The Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States - Report Example

Introduction

The Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th amendment to the Constitution of United States(US) abolished the slavery within the United States. The announcement helped in making the rights and making the availability of the liberties for the newly independent people. This was considered as the first move towards the independence of the former slaves. The United States Congress enacted two distinct amendments to the constitution. The 13th amendment which helped in the abolition of the slavery and slave trade was adopted in the year 1865. The thirteenth amendment despite the abolition of trade enacted the strict punishment laws for the crime. It is believed to be passed by the United States’ congress and the house in the year 1865.

The emancipation proclamation was auctioned to act as measuring tool of the civil war by the former president of the United States Abraham Lincoln. The emancipation proclamation had limitation despite being considered to be effective. The major limitation of the emancipation proclamation was the retaining of the slavery in those countries which were loyal to the created union. However, it immediately ensured that thousands of slaves were freed to the new and fresh environments such as the South Carolina. The main aim of the emancipation proclamation was to ensure complete transformation of the type and nature of the war from the constitutional perception to the revolutionary method. By conducting an analytical discussion, this paper transcends to argue that boththe emancipation proclamation and the 13th amendment had glaring differences despite the two serving one primary purpose of freeing slaves.

The Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment

There was the abolition of slavery by the 13th amendment without consideration of exception in the United States. This was followed by ratification due to the insight in war victory. However, before the reunion of the Southern states, the emancipation proclamation had already achieved the abolition of slavery. Therefore, the emancipation proclamation and the 13th amendment are similar in that perception. Both the emancipation proclamation and the 13th amendment argued that the free slave would regain the rights to own property, conduct free trade, purchase land from their original owners. In addition to participating in voting and election of leaders, and marry freely and they would have the right to file cases in courts. Both proclaimed partial freedom for the states but not the slaves. The slaves were exploited and had no legal rights. Different states enacted both the emancipation proclamation and the 13th amendment during their initiation despite the failure to know their future effects.

From another perspective leading to the similarity between the two documents, it is worth saying that both the documents were meant to protect the general welfare of the United States. During the civil war, there was still a high degree of discrimination of the blacks. Emancipation Proclamation took effect during this time of war. In a similar way, the 13th amendment also had a purpose of changing the welfare of United States. Additionally, it can be said that the greatest part of the similarity was exhibited by the relationship between the two documents as the amendment was the official means by which emancipation occurred.

The Contrast

The emancipation proclamation was not applicable to the states which were enhancing the slaveholding such as the New Jersey, Maryland who were not in the rebellion as compared to the Tennessee state which actively took part in the revolution. The 13th amendment, however, was applicable to all those states which took part or did not participate. The emancipation proclamation failed to apply to the all the parts of different states which joined in the rebellion. However, it applied to under the federal government control except for the parts of Louisiana and the Virginia as compared to the 13th amendment which applied to all regions of the different states. With the help of the compromise of 1850, the Missouri and the Kentucky were considered to be slave states despite not yet joining the Confederacy. The two countries were admitted by the Confederacy, but it failed to control the states. The 13th amendment controlled the two nations.

The emancipation proclamation was mainly created to ensure that there was freedom for the African slaves but the 13th amendment argued that this would create political and economic stability which was not the case. According to Stinson, there was an increment in growing rate of the slavery in American with the seldom dissolvement by the year 1850.The emancipation proclamation provided no land nor any form of compensation to the freed slaves as compared to the 13th amendment which compensated the serfs. Slaves were found to be labouring for their masters as regulated by the emancipation proclamation. The thirteenth amendment ensured all the slaves were free while the emancipation proclamation assured that only the Confederate-held slaves were freed.

Lincoln as a president only freed the southern states’ slaves. This was due to the strategies of the military and as commander of the States military. The was the official abolition of the slavery by the Thirteenth Amendment. This followed by the continuous prohibition of the slavery. However, emancipation proclamation was considered to be an executive order which was issued by President Lincoln to free the slaves from the southern states. The order was only related to the states which took part in the rebellion, and the president had no power to control them while the thirteenth amendment was just a change in the constitution. According to the study by Woodworth, the emancipation was considered to be the prudent move of ensuring that the war turned official against the slavery. This would ensure that both the France and Britain did not support the South by failure to look at the pro-slavery within themselves. The amendment, however, made the slavery illegal in all the Reunited States of America by December 1865.

The constitution amendment ensured the permanent abolition of the slavery and slave trade after the American civil war. The emancipation gave hope for those who opposed the slavery and also introduced new purpose to the war while the 13th amendment eradicated slavery in all the states. The emancipation proclamation was not possible to all those states which rebelled against the slavery while the 13th amendment was applicable to both due to its efficient and effective values. The study therefore finds the 13th amendment a significant tool which helped in the liberation of slaves.

Another point of difference in the two is the legal procedures that were bestowed on each process. The emancipation proclamation lacked a straight legal procedure as it was just passed during the civil war of Gettysburg. From a point of critical viewing, emancipation proclamation can in many ways be compared to an executive order, and that is why it was deemed to be questionable in terms of being legal and how long it was to take an effect. On the contrary, the 13th amendment permanently did away with slavery in the entire United States. This was in 1865 after the war had ended. Different from the emancipation proclamation, the 13th amendment was passed legally in parliament, and it was viewed as a legal approach to the amendment of the constitution, and therefore the states approved it in the most fashionable mannerism possible.

Conclusion

The emancipation proclamation was an order by the president of the united states about the slavery. The thirteenth amendment was a constitutional amendment which ensured all the slaves were freed in all the States of America. The emancipation only guaranteed the independence of southern states. The study found out that the contrast between the emancipation and the 13th amendment was that, the emancipation proclamation was an order from an individual primarily president Lincoln while the 13th Amendment was a constitutional change. The slavery effects within the American states was brought an end by the 13th amendment in addition to the compromise of 1850.Therefore there is little similarity between the emancipation proclamation and the amendment.

Conclusively, both emancipation proclamation and 13th amendment had one common aim of freeing slavery and maintain the welfare of the United States. Nevertheless, the procedures and the effects expected from each were two things that brought out differences. Emancipation proclamation having been announced during war seemed more of an order that a transition key to eradicating slavery and therefore took effect partially as compared to 13th amendment which followed legal channels thereby succeeding in eradicating slavery completely. All in all, it can be argued out wisely that amendment was the key to enhancing emancipation, and therefore, both the documents were in this way related.