Mississippi FINALLY Ends Slavery!

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It only took 147 years but, they finally ratified the 13th Amendment, banning slavery! Now do you just, "forget", something like that?

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L.A.Times said:
Mississippi forgot something.


Fully 148 years after the end of the Civil War and the U.S. end to slavery, the state has officially ratified the 13th Amendment ban on the practice.
The state thought the amendment had already been ratified by its Legislature. Turns out it hadn't, at least in the eyes of federal record-keepers.


"It was never transmitted to the national archivist to be put on the record," Pamela Weaver, spokeswoman for the Mississippi secretary of state, told The Times.


The 13th Amendment was passed by Congress on Jan. 31, 1865 -- a fraught affair, as depicted in Steven Spielberg's movie "Lincoln," which will matter in a bit here -- and then headed to the states for final approval. After Georgia approved the amendment on Dec. 6, 1865, three-fourths of the states had given the go-ahead for the new constitutional amendment, formally ending slavery across the land.


Nonetheless, some states dragged their spurs into the 20th century before ratifying it as a formal matter, such as Delaware (1901) and Kentucky (1976). For nearly two decades, Mississippi was the final state not to agree with the amendment, which it had originally rejected on Dec. 4, 1865.
In 1995, the Legislature finally voted to ratify the 13th Amendment. Then the paperwork that officials needed to send to the National Archives apparently slipped through the cracks.


The Clarion Ledger has the full story about the Mississippi residents who caught the oversight: In November, Ranjan Batra, an associate professor of neurobiology and anatomical sciences at the University of Mississippi Medical Center -- and a native of India recently naturalized as a U.S. citizen -- saw the movie "Lincoln" and wondered what happened after Congress passed the 13th Amendment.


He noticed an asterisk below the amendment on USconstitution.net, a Constitution interest site, with the following note: "Mississippi ratified the amendment in 1995, but because the state never officially notified the U.S. archivist, the ratification is not official."


Batra then told a co-worker, Ken Sullivan, about the oversight, and Sullivan notified state officials after also seeing "Lincoln," according to the Ledger, crying when the audience applauded at the end of the film.


“I felt very connected to the history,” Sullivan told the paper.


He notified the Mississippi secretary of state's office, and "they fixed it immediately," spokeswoman Weaver told The Times.


On Feb. 7, the director of the Federal Register wrote back that he'd received Mississippi's paperwork, according to the Ledger, saying, "With this action, the state of Mississippi has ratified the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.”
 
In 2013, Mississippi was finally dragged kicking and screaming into the late 19th century.
 
Late to the party, and while they claim it was a clerical error...technically I could still be put to work in the cotton field if I went there.
 
Late to the party, and while they claim it was a clerical error...technically I could still be put to work in the cotton field if I went there.

But when did the clerical error occur? 1995! So even giving them the benefit of the doubt, Ole Miss' had slavery on the books until Seinfeld and Simpsons were on the air.
 
This is disgraceful in the fullest.
 
Better late than never! But yeah, it should have happened ages ago.
 
Crap. Does this mean I have to get rid of my slaves?:cmad:
 
Mississippi shows up to the party, now welcomed at the big kids table. :doh:
 
Late to the party, and while they claim it was a clerical error...technically I could still be put to work in the cotton field if I went there.

Nah, the the amendment was still ratified by 2/3's or more of the states at the time. Despite the lack of local ratification, it was still law. Now whether or not local authorities would enforce said laws...
 
Late to the party, and while they claim it was a clerical error...technically I could still be put to work in the cotton field if I went there.
I’m not positive, but I think you would have been covered by the “supremacy clause” - a state law cannot contravene a federal law (in this case, the 13th Amendment).

Edit: what redhawk23 said.
 
can i get my 40 acres and a mule now?
 
I am particularly amused and pleased that it took an immigrant science professor from Asia to discover that this American historical anomaly has existed for this long.


can i get my 40 acres and a mule now?

Late to the party, and while they claim it was a clerical error...technically I could still be put to work in the cotton field if I went there.

To be honest, neither of you would be in any danger, mainly because America doesn't actually make anything anymore. :o
 
That's a relief, yet sad all at once.
 
You know whose going to be feel silly? All the people in Mississippi who could have had slaves this whole time.
 
The title of this thread is like something from a parallel universe.

****'s ****ed up.
 
Animated-Flag-Mississippi.gif


Aren't they also the last to still be using the confederate symbol in their state flag? Or is that just another "oversight" on their part that somehow accidentally "...slipped through the cracks.":whatever:
In 1995, the Legislature finally voted to ratify the 13th Amendment. Then the paperwork that officials needed to send to the National Archives apparently slipped through the cracks.

The Clarion Ledger has the full story about the Mississippi residents who caught the oversight:

In 1995? What a freakin joke.
 
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Goddamn nerds ruining my angry black man jokes.
 

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