Abolition of slavery
Official text rightpowerlimitif conditionlegal term
Neither slavery nor , 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.
Proposal and ratification: The thirteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Thirty-eighth Congress, on the 31st day of January, 1865, and was declared, in a proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated the 18th of December, 1865, to have been ratified by the legislatures of twenty-seven of the thirty-six States. was completed on December 6, 1865.
Simplified explanation
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.