Union Forever and Slavery

Kentucky's Old State Capitol building in Frankfort around 1859. The building was used as the state capitol from 1830 to 1910. Kentucky legislators had many heated debates in its halls during the Civil War,

Kentucky Historical Society

Opposition to Emancipation

Resolved by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, That the proposition to make said proposed amendment a thirteenth article of the amendments to the Constitution of the United States, be, and the same is hereby, rejected.
– February 24, 1865

Although Kentucky was a Border State during the Civil War, remaining loyal to the United States, the Unionism of many of its white citizens was conditional on the preservation of slavery. As Federal policies began to target slavery over the course of the conflict, support among white Kentuckians steadily eroded. The Kentucky General Assembly rejected every emancipation measure enacted by the Federal government, including the Emancipation Proclamation. On February 26, 1863, the Kentucky legislature declared, “That Kentucky will not inaugurate or accept emancipation compensated, or otherwise, that she will neither ask her sister States to submit to such a policy nor aid in forcing it upon them.”

The US government’s newfound commitment to emancipation as a war aim caused white recruitment in Kentucky to dwindle by 1864. In response, the US Army began recruiting enslaved Black Kentuckians, who secured their freedom by becoming soldiers. Tens of thousands of Black men seized the opportunity to emancipate themselves, as well as their families, by enlisting at Federal military bases like Camp Nelson. This only caused greater anger and resentment among many white Kentuckians. In the final months of the war, the Kentucky legislature’s opposition to emancipation did not waver. On February 24, 1865, the Kentucky General Assembly refused to endorse the end of slavery in America when it voted against ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery except as punishment for crime. Kentucky legislators expressed their disapproval about the amendment’s national ratification in December 1865, and the state refused to adopt it until 1976.