to serve in this 
body, left Congress in 1897, George Washington Murray, the last from 
South Carolina.
  Now, I know G.K. Butterfield will get up and tell you about 1901, 
when Mr. White left the Congress and left with that great speech, Like 
the Phoenix, but in South Carolina, the first State to give an African 
American to this body, the last one, George Washington Murray, left in 
1897, and there was not another person of color to represent South 
Carolina until I got elected in 1992, 95 years later.
  Why? Because of something called voter suppression.
  I think that a lot of these former slave States have gone back into 
history and ripped out the textbooks, and we are seeing voter 
suppression being practiced today much like it was practiced back in 
the 19th century when they successfully removed all people of color 
from elective office.
  So I want to thank G.K. Butterfield for bringing attention to this 
today. It gives us an opportunity to ask the people of the country to 
really think about this period of time and think about what we are 
experiencing today.
  Think about what is going on in the State of Georgia today, when we 
see interposition and nullification falling from the lips of the 
President of the United States in trying to overturn an election, much 
like they did that ran all Blacks out of Congress and much as they did 
that took Blacks out of elective office, took Blacks out of schools to 
be educated, all those things, and made it illegal for people of color 
to even get an education.
  I would hope that during this period of time, the people of this 
country will think a little bit about what is going on around us and 
just remember there is precedence for what the President of the United 
States is doing today.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Clyburn very much for his 
comments tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, I would inquire how much time is remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. 
Butterfield) has 12 minutes remaining.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I have 12 minutes remaining and I have 
four speakers. I will try to divide it up 3 minutes each.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Bishop).
  Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North 
Carolina (Mr. Butterfield) for allowing me to share in this 
commemoration.
  I rise to commemorate the 155th anniversary of the ratification of 
the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
  155 years ago, slavery was abolished in the United States after 
Georgia's State legislature ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, pushing 
it over the

[[Page H6895]]

three-fourths requirement. This was a monumental step for civil rights 
in America, the first of three constitutional amendments during the 
Reconstruction period that sought equality for the former slaves and 
their descendants, Black Americans.
  Unfortunately, we know that these amendments did not achieve 
equality, and in fact outraged many of the former slaveholders.
  Slavery was the backbone of the southern economy and way of life. 
Systems like that do not disappear overnight.
  After slavery was abolished, sharecropping came in its place; in 
theory, free and fair, but in practice, anything but.
  The Ku Klux Klan was organized by former Confederate officers to 
violently keep Black people in their places.
  The exception written into the Thirteenth Amendment that allowed 
involuntary servitude as a punishment upon conviction of a crime gave 
rise to what was known as the chain gang: free prison labor, which 
still exists in many places today.
  Although the Thirteenth Amendment passed, southern legislatures 
enacted Black Codes and Jim Crow laws, legislation that technically 
abided by the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, but 
still allowed discrimination against Black Americans, maintaining white 
supremacy and still giving White Americans preferential treatment.
  This persisted up through the second half of the 20th century and 
persisted until the blood, sweat, and tears of the civil rights 
movement in the 1950s and 1960s. John Lewis,  Jim Clyburn, Bennie 
Thompson, Hosea Williams, Joe Lowery, Medgar Evers put their lives on 
the line to stand up for the humanity of Black Americans.
  We often hear that slavery has been over for a long time, 155 years. 
It may be long for an individual, but not for a nation. But we should 
make clear and make no mistake about it that the legacy of slavery 
still haunts America and it still handicaps our ability to realize the 
noble principles that this country stands for, that all men are created 
equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, 
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, keeping in mind that we 
have made a lot of progress, but we are not where we need to go. There 
is still much work to do.
  Mr. Speaker, I challenge my colleagues in this body to keep in mind 
and ask themselves a question: What are we doing today to make America 
a more perfect union for the next 155 years?
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters), 
the distinguished chairman of the Committee on Financial Services.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend and colleague, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield), for yielding, and I 
commend him for organizing this Special Order on the 155th anniversary 
of the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of 
the United States and the important relationship between the 
Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments.
  Since our founding, the United States has been engaged in a constant 
struggle to realize the full promise and potential of our founding 
principles, most especially the right for all people, regardless of 
race, color, or gender, to vote and participate in our democracy.
  Mr. Speaker, despite the fact it has been more than 150 years from 
the passage of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, I 
was absolutely horrified by the level of voter suppression that took 
place in the last election.
  The President and some Members of this body falsely claim that there 
was voting fraud, while courts have dismissed 43 cases the President's 
legal team has brought.
  What is underappreciated and not discussed is the lengths the 
President and Republicans and States across the country went to to stop 
minorities from voting: fake vote-by-mail boxes, racist robocalls 
encouraging Blacks not to vote by mail, and the President's absolute 
sabotage of the United States Postal Service to stop people from 
voting.
  Mr. Speaker, the next Congress and the new administration must come 
together to strengthen voting rights next year. We cannot wait.

                              {time}  1715

  Those who fought and died for the right to vote must be remembered, 
and we honor their work by ensuring future generations have the right 
to vote.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. How much time remains, Mr. Speaker?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from North Carolina has 6 
minutes remaining.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Georgia 
(Mrs. McBath).
  Mrs. McBATH. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from North Carolina, 
Representative Butterfield, for yielding.
  Yesterday, we observed the anniversary of the ratification of the 
13th Amendment, which provided that ``neither slavery nor involuntary 
servitude . . . shall exist within the United States.''
  It was one of the most dramatic expansions of civil rights in 
American history, and for the first time, our Constitution made mention 
of the institution of slavery.
  155 years ago, the self-evident truth that all men are created equal 
had not been fully realized. But with every generation, with every 
chapter written in America's story, the people of this Nation have 
fought to secure the unalienable rights which were endowed by our 
Creator.
  As we enter a new era, we must not forget that we stand on the 
shoulders of those who came before us, giants like John Lewis, Elijah 
Cummings, and C.T. Vivian who helped pave the way for millions of 
little boys and little girls who believed that they could do anything 
that they set their minds to, that they could become whomever they 
wanted to be.
  155 years after slavery, we reflect on how far this Nation has truly 
come. There are many who lived a century ago who would not believe that 
America today would welcome the great-grandchildren of slaves to serve 
their communities and their country and our government.
  We commemorate that long march toward justice and celebrate all who 
have played a role in making the lives of their children better than 
their own.
  Today, and every day, we must continue the work of all those whose 
shoulders we now stand upon. We must continue to strive toward that 
more perfect Union, toward a future free from hatred, bigotry, and 
violence.
  The work we do in this Chamber can advance the cause for freedom, 
justice, and peace. Each and every day, I pray that we continue to rise 
to meet that moment.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her very 
powerful words.
  At this time, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Mfume).
  Mr. MFUME. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for 
convening us to commemorate this 155th anniversary of the ratification 
of our 13th Amendment.
  It is difficult sometimes for many of us to look back at history 
because it was so painful, but it is important so that we understand 
where we are and how we got here.
  The enslavement of the Negro, the extermination of the Indian, the 
annexation of the Hispanic made, in many respects, the birth of our 
Republic an iniquitous conception. It was conceived under the concept 
that White men were superior to Black men and, therefore, entitled to 
oppress them, harass them, and, if necessary, destroy them.
  We all talk about, as has been mentioned here today, the words of the 
Declaration of Independence and how this is a nation that believes that 
all men and women are created equal and that we are endowed by our 
Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among those shall be 
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
  But the great historian John Hope Franklin reminded us that, many 
years after those words were written, we still existed in a society 
where slavery was the order of the day. In fact, it was the great 
historian John Hope Franklin who referred to it as the great evil 
institution of American servitude.
  It would be the 13th Amendment that would, to a large extent, end 
that and give us what we are celebrating here today.

[[Page H6896]]

  But even after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, it was 
still several years before we got to the 13th Amendment, which ended 
slavery; the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed citizenship and due 
process; and then the 15th Amendment, which gave us and ratified for us 
the right to vote.
  I think that, without a doubt, when we look back on all that has 
happened, particularly considering how we got here, that this 
commemoration is important. It is overdue. It ought to be an annual 
celebration.
  I, again, thank the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina for 
convening us.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman from North 
Carolina has expired.
  Ms. JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the 
155th anniversary of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the 
United States of America. Passed by the House of Representatives on 
January 31, 1865, the 13th Amendment was ratified and put into effect 
on December 6, 1865.
  Section 1 of the 13th Amendment states, ``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.''
  This amendment is what allows Black people the legal status to be 
free, unbound, and unchained here in our country. If this amendment 
were not in place, we would still be slaves and subject to the forced 
subjugation of others. Before the ratification of this amendment, Black 
people in the U.S. were enslaved and owned by other people. Now, we are 
owned by no one.
  This legacy in the U.S., this original sin, is recognized as an 
abomination to mankind. As I travel throughout the world, I am reminded 
of the greatness of our nation, but I am also intensely aware of the 
faults, shortcomings, and injustices that still plague us today. It is 
a sad reflection on our society that we are still fighting for complete 
and pure freedom in our country, to share in the fundamental rights 
guaranteed by our constitution to every person.
  It is without question that we love this country and for most people, 
know no other place to call home. We have struggled, fought, and even 
died along the path to freedom. Our very existence has been met with 
severe hardships. No one today can imagine the horrors that slaves were 
subjected to daily.
  However, there are those who, even today, say that slavery for Black 
people was a good thing and a blessing in disguise. This errant view is 
void of reality and ridiculous on its face.
  The evils of slavery are too many to comprehensively and adequately 
express. There are thousands of helpless people who were bound, 
shackled, whipped, quartered, hung, burned and endured unspeakable 
horrors whose stories will never be told.
  The lasting effects of slavery permeate many aspects of society 
today. Institutionalized racism, discrimination and prejudices are each 
lasting remnants of our history and are present with us even now. Our 
challenge is to continue to fight to wipe out these insidious vestiges 
of a time long passed and a gruesome period of every day American life.
  Our nation will be forever stained with the blood of slavery. Our 
nation will be forever blessed by the freedom and liberty that the 
ratification of the 13th Amendment brings. Let us continue the never 
ending fight for freedom as we move towards prosperity for everyone.
  While the 13th Amendment legally ended slavery in the United States, 
we know that for many it did not end in 1865. Thousands of Black people 
were either uninformed of their liberty or just outright denied their 
rights to be free. They were forced into continued servitude and 
grueling work to support the needs of their owners and masters. In 
Texas, word of freedom and liberation from the slave owners and masters 
of plantations and farms did not reach Black people until a whole two 
years later.
  Slavery in the United States was not just a way of life, but an 
oppressive institution that was designed to profit off of the free 
labor of Black folk. It was extremely prosperous. It is without 
question that our nation was built on the backs of Black people who 
continuously suffered the indignities, degradation and humiliation of 
being enslaved.
  We cannot afford to rest, sleep or be caught off guard. Even though 
the 13th Amendment is in place, it does not mean that it cannot be 
changed. All we truly have to do is look at the last administration and 
its constant attacks on the freedom of people in the U.S. and its 
attacks on our democratic institutions. Our freedom must be protected.
  Please allow me to briefly turn my attention to the relationship 
between the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. The 13th, 14th, and 15th 
Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, proposed after the Civil War, 
granted enslaved Black people freedom, citizenship, and the right to 
vote. The 15th Amendment declared that the right of U.S. citizens to 
vote could ``not be abridged or denied'' by any state'' on account of 
race, color, or previous condition of servitude.'' These rights are 
still being attacked by those who would deny all people of color 
freedom, citizenship and the fundamental right to vote. The third and 
final Amendment during the Reconstruction Era--was adopted to protect 
the freedoms outlined in the 13th and 14th Amendments. Make no 
mistake--Reconstruction for Black people was devastating and a gross 
erosion of rights that were supposed to be guaranteed.
  Mr. Speaker, our country is no longer divided between free states and 
slave states. We are now one. While we take this time to recognize and 
celebrate this critical benchmark in the history of our country, we 
must continue to fight to be the land of the free.

                          ____________________