Slavery is finally abolished in three US states 156 years on

Three US states voted to outlaw all forms of slavery more than a century and a half after the United States abolished the practice.

Voters in Alabama, Tennessee and Vermont approved constitutional measures against slavery and involuntary servitude closing a loophole that allowed prisoners to be used for forced labour.

Oregon was expected to approve a similar amendment but the vote count was too close to call Wednesday morning.

Voters in Louisiana rejected a similar measure, however, voting 61 percent to 39 to retain forced labour for convicted felons.

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Commercial slavery has been illegal in the United States since the end of the Civil War in 1865, but states were allowed to continue to use involuntary servitude as a criminal punishment.

The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution ratified that year says "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".

Over 20 states still carry loophole

Before Tuesday, 27 states and territories - including Washington DC and Puerto Rico - still had such loopholes in their constitutions, according to the Abolish Slavery National Network, a campaign group trying to get the wording removed.

Colorado ended its exception in 2018. Utah and Nebraska followed suit in 2020.

The Abolish Slavery Network says its initiatives have enjoyed bipartisan support.

In Vermont, which has long considered itself the first state to outlaw slavery, the amendment passed with an 82 percent landslide.

“We’re not surprised with the number” Rev. Mark Hughes, executive director of the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance, told the Vermont Digger, a local website.

“The overwhelming majority of folks that we spoke to over the last four years seemed to be unaware of the existence of the exception clauses in the Constitution and seemed to be eager to remove it,” Hughes continued. 

Reference: Roland Oliphant -