Freedom for all

The thirteenth amendment of the United States Constitution was passed on January 31, 1865; making slavery and indentured servitude illegal. Reading; “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.” Passed towards the end of the American Civil War, this amendment resolved a fraction of what was known as the United States’ greatest shame… slavery. While over a century later racial discrimination is still irrefutably present in American society, the thirteenth amendment made an enormous stride in racial equality. Later followed by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, just shy of ONE HUNDRED years later, it was set into law that “outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, required equal access to public places and employment, and enforced desegregation of schools and the right to vote.”

There are not as many prevalent Supreme Court cases addressing the thirteenth amendment since its passing in 1865, but of course, instances still exist. Such as Bailey vs. Alabama from 1911; Bailey was contracted to work on a farm for $12 a month for an entire year, but quit after one month and did not return his $15 he received as an advance. This was seen as a criminal act in Alabama and Bailey was sentenced to 136 days of hard labor under Alabama Peonage Law (forced labor to repay a debt). This forced labor violated the thirteenth amendment of the United States’ Constitution. The Supreme Court ruled that the law was a restriction on personal rights and that the law violated the thirteenth amendment.

Another case mentioning this amendment being Schenck vs. the United States from 1919; although the case is about the violation of Schenck’s first amendment rights, his argument for his “crime” was to prevent the violation of the thirteenth amendment. During WWI, Charles Schenck and Elizabeth Baer created and distributed leaflets stating that the military draft violated the constitution’s thirteenth amendment prohibiting involuntary servitude. Schenck and Baer were arrested for violating the Espionage Act of 1917 which was created in order to “prevent insubordination in the military, and to prevent the support of United States enemies during wartime.” The court ruled to uphold the Espionage Act, declaring that Congress had every right to uphold the act under their wartime authority. This case introduced the “clear and present danger test” that limited the first amendment’s free speech in cases where exercising said right would result in danger to others; such as yelling “fire” in a crowded room.

Sources:

https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/249us47

https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/219us219

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espionage_Act_of_1917

PAS #8