On the recordJuly 22, 2020
Let me thank the gentleman from Illinois. I am just delighted that he mentioned that his home State, the State of Illinois, was, in fact, the home of Abraham Lincoln. I am a student of history and love to read that portion of our history, and I recall that many people believe that it was the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1 of 1863 that legally ended slavery in America. The Emancipation Proclamation, as great as it was, was an executive order. It was the 13th Amendment, as the gentleman mentioned, that legally ended slavery in America; thereby freeing 4 million slaves, most of whom lived in the South. Mr. Speaker, you should know, and to my friend from Illinois, that it was on January 31, 1865, a few days after Lincoln's re-election, that this body, this body, the House of Representatives, passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. It required the ratification of 27 States. The gentleman from Illinois' home State was the first State, on February 1, 1865 to ratify the 13th Amendment. My State of North Carolina was the 26th State, and the State of Georgia was the final State to ratify the 13th Amendment on December 6, 1865. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the State which is the home of both Chief Justice Taney and the first African American Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Honorable Thurgood Marshall.
