What was the last state to free slaves in the USA?

In the United States, the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Lincoln in 1863, freeing slaves from the southern states, but not in the Union states. In 1865 the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery throughout, was added to the Constitution. Mississippi was the last state to free slaves, legally, as the 13th Amendment was formally ratified by the state only in 1995.

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67 Comments

Sherman Williams

As long as people accept the government's help e.g wic,ebt est and not get out there and get to work we all are slaves to them!!!

Mark Husman

Really!? Women are still slaves in many islamic areas. What about children? If you change slavery from a political ideology to a religious ideology it's still slavery!

Sarah Ivans

Actually, this too is wrong. The document to ratify the amendment was never submitted until 2/7/2013, making that the official date slavery was abolished in Mississippi.

Elizabeth DiGregorio

It's actually none of those answers they are all wrong it was West Virginia

Kiki

I disagree, it was Texas. Texas was the last state of the Confederacy in which enslaved people officially gained their freedom—a fact that is not well-known. “The observance is not widely known because Juneteenth is not celebrated in most of the U.S. and is only vaguely covered in history courses,” Hearon said.Jun 8, 2021

asilllah

Texas was the last state to free slaves. That's why we have Juneteenth as a national holiday. It was the daye 5he last slaves in Texas were tild they were free and released.

Thomas

Virginia was the last state to give up their slaves not Mississippi

DeepThought

Texas was the last state June 19, 1865 this also marks Juneteenth or Jubilee which has been famously celebrated in Texas among other states for several decades.

tinaloflin

Elizabeth DiGregorio, Again...whoa.

tinaloflin

Mark Husman, women only recently got the right to vote and drive in Saudi Arabia.

tinaloflin

To wait so long to respond. It speaks to the mentality of the time...1995. whoa. I am ashamed they waited so long.

hirstrobert

If you are going to ask a question about slavery look it up first the correct answer is West Virginia not Missippi i looked it up

shielastone

west virginia is correct

Elizabeth Buehler-Miller

The way this question is worded - “the last state to free slaves” - refers to the actual act of freeing slaves in the real world; therefore the correct answer is Texas. Mississippi may have been the last state to ratify the 13th amendment, but their slaves were freed during/after the Civil War.