Voters in four U.S. states have approved in midterm elections to explicitly eliminate slavery and servitude as potential penalties 157 years after the country’s Constitution was amended to ban slavery.
Specifically, Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont have voted to explicitly abolish slavery, as until now the 13th Amendment to the Magna Carta allowed an exception by way of criminal punishment, as reported by CNN.
In Alabama, voters have approved a revision of the state constitution to remove racist language and make it more accessible to the state’s citizens.
In this sense, one of the revisions of the reform will eliminate an exception clause that applies to slavery and servitude.
Oregon voters have approved removing «any language that creates an exception» and making «unambiguous the prohibition of slavery and involuntary servitude.»
In Tennessee, a measure has been approved to amend the state constitution to make it explicit that slavery and servitude will be «forever prohibited.»
Meanwhile, in Vermont — the first state to ban slavery — the proposal sought to eliminate language that said «no person born in this country, or brought from abroad, shall be compelled by law to serve any person as a servant, slave, or apprentice, after attaining the age of twenty-one years, unless compelled by the person’s own consent.»
However, the state of Louisiana has rejected this proposal after voters were asked whether they supported a ban on the use of slavery.
Voters had been asked whether they supported an amendment to ban the use of involuntary servitude, but it did not garner enough support.
