what was the last state freed from slavery?

Answer 1

I assume the question is about when slavery was LEGAL ended in the various states (but will consider another possibility below).

The first legal/governmental means by which slaves were freed was the Emancipation Proclamation.

For the Confederacy, the Emancipation Proclamation only gradually freed the slaves --that is, they were freed AS the Union troops took over a territory. In effect, this meant that the Proclamation only touched many slaves in the South when the War ended. From that perspective that LAST state the news/proclamation reached and so took effect was Texas. The official date for that was June 19, 1865, thereafter celebrated as "Juneteenth".
http://www.juneteenth.com/history.htm

BUT for those states not covered by the Proclamation (Union territory and areas under Union control at the time it was issued), the legal end of slavery was accomplished by other means. In MOST cases, it happened by the state itself outlawing slavery, as Maryland did in October 1864 (thus it was NOT the last state to end the institution).
http://www.mrlincolnandfreedom.org/inside.asp?ID=56&subjectID=3

But in the case of Kentucky, slavery did not legally end until the county had ratified the 13th amendment in Decmeber 1865.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_slavery_in_the_United_States#War_and_emancipation

Date of 13th amendment --
Ratification was completed on December 6, 1865.
The thirteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Thirty-eighth Congress, on the 31st day of January, 1865, and was declared, in a proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated the 18th of December, 1865, to have been ratified by the legislatures of twenty-seven of the thirty-six States.
http://els42.law.emory.edu/cms/site/index.php?id=3108

Note here -- an amendment to the Constitution is in effect in the entire country as soon as 3/4 of the state legislatures have ratified it. It is NOT as if the amendment only takes effect in each state as that state ratifies it. Thus the 20th century ratifications by Delaware, and esp. Kentucky and Mississippi is more of a 'statement'. Slavery had legallly ended in these states in December of 1865, when the needed number of states had ratified the 13th amendment. (In fact, it's a bit absurd to say the slavery ended in Mississippi only in 1995!)

------------------

BUT there's a problem with the 1865 date for the ending of slavery.

Many have argued that this date is not accurate, because the South managed by various legal means to keep many blacks in a state that, except for the name, was slavery. Chief among these were the system of "peonage" (debt-slavery) and the "convict lease system", both of which persisted until the early 20th century.

Under the convict lease system, blacks might be arrested for petty (or even trumped up) charges, given very long sentences, then brutally worked by the state (think of the famous/infamous chain gangs) or leased out to farms or businesses. The system was frequently criticized, but only began to be dismantled during "the Progressive era". The last state to end this practice (also the first to use it, beginning in 1846) was Alabama. The legislature mandated that it end on June 30, 1928.

Hence, according to some reckonings, the date at which slavery was finally legally abolished was:
July 1, 1928.

http://www.archives.state.al.us/thisweek/chrono.html
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=214
(see Frederick Douglass's criticism of the system:
http://www.historyisaweapon.org/defcon1/fredouconlea.html)

How Southern states circumvented the 13th amendment (allowed by the federal courts):
http://www.bc.edu/schools/law/lawreviews/meta-elements/journals/bclawr/45_2/02_TXT.htm

Answer 2

Last State To Abolish Slavery

Answer 3

Passing of the 13th Amendment in 1865 is what ended slavery. The prior Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 only affected the Confederate states, so slavery continued in the border, non-Confederate states for a couple of years. If you consider Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland Northern states, then the North was actually last to end slavery! I don't know when the last slave was freed, but it was likely in Missouri, Kentucky, or Maryland.

Answer 4

Texas - The Last State To Abolish Slavery

Answer 5

In the United States during the Civil Was, the Emancipation Proclamation freed all of the slaves in the states of the Confederacy, theoretically and simultaneously. Of course, the slaves were never actually free until the Civil War ended officially at Appomatox Courthouse. When the states were then reunited, the former slaves were all free.

Answer 6

Kentucky. At the end of the Civil War, slavery did not exist in the former Confederacy. Missouri and Maryland outlawed slavery before the end of the Civil War. Slavery existed legally in Kentucky until the nation ratified the 13th Amendment in December 1865.

Answer 7

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/xxLyP

Because the GOP is now run by the Southern Baptist Church, it is the religious division of the old CSA, and they are bent on avenging the defeat of the South in 1865 by destroying the Union slowly until they set off WW III, and the major northern cities die in nuclear fire balls delivered by the Chinese; at that point they will be free of the Northern Oppression and enslave the Mexicans who are coming up to take the jobs from the Afro-Americans, and they will all the the Good Life in Jesus Christ as a Christians Nation under God Almighty. How is that for an answer? Creative enough for you? Guess what ... half of it is true, you just have to figure out which half.

Answer 8

Well, my research has led me to believe Texas June 19, 1865 (Juneteenth), even though the slaves were freed in 1863 by the Emancipation proclamation. This is when the majority of slaves were relieved of their duty. http://www.juneteenth.com/history.htm

Then the Wikipedia led me to look at Kentucky and their delayed ratification of the law in the quoted December 1865. The lawbooks say Kentucky didn't really ratify it until 1976. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky

But my final answer is Mississippi in 1995 when that state ratified the 13th ammendment. (It was already federal law on December 6, 1865 because the majority of states had approved the 13th Ammendment). Check out the Ratifications: http://els42.law.emory.edu/cms/site/index.php?id=3108 .

I Dedicate to Educate!

Answer 9

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
what was the last state freed from slavery?

Answer 10

Actually Mississippi is the last state to ratify the 13th Amendment. The paperwork was finalized in February of 2013. It was actually voted on & passed in 1995 but the paperwork was never submitted.