Ratified on December 6, 1865, this Amendment was the first of three called the “Civil War Amendments.”  A tug-of-war between Congress and the Supreme Court ensued where SCOTUS claimed that Congress exceeded its powers with the enforcement section and that stating that private discrimination was not slavery.  The text of the Amendment is below. 

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.