Skip to content

Learn / Constitution

The Constitution.

Read the words. See the structure. Understand what connects them.

Preamble · Seven Articles
Twenty-seven Amendments

Hover or focus a clause to bring it forward. Select it to open the reading notes.

Constitutional text

Amendment XIII · Section 1

1 selectable clause · PDF page 14

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.

Notes supplied with the source text

Passed by Congress January 31, 1865. Ratified December 6, 1865. (Note: A portion of Article IV, Section 2 of the Constitution was changed by the 13th Amendment.)

Source: the uploaded National Constitution Center edition. Historical wording and its bracket markers remain visible; later amendments and the reading notes explain changes.

Clause notes