Amend. XIII, § 2
Power to enforce the Thirteenth Amendment
Power
Equality & Citizenship
Amend. XI–XXVII · Later Amendments
Official text rightpowerlimitif conditionlegal term
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
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
Congress has power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.