US: Four States Vote To Abolish Slavery, One Votes Against

Voters in five states on Tuesday were asked whether to update their states’ constitutions to remove slavery and indentured servitude as potential punishments.

Eko Hot Blog reports that in four of the five states, voters agreed to strike the punishment from the books, while the effort fell short in one.

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Although the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution prohibited slavery in 1865, it allowed an exception “for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,” and the proposed amendments asked voters to either explicitly rule out slavery and indentured servitude as potential punishments or remove the terms from state law altogether. 

Voters in Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont approved ballot measures to amend their state’s constitutions accordingly.

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However, Louisiana voters rejected an amendment that would have changed the state’s constitution by explicitly prohibiting the punishments.

SOURCE: CNN

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