Several prolonged abolition of slavery in the US

Abolition of slavery in America, as well as of Russian serfdom, occurred in the early sixties of the XIX century. In these events, much in common, and the differences were in the conditions of liberation and political circumstances.

The amendment to the Constitution of the North American States was approved by Congress on the last day of January 1865. For four years, the abolition of slavery in the United States, the "stronghold of freedom and democracy," took place later than in Russia, the "prison of nations".

The amendment itself asserted the prohibition of slavery or involuntary servitude, except in cases where there was a judicial decision. It gave Congress the right to use this text as the basis for a legislative act.

The author of the amendment was Abraham Lincoln. "The proclamation of the release of slaves" was distributed to them three years earlier, in it all slaves were declared free. True, it was impossible to implement this legal norm. The South was not controlled by the northerners.

The main objectives of its adoption were originally not to make happy black Americans. There was a Civil War, and the economic base of the enemy (Southern States) was agriculture. On the plantations slaves labored to knock this base out from under the feet of the Confederates, it was necessary to go to measures unpopular even among the congressmen of the industrial North.

As now, in the main representative body of the times of Lincoln, a two-party system operated. The possible abolition of slavery in the United States caused the desperate resistance of the Democrats. Republicans (Lincoln and his supporters) achieved their goal by all available methods, including bribery and blackmail. Identifying weaknesses in the reputation of a congressman, they gently hinted at the possibility of publicizing secret vices. Greedy offered a vote for the vote in favor of the amendment. Paradoxically, Lincoln, being by nature a crystal-clear man, achieved the adoption of one of the most just laws in the history of mankind, using corruption methods.

The most dramatic was the day in which the legal abolition of slavery in the United States occurred. The House of Representatives from Richmond (the capital of the Confederation) arrived southerners-negotiators in order to discuss the terms of surrender. The very meaning of the amendment was lost, but Lincoln, carried away by the very process of political struggle, deceived the members of the meeting, refuting the willingness of the South to surrender.

The idea of the equality of all Americans, regardless of their color, was not popular in those years either in the South or in the North. The abolition of slavery in the United States was accompanied by many legal tricks, sometimes making it meaningless. The next, XIV, amendment to the Constitution (1868) forbade the adoption of new discriminatory laws by the states, but did not demand the abolition of the old ones. Those senators who voted for the release of slaves were by no means even allowed in the thought that black "free citizens" would be able to vote and be elected on an equal basis with whites.

Segregation (separation of schools, transport, hotels, park benches and public toilets for those intended for black and white) continued to operate in many southern states of the United States until the 60s of the 20th century. Moreover, it was recently revealed that the general and final abolition of slavery in the United States has not been formalized in Mississippi. The year 2013 was the date of the disappearance of the last stronghold of racism. The document ratified in 1995 for another 18 years wandered through the bureaucratic labyrinths, until it was finally adopted on February 7 by the Federal Register. As the saying goes: "Better late than never".

Is complete equality now complete? Hardly. However, this applies not only to America ...