The Thirteenth Amendment

Section 1. 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.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this  article by appropriate legislation.

Slavery and involuntary servitude is abolished, except as a punishment for a crime, and Congress has the right to enforce this ruling.

The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1st, 1963. Up until September 1962, the main focus of the Civil War had been to preserve the union. After the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, freeing the rest of the slaves became a war aim. Though many slaves had been declared free due to the proclamation, the Senate decided to pass the 13th amendment to formally abolish slavery for good. Unfortunately Black Codes (laws passed by Southern states in 1865 and 1866)continued to subject some black people to involuntary labor. Although our country still has a ways to go, the Emancipation Proclamation certainly paved the way for African Americans to fight for their freedom.

Activist Martin Luther King Jr. was the leader of the African American Civil Rights Movement and his legacy will continue to be celebrated even after racial discrimination is no longer an issue in the United States. Although I don't know when that day will come. It breaks my heart that a century after the Emancipation Proclamation, a man that spent his whole life fighting for peace and equality was murdered because of the color of his skin. I know that no one is born a racist, and that's why it breaks my heart even more to see racism and discrimination being passed down to the next generation. All we can do is continue to do good to one another and educate each other about acceptance, and no one can vote on that.