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The 13th amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which abolished slavery, was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864. This account from the Greenfield, Massachusetts, Gazette and Courier newspaper reports on a speech in favor of the amendment made by Reverdy Johnson (1796-1876), a senators from Maryland. Mr. Johnson agreed that the Emancipation Proclamation, which was signed on January 1, 1863, did not have the power to free the slaves in the Confederate states and the only way to end slavery was to pass this amendment. The Gazette & Courier was the newspaper in Greenfield, Massachusetts, from July 20, 1841 until June 24, 1932. Before 1841 the newspaper's name changed quite frequently, with Gazette a frequent part of the title.

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