January 11, 1864: The 13th Amendment goes to the Senate: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude . . . shall exist within the United States . . ."

JANUARY 11, 1864:             

Fully aware that the Emancipation Proclamation is only a wartime measure that legally impacts only slaves in the rebellious South, and that the Proclamation may not survive the end of the war, Missouri Senator John Henderson, a War Democrat, submits a joint resolution to Congress in favor of a 13^th  Amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery. This joint resolution follows hard on the heels of two House resolutions submitted in December by Congressmen James Ashley (R) Ohio, and James Wilson (R) Iowa, that were seeking only House approval of such an Amendment. Although all three resolutions stall in the House, the Senate begins working on the appropriate legislation. The long legislative battle to abolish slavery throughout the United States has begun.