Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from Radiotopia.

My name is Jody Avergan.

This day, January 31st, 1865, actually it's February 1st, 1865, the 13th Amendment passes the

House just barely above the necessary two-thirds majority needed for ratification, and after it passes the House, it is sent to the States to become an amendment.

This moment, folks, it may not be the most esoteric, it is one of the most famous amendments in fact

this moment is the culminating moment in the film Lincoln it's portrayed as

Abraham Lincoln's crowning achievement the end of slavery and the freeing of enslaved African Americans.

But anytime Hollywood gets its hand on a story, you can rest assured that there is a lot that is not in the picture.

So I think that's kind of how we're going to

frame today's episode. Some things you may not know about the 13th

Amendment and here to convince you and me that there is indeed esoterica around this amendment is as always

Nicole Hammer of Columbia. Hello Nicky. Hello Jody and Kelly Carter Jackson of

Wellesley hello Kelly. Hi how are you? All right. So Kelly want to start here? What do you think is kind of the biggest thing that we need to correct in terms of people's understanding of this amendment?

Yeah, I like to tell people that the 13th Amendment is sort of the corners of

board. It's the official time of death of slavery. But really slavery dies

much earlier with the Emancipation Proclamation. I think if there was ever a film to be made

it would be on the Emancipation Proclamation that frees about 3 million of the 4 million

people enslaved.

So by the time you get to the 13th Amendment,

a majority of the enslaved African Americans

living in the United States

have already been freed by Union troops

...