The Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution brought a decisive end to slavery in the United States in 1865. The amendment enshrines important principles of justice—self-ownership, individual liberty, and equality before the law. The amendment declares that, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” It also empowers Congress “to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” While that declaration should have been the end of a painful chapter of history and the heralding of a new dawn, the Radical Republicans soon began promoting the idea that the South had not abandoned slavery. They claimed that abolition only marked the beginning of a new form of slavery in the South, a claim that continues to hover like a dark cloud over contemporary politics.….