Slavery was formally abolished throughout the United States in December 1865, when the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified on December 6, 1865, ending legal chattel slavery nationwide.

Key dates at a glance

  • 1 January 1863 – The Emancipation Proclamation declared enslaved people in the rebelling Confederate states to be free, but it did not apply to slave-holding border states or areas already under Union control.
  • 19 June 1865 (Juneteenth) – Union General Gordon Granger announced freedom for enslaved people in Texas, the last major Confederate state where slavery was still being enforced.
  • 31 January 1865 – Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment, sending it to the states for ratification.
  • 6 December 1865 – The required number of states ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery across the United States.

So, if you are asking “when was slavery abolished in America” in the legal, constitutional sense, the clearest answer is: December 6, 1865, with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.