The Thirteenth Amendment ends legal slavery with a punishment exception

British forces crossed the Mangatāwhiri boundary into Waikato, beginning the invasion of Kīngitanga territory. Māori resistance defended land and autonomous political organization. Military conquest...

British forces assaulted the defensive line at Rangiriri during the Waikato invasion. Māori defenders contested the advance into their territory. The battle connects military resistance to a wider...

After the battle at Rangiriri, British forces took Māori defenders prisoner. The circumstances of the white flag and surrender remain important to interpretations of the event. Their detention...

Colorado volunteers attacked a Cheyenne and Arapaho encampment, killing many women and children. Some leaders had sought peace. The massacre shows how settler expansion and racial dehumanization could...

Congress approved the proposed Thirteenth Amendment after years of abolitionist struggle and wartime emancipation. A constitutional change could remove slavery beyond the limited reach of the...

Congress enacted the Civil Rights Act over Andrew Johnson’s veto, asserting citizenship and equal civil rights regardless of race or previous enslavement, with exclusions. The law confronted...

The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified, providing birthright citizenship, due process, and equal protection. It challenged a racial citizenship order associated with slavery. Indigenous people under...

The Fifteenth Amendment was ratified, forbidding denial of voting rights on grounds of race, color, or previous enslavement. It did not enfranchise women or prevent all forms of suppression. Black...

Hiram Revels took his Senate seat representing Mississippi. His presence embodied the political opening created by emancipation and Reconstruction. It also challenged claims that Black people were...

The Free Womb Law declared children born to enslaved women legally free, while allowing arrangements that kept their labor under others’ control for years. The reform demonstrates why abolition must...