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Story · A CLOSER LOOK

“Get those votes”: the fight for abolition

January–December 1865

Black-and-white head-and-shoulders portrait of Abraham Lincoln in suit and bow tie, from the NPS history page.

ABOUT THIS STORY

The House passed the Thirteenth Amendment on January 31, 1865, after an earlier defeat. Lincoln supported the renewed effort, and the amendment went to the states for ratification.

The remembered appeal about the president’s immense power gives this story a dramatic expression. Its route through later recollection, Team of Rivals, and the film Lincoln is part of the accompanying source note. The constitutional result is the center of the page.

January–December 1865 · U.S. Capitol

How it unfolded.

Abraham Lincoln →

  1. “Get those votes”: the fight for abolition

    Lincoln presses for a constitutional end to slavery.

A CLOSER LOOK

The story behind it.

Lincoln presses for a constitutional end to slavery.

Beyond a war measure

The amendment prohibited slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime after conviction. It changed the Constitution rather than depending on the proclamation’s wartime reach.

A victory Lincoln lived to see

Lincoln witnessed congressional passage. Ratification followed in December 1865, after his death.

START HERE

Thirteenth Amendment · National Archives (opens in a new tab)

Source for “Get those votes”: the fight for abolition: Thirteenth Amendment · National Archives.

Sources for this closer lookThirteenth Amendment · National Archives (opens in a new tab)Votes (opens in a new tab)

FOLLOW THE CONNECTIONS

There’s a thread here.

HOPPER THREAD · 7 CONNECTIONS

Lincoln and Douglass: where their paths meet

The thread is about how Lincoln and Douglass were at odds and then their trajectories intertwined. Lincoln grew, and Douglass grew too. Douglass came to judge Lincoln by what a man could do in his time. The lesson is not the harshness; it is the harmony where they ended up.

Black-and-white head-and-shoulders portrait of Abraham Lincoln in suit and bow tie, from the NPS history page.Archival photograph of the crowd and platform at Lincoln’s second inauguration at the U.S. CapitolBlack-and-white seated portrait of older Frederick Douglass, with white hair, dark waistcoat, and hands visible.Black-and-white head-and-shoulders portrait of Abraham Lincoln in suit and bow tie, from the NPS history page.Black-and-white head-and-shoulders portrait of Abraham Lincoln in suit and bow tie, from the NPS history page.

Explore the original.

Follow the original source to explore the work in its own context.

Thirteenth Amendment · National Archives (opens in a new tab)Votes (opens in a new tab)

Footnotes

1. The remembered words and the film

The extended “immense power” quotation comes through Representative John B. Alley’s later account, rather than a contemporary transcript. The film stages the episode as drama. This note identifies the form of the evidence; the story concerns Lincoln’s effort to secure passage.

Votes (opens in a new tab)
Sources & credits

Introductions are grounded in the sources below. Collection notes and reading prompts provide an editorial starting point; personal opinions are identified in the collection’s content.

Black-and-white head-and-shoulders portrait of Abraham Lincoln in suit and bow tie, from the NPS history page.

National Park Service · Abraham Lincoln

Open the source (opens in a new tab)