If you walked into a high school history class in 2012 and asked when slavery was officially abolished in the United States, you'd get the standard answer: 1865. But if you were looking at the legal paperwork in the National Archives, there was a glaring, century-and-a-half-old asterisk sitting right next to the state of Mississippi.
It's a weird story.
Most people think the 13th Amendment was a "done deal" the moment the Civil War ended. Legally, for the country, it was. But for Mississippi, the process of saying "yes" to the end of slavery didn't actually wrap up until 2013. No, that is not a typo. While the rest of the world was tweeting and watching Netflix, Mississippi was finally filing the paperwork to catch up with the 19th century.
The Long Road to 1865 (and Then Some)
The 13th Amendment was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865. It’s pretty short. Basically, it says that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude—unless it's for a crime—can exist in the U.S. By December of that year, enough states (27 out of the then-36) had ratified it to make it the law of the land.
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Mississippi was not one of those states.
In December 1865, the Mississippi legislature looked at the amendment and flat-out rejected it. Why? Honestly, it came down to money. Lawmakers back then were furious that they wouldn't be compensated for the "value" of the people they had enslaved. They felt the federal government was overreaching. So, they said no.
Of course, the amendment became law anyway because enough other states signed on. Slavery ended in Mississippi because the U.S. Constitution said so, not because the state legislature agreed.
The 1995 "Oops" Moment
Fast forward 130 years. It’s 1995. Bill Clinton is in the White House. The internet is barely a thing.
A clerk in the Texas legislature named Gregory Watson—the same guy famous for helping ratify the 27th Amendment—discovered that Mississippi still hadn't ratified the 13th. He reached out to Black lawmakers in Mississippi, including State Senator Hillman Frazier.
Frazier introduced a resolution to finally ratify the amendment. It was symbolic, sure, but symbols matter. The state legislature passed it unanimously on March 16, 1995. Everyone shook hands. They felt like a long, dark chapter had finally been closed.
Except someone forgot to mail the letter.
For an amendment ratification to be "official," the state has to notify the Office of the Federal Register at the National Archives. For some reason—nobody really knows if it was a clerical error or just a massive oversight—the 1995 resolution never made it to Washington D.C.
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How a Movie Changed Everything
This is where the story gets kinda like a Hollywood script. Because a Hollywood script is literally what fixed it.
In late 2012, Dr. Ranjan Batra, an associate professor at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, went to see Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. After watching Daniel Day-Lewis fight for the amendment on screen, Batra went home and did some late-night Googling. He noticed that asterisk on a website called usconstitution.net.
The note said Mississippi had ratified in 1995, but it wasn't official.
Batra mentioned this to his colleague, Ken Sullivan. Sullivan didn't just find it interesting; he took it personally. He remembered the 1995 vote from when he was in high school. He started digging through state records and calling the National Archives.
"I thought, I'm never going to get anybody," Sullivan later told reporters. But he did. He confirmed the archives had nothing on file.
Sullivan tracked down the original 1995 bill. He saw the last paragraph, which explicitly told the Secretary of State to send a copy to the federal government. It had been sitting in a drawer for 18 years.
The Final Date: February 7, 2013
Sullivan contacted the office of Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann. To Hosemann’s credit, he didn’t get defensive. He got to work. He filed the paperwork immediately.
On February 7, 2013, the Director of the Federal Register, Charles A. Barth, sent a letter back. It was official. Mississippi had ratified the 13th Amendment.
It only took 148 years.
| Milestone | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Ratification | Dec 6, 1865 | Amendment becomes Law |
| MS Rejection | Dec 5, 1865 | MS says "No" |
| MS Symbolic Vote | Mar 16, 1995 | MS says "Yes" (but forgets paperwork) |
| Official Filing | Feb 7, 2013 | MS finally finishes the job |
Why This Actually Matters
You might think, "Who cares? Slavery was already illegal."
Technically, you're right. But legally and historically, the lack of ratification was a loose thread in the fabric of the state’s identity. It was a reminder of a refusal to acknowledge a fundamental human right. When the news broke in 2013, it went viral globally. People in London and Tokyo were reading about Mississippi finally "banning" slavery.
It’s a lesson in how bureaucracy and history collide. Sometimes the most important changes in the world are stalled not by malice, but by a missing stamp or a forgotten envelope.
Honestly, the fact that it took a movie to trigger the discovery shows how easily history can be buried. It took a citizen who was curious and a civil servant who was willing to listen to fix a 148-year-old mistake.
Actionable Insights for History Buffs
If you're interested in the weird gaps in American law, you don't have to be a lawyer to find them.
- Check the "Asterisks": Reliable sites like the National Archives or even the Library of Congress often have footnotes about state-level holdouts on major amendments.
- Support Local History: Many of these discoveries happen when people look into their own state's legislative history.
- Don't Assume "Settled" Means "Finished": The Mississippi story proves that even the most basic laws can have unfinished administrative business.
If you ever feel like your curiosity doesn't matter, remember Dr. Batra. He went to the movies on a weeknight and ended up changing the official record of the United States Constitution.
To learn more about your own state's history with the Reconstruction amendments, you can visit the National Archives online database and search for "Ratification of Constitutional Amendments by State." It's a rabbit hole, but a fascinating one.