Amendment XIII: Abolition of slavery
![Amendment XIII: Abolition of slavery](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/democratherald.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/40/640e5f26-fa2f-588e-9cda-001dc0b32454/631a8d000fb25.image.jpg?resize=300%2C200)
Year ratified: 1865The 13th Amendment outlawed slavery—with one gaping loophole: "except as a punishment for crime." When Reconstruction ended, every Southern state installed the brutal system known as convict leasing. For decades following emancipation, hundreds of thousands of Black Americans…