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Seward did not receive the hoped-for answer. It took Mississippi another 130 years to ratify, symbolically, in 1995.
“Congress in February last, by the requisite vote of two-thirds of both houses, passed a resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which declares that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States… I have to request that Your Excellency will be pleased, to give to this Department as soon as convenient, the official notice contemplated, whenever the Legislature of the State of Mississippi shall have duly ratified the amendment in question....”
Twenty-seven states had to ratify the amendment for it to become part of the Constitution. Secretary of State William H. Seward asks Governor Benjamin G. Humphreys whether Mississippi has yet passed the Thirteenth Amendment. Twenty-four states had already done so, though Seward had received official notifications from only eighteen at that point.
WILLIAM H. SEWARD.
Manuscript Letter Signed, to Benjamin G. Humphreys, November 18, 1865, Washington, DC. 3 pp., 7¾ x 10 in.
Inventory #27718
Price: $27,500
Complete Transcript
Department of State,
Washington, Nov. 18, 1865.
To His Excellency / the Governor of Mississippi, /Jackson, Miss.
Sir–
Congress in February last, by the requisite vote of two-thirds of both houses, passed a resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which declares that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction, and that Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. A certified copy of this resolution was promptly transmitted by mail to each of the Governors of all the States. When the proposed amendment shall have been adopted by being ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the State[s], the law makes it the duty of the Secretary of State, after official notice thereof has been received at the Department of State, forthwith to cause <2> the said amendment to be published in the newspapers, authorized to promulgate the laws, with his Certificate, specifying the States, by which the same may have been adopted, and that the same has become valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the Constitution of the United States.
Up to the present time official notice of the ratification of said amendment by the Legislatures of eighteen states has been received; but there is reason to believe that the Legislatures of other States, have ratified the said amendment. It is also supposed to be probable that the Legislatures of still other states will shortly ratify it. In that case and upon receiving the proper notices, it will become necessary for this Department to fulfil the duty of publication and certification already referred to.
With a view, therefore, of being prepared for the prompt performance of the important duty thus enjoined by law, I have to request that Your Excellency will be pleased, to give to this Department as soon as convenient, the official notice contemplated, whenever the Legislature of the State of Mississippi shall <3> have duly ratified the amendment in question.
I have the honor to be
Your Excellency’s / Most Obedient Servant,
William H. Seward.
[Docketing:]
Executive Office / Jan 16th 1866 / Secretary Seward
Asking Official notice of action of Mississippi Legislature on Constitutional Amendment.
Historical Background
The Senate approved the amendment abolishing slavery on April 8, 1864, but in June the House failed to pass it by the necessary two-thirds majority. Concerned that his Emancipation Proclamation might be struck down by the federal judiciary, President Lincoln made the amendment’s passage a central part of his 1864 platform. After winning reelection in November, not content to wait for the next Congress, in his State of the Union Address on December 6, Lincoln urged the lame-duck Congress to pass it. Though the next Congress would have more Republican votes, he was worried that before outright Union victory, southerners wanted to offer a compromise to end the war while maintaining slavery – which Lincoln recognized would eventually lead to further war.
On January 31, 1865, the House finally passed the amendment by a vote of 119 to 56. Next, three-quarters of all states had to ratify an amendment for it to become part of the Constitution. Illinois ratified on February 1, and 17 more states followed that same month.
Upon Lincoln’s assassination in April 1865, Andrew Johnson became President. With Congress out of session, he began a period of Presidential Reconstruction, overseeing the creation of new state governments throughout the South, at first following Lincoln’s Amnesty and Reconstruction Plan. Johnson hoped to avoid debates over readmitting southern states by accomplishing the ratification before Congress reconvened in December 1865.
On July 1, 1865, New Hampshire became the 23rd state to ratify the amendment, still short of the required 27. For the next four months, no additional states ratified the amendment. The Johnson administration began negotiations with southern states. Many southerners feared that Congress would cite the enforcement powers in the amendment’s second section to authorize African-American suffrage. Johnson suggested to the governors of Mississippi and North Carolina that they could control the allocation of rights to freedmen.
On the day before Seward wrote this letter, President Johnson wrote to Governor Humphreys, urging him and the legislature to accept the end of slavery, but without any major concessions on the status of former slaves:
The troops will be withdrawn from Mississippi when, in the opinion of the government, peace and order and the civil authority have been restored and can be maintained without them. Every step will be taken while they are there to enforce strict discipline and subordination to the civil authority. There can be no other or greater assurance given than has heretofore been on the part of the President or Government. There is no concession required on the part of the people of Mississippi or the legislature, other than a loyal compliance with the laws and Constitution of the United States, and the adoption of such measures giving protection to all freedmen or freemen in person and property, without regard to color, as will entitle them to resume all their constitutional relations in the Federal Union.
The people of Mississippi may feel well assured that there is no disposition, arbitrarily, on the part of the Government to dictate what action should be had; but, on the contrary, to simply and kindly advise a policy that is believed will result in restoring all the relations which should exist between the States comprising the Federal Union.
It is hoped that they will appreciate and feel the suggestions herein made, for they are offered in that spirit which should pervade the bosom of all those who desire peace and harmony and a thorough restoration of the Union.
There must be confidence between the Government and the States, and while the Government confides in the people the people must have faith in the Government. This must be mutual and reciprocal, or all that has been done will be thrown away.[1]
During the first week of December, Alabama (December 2), North Carolina (December 4), and Georgia (December 6) each ratified. As South Carolina had done, the Alabama legislature declared that their ratification did not imply federal power to legislate on the status of former slaves. The Mississippi legislature voted on December 5, rejecting the amendment.
Accepting without comment, challenge, or acknowledgment the votes of three states that had ratified the amendment with qualifications, on December 18, Secretary of State Seward certified that the Thirteenth Amendment had become part of the U.S. Constitution.
The recipient, Benjamin G. Humphreys (1808-1882) was born in Mississippi, educated in New Jersey, and attended the United States Military Academy before being expelled in 1826. He served in the Mississippi state senate (1839-1844) and developed a cotton plantation, of course using slave labor. At the start of the Civil War, he raised a company and received a commission as a captain in the 21st Mississippi Infantry. He was elected colonel of the regiment the same year. At the Battle of Gettysburg, his regiment helped drive Union forces from the Peach Orchard back toward Cemetery Ridge. After the brigade commander was killed, Humphreys took command and was later promoted to brigadier general. Wounded in Virginia in September 1864, he returned home to recover.
In 1865, he announced his candidacy for Mississippi governor, contrary to Lincoln’s Amnesty and Reconstruction plan, which only allowed pardon and political participation of those who swore an oath to defend the Union and to support all legal efforts opposing slavery. He was elected (despite President Johnson’s opposition) on October 2, 1865, and two weeks later, was inaugurated as governor. On October 26, Johnson sent Humphreys’ pardon, removing his restriction from political office. However, after winning re-election in 1868, Humphreys was removed by occupying U.S. forces on June 15, 1868. He pursued a career in insurance in Jackson, Mississippi, until his retirement in 1877.
Condition: Separation along integral fold at bottom; gently toned; loss of paper on integral leaf where wax seal was originally opened; two lines of red transfer on address panel.
[1] John Savage, Life and Public Services of Andrew Johnson, Seventeenth President of the United States: Including His State Papers, Speeches and Addresses (New York: Derby & Miller, 1866), Appendix 107.
