Amendment 13: Abolition of slavery

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.

This well-known amendment is extremely important in the development of our nation. We have previously been with slavery and servants for which we have gone through tremendous conflict to keep or set free. This solidifies the decision to keep slavery out of our nation moving forward. Citizens may choose to work to provide for themselves but may no longer be held as slaves or forced to work. This seems like an easy solution, but for a nation that was built upon slavery existing and not being help punishable, it was not easy by any means. This was a huge step forward in creating the nation that we live in today, free of any form of these practices.

Here we debate the fact of if the 13th Amendment did actually end slavery. There were very damning videos produced near World War 1 that encouraged blacks to join the military including serious propaganda urging blacks to join the fighting force. While the amendment was in place, there were still huge stigmas placed on blacks, especially them fighting for a nation that once enslaved them.

This video describes the continuing issues related the the 13th amendment, about the involvement of prisons into our society. Noting that our nation was built on slavery, and after this amendment we started institutionalizing prisons and using this as a similar form of slavery. The imprisoned are being used to force people, sometimes predominantly black, into labor of their choosing. It really makes you think about slavery persisting into modern times, just hidden behind the walls of prisons and institutions.