Emancipation Proclamation — That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; . . . . (1863)
13th Amendment — Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist in the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction. (1865)
14th Amendment — All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. (1868)
15th Amendment — The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied by the United States or any State on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude. (1870)