… just 146 years ago (1865) that the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted.
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.
Twenty-seven of the 36 states ratified the amendment between February 1st and December 6, 1865. Five more of the 36 ratified it by early 1866. Texas ratified the amendment in 1870, Delaware in 1901, Kentucky in 1976, and Mississippi in 1995.