Mississippi waited 130 years to officially ratify the ban on slavery
In short: The Thirteenth Amendment outlawed slavery across the United States in 1865, but the legal paperwork wasn't complete for every state. While most states agreed quickly, Mississippi remained the final holdout, only formally correcting its records in 1995—and even then, it was a matter of fixing a long-overlooked administrative error.
The Thirteenth Amendment was set into law after securing the necessary approval from 27 of the 36 existing states on December 6, 1865. While the amendment was adopted in under a year, several states initially rejected it, including New Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky. New Jersey reversed its position just nine months after its initial rejection, but others took much longer to comply with the constitutional mandate. Kentucky had previously ratified the amendment in 1976, while Delaware had done so in 1901. These states were among those that had originally declined to support the measure during the initial 1865 vote.
Mississippi emerged as the ultimate holdout, officially ratifying the amendment on March 16, 1995. This decision was reportedly sparked by interest in Steven Spielberg’s historical drama, Lincoln, which depicts President Abraham Lincoln’s efforts to pass the amendment through the House of Representatives. Interestingly, the 1995 ratification was initially unofficial because the state had failed to formally notify the U.S. archivist of its decision.
Ranjan Batra, a University of Mississippi Medical Center associate professor, identified the error while browsing usconstitution.net. Following his inquiry, the state moved to rectify the error. The Mississippi Senate and House had passed the resolution unanimously, but the paperwork had never reached the Office of the Federal Register. By February 7, the Federal Register confirmed that Mississippi had finally officially ratified the amendment, fulfilling a task left unfinished for nearly 150 years.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Mississippi Didn't Officially Outlaw Slavery Until 1995
- Also: Mississippi Officially Ratifies Amendment to Ban Slavery, 148 Years Late
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