0304 the 13th amendment

If you read the blog from 2/24, then you know I mentioned something about Lincoln not signing all the copies of the 13th Amendment. If you didn’t, then you are probably one of the few that didn’t email me, asking for an explanation. So here it is.

Normally, when a piece of legislation gets created, it gets approved by both the House and the Senate before being signed into law by the President. A constitutional amendment, however, gets approved by both the House and the Senate, but only becomes law when it is ratified by the states of the Union.

Thirteen (13) copies of the 13th Amendment (which abolished slavery) were presented to President Lincoln, after being approved by both the House and the Senate. They looked just like any other piece of legislation, so President Lincoln began signing them. But he stopped when an aide reminded him that the states needed to ratify it. So just a few of the thirteen copies have President Lincoln’s signature on them, and that makes them highly valued by collectors.

In March 2006, one of the signed copies was auctioned for $1.86 million.

A YEAR AGO TODAY: It was a Sunday and no therapies were scheduled, so my family gave me a birthday lunch. My sister brought the kids, and everyone from both families were there. Plus, my friends Jim N and Gerry stopped by after riding the L.A. Bike Tour that morning. Jim snagged me a medal to remember it by. I still have it.