Author: Kaitlyn Andres, MPH & MS June 2, 2026 An incarcerated worker operates a silkscreen machine, photographed as part of a Seattle Times investigation into prison labor in Washington. [Image credit: Alan Berner, The Seattle Times] The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States (U.S.) Constitution was passed in 1865 as a means to codify President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and abolish slavery. It stated that slavery would not exist in the U.S.; however, it also included an.