13th Amendment

"Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation"

To me, there is not much to be said about this amendment. It has been the first step of a long journey to equality. Something like slavery should not happen, but humankind are not impeccable as many incidents in history show. Bur this amendment has been very important in the process of equality between people.

"Use the 13th Amendment to Prosecute Modern-Day Slavery
The Thirteenth Amendment is a powerful and broadly-worded piece of legislation with tremendous potential in the fight against human trafficking. Unfortunately, however, the amendment has largely been relegated to the dustbin of history--an "antebellum grave marker," as one author has gone so far as to call it.
If the sweeping and broad language of the amendment could be harnessed to form a 21st-century jurisprudence against modern-day slavery, there could be profound progress in the prosecution of slaveholders today.
Indeed, a judicial precedent dating back to the nineteenth century seems to indicate that the 13th Amendment is to be interpreted not only to abolish domestic slavery, but even complicity in a purely foreign slave trade. Consider the so-called Slave Trade Cases of the mid-1800's. In one of these cases, defendants were charged with designing and outfitting ships to be used in the slave trade in foreign countries. Although it was never insinuated that the ships would be used to transport slaves to the United States, nor that the shipwrights were themselves slave traders, the Court ruled that the fact that “U.S. intermediaries had taken steps to facilitate a foreign trade in slaves by providing some of the implements best suited to that practice” was enough to render them guilty (Wolff 2002). The underlying premise of these Supreme Court rulings must not be ignored: “The indirect facilitation of a purely foreign slave trade by a U.S. citizen through the provision of ships and other equipment is inherently objectionable because it locates a component of that foreign slave trade within domestic borders" (ibid.). No aspect of the institution of slavery is to exist anywhere on American soil—not slaves themselves, not slave-like relationships, not items to be used in facilitating slavery abroad, and, presumably, not even items made with slave labor on foreign soil. This realization has tremendous implications for modern Thirteenth Amendment jurisprudence, in an economic world increasingly marred by modern-day slavery in manufacturing, agriculture, fishing, mining, and other industries.
The call to action, then, is for a respected and legal-savvy NGO to find a way to work a trafficking case up to the Supreme Court. International Justice Mission (www.ijm.org) seems the obvious choice, given its legal focus, professionalism, and expertise. Prosecute a trafficker on Thirteenth Amendment grounds in such as way as to win a Supreme Court hearing. Justices don't have to worry about re-election, so making controversial but ethically imperative decisions is their specialty. They are a superior avenue to Congress because they are less subject to lobbyist and special interest pressure, which would come heavily from the untold thousands of US corporations that knowingly or unknowingly use slave labor today.Thankfully, slavery is not a partisan issue. Real change is possible, and a rediscovery of the judicial power of the 13th Amendment in the context of 21st-century slavery would represent a tremendous leap forward in the anti-trafficking movement. Vote for this petition to encourage International Justice Mission to devote their legal expertise to this specific prospect, which represents a major step toward a slavery-free world."
- Andrew Hall Jan 25 @ 07:16PM PST

Source: http://www.change.org/ideas/view/use_the_13th_amendment_to_prosecute_modern-day_slavery

This arcticle seems to connect hisrory with the world today. The scars of slavery in this country have not faded yet and still even the descendents if former slaves support hidden slavery by buying cheap stuff amde in China or buying exotic fruits from farmers in South America. This is a problem of all the industry nations today as they cannot produce anything as cheap as other countries that do not have any labor laws protecting the people. Nevertheless, is is also about having not enough money to buy the products produced in the own country. Poor people have to rely on cheaply manufactured products and there has to be a solution to help both sides out.

Obama&Congres Ignore 13th Amendment! This Is A Form Of Slavery!

Linda | Myspace Video

This video is ridiculous to me. Communtity service is NOT comparable to slavery. It is an important aspect of society. Community service if it has to be done because of a criminal act might be involutary, but going into prison is also involuntary. In the end the delinquent has to suffer for what he/she has done.
And to a German this is a very funny thought. In Germany the military service is still not voluntary for male inhabitants. If they do not want to serve in military for whatever reasons, they have to serve for the community. To me this is a very important service as the young people can serve their community already when they are young. This law shoul just also apply to women who were excluded because of their household duties.