The Constitution for the United States, Its Sources and Its Application
The Real Thirteenth Article of Amendment
The Latest Findings of the TONA Research Committee, August 2000

This is a compilation of data known to date, from researching the various archives for official publications. There are undoubtably more publications which are undiscovered. To view the latest researched data and images of official publications found visit the TONA Research Committee Site www.amendment-13.org

Any Research or Information to help fill in the blanks will be greatly appreciated.

State	Admission	Rank	Ratified or Recognized	Ratification Date	Pre 1820 Official Publ.	Post 1820 Official Publ.
Delaware	Dec. 7, 1787	1	Yes	Rat. Feb. 2, 1811
Pennsylvania	Dec. 12, 1787	2	Yes	Rat. Feb. 6, 1811	1818	1824,1831
New Jersey	Dec. 18, 1787	3	Yes	Rat. Feb. 13, 1811
Georgia	Jan. 2, 1788	4	Yes	Rat. Nov. 22, 1811	1819	1822,1837,1846
Connecticut	Jan. 9, 1788	5	Yes	Rej. May 11,1813		1821,1824,1835, 1839
Massachusetts	Feb. 6, 1788	6	Yes	Rat. Feb. 27, 1812	1816	1823
Maryland	Apr. 28, 1788	7	Yes	Rat. Dec. 25, 1810
South Carolina	May 23, 1788	8	Tabled	Dec. 21, 1814
New Hampshire	June 21, 1788	9	Yes	Rat. Dec. 10, 1812
Virginia	June 25, 1788	10	Yes	Rat. Mar. 12, 1819	1819
New York	Feb. 6, 1788	11	Rejected	Rej. May 1, 1813
North Carolina	Nov. 21, 1789	12	Yes	Rat. Dec. 23, 1811	1819	1828
Rhode Island	May 29, 1790	13	Yes	Rej. Sep. 15, 1814.		1822
Vermont	Mar. 4, 1791	14	Yes	Rat. Oct. 24, 1811
Kentucky	June 1, 1792	15	Yes	Rat. Jan. 31, 1811		1822
Tennessee	June 1, 1796	16	Yes	Rat. Nov. 21, 1811
Ohio	March 1, 1803	17	Yes	Rat. Jan. 31, 1811	1819	1824,1831,1833, 1835,1848
Louisiana	Apr. 30, 1812	18	Yes			1825,1838
Indiana	Dec. 11, 1816	19	Yes			1824,1831,1838
Mississippi	Dec. 10, 1817	20	Yes			1823,1824,1839
Illinois	Dec. 3, 1818	21	Yes			1823,1825,1827, 1833,1839,1845
Alabama	Dec. 14, 1819	22	Not Known
Maine	Mar.15, 1820	23	Yes	The 1825 Constitutions of Maine and the US is the rediscovery document found by Dodge and Dunn in 1983		1825,1831
Missouri	Aug. 10, 1821	24	Yes			1825,1835,1840, 1841,1845
Arkansas	June 15, 1836	25	Not Known
Michigan	Jan. 26, 1837	26	Yes			Terr. Publication 1827,1833
Florida	Mar. 3, 1845	27	Yes			Terr. Publication 1823,1825,1838
Texas	Dec. 29, 1845	28	Not Known
Iowa	Dec. 28, 1846	29	Yes			Terr. Publication 1839,1842,1843
Wisconsin	May 29, 1848	30	Yes			N.W. Terr. Publ. 1833
California	Sep. 9, 1850	31	Not Known
Minnesota	May 11, 1858	32	Yes			N.W. Terr. Publ. 1833
Oregon	Feb. 14, 1859	33	Not Known
Kansas	Jan. 29, 1861	34	Yes			1855,1861,1862, 1868
West Virginia	June 20, 1863	35	Yes			Va. Publ. 1819
Nevada	Oct. 31, 1864	36	Not Known
Nebraska	Mar. 1, 1867	37	Yes			Terr. Publ.1855, 1856,1857,1858, 1859,1860,1861, 1862, State Publ.1873
Colorado	Aug. 1, 1876	38	Yes			Terr. Publ.1861, 1862,1864,1865, 1866,1867, 1868
North Dakota	Nov. 2, 1889	39	Yes			Terr. Publication 1862,1863,1867
South Dakota	Nov. 2, 1889	40	Yes			Terr. Publication 1862,1863,1867
Montana	Nov. 8, 1889	41	Not Known
Washington	Nov. 11, 1889	42	Not Known
Idaho	July 3, 1890	43	Not Known
Wyoming	July 10, 1890	44	Yes			Terr. Publication 1869,1876

Of the first 24 states, Delaware thru Missouri, all but three have either ratified the Thirteenth Amendment or recognized it in their official publications. New York rejected ratification and we have not uncovered any official New York publications. It is not known whether definitive action was taken in Alabama or if that state had any official publications showing the Thirteenth Amendment.

Christopher Runkel of the National Archives acknowledged in 1994 that Virginia ratifed the original Thirteenth Amendment on March 12, 1819, and the evidence of the ratification by Virginia is the special printing of 4000 copies as part of their organic state laws.

All of the other States, except New York, had either ratified the Thirteenth Amendment or published it as part of their organic state laws before the admission of Arkansas in 1836. By the time Iowa was admitted, the original Thirteenth Amendment had been included in official publications in every state except New York. The State of Rhode Island, which had rejected this Amendment in 1814 included it in their official publication of 1822.

Two copies of the five volume Bioren and Duane publication, "The Laws of the United States of America, from the 4th of March, 1789 to the 4th of March, 1815" are available in the archives of Yale University and we have an excellent set in our possession. In the text of the U.S. Constitution given by Bioren and Duane, on page 74, the "Titles of Nobility" section is listed as Article XIII and the notation given indicates that it was passed out of the Eleventh Congress in the Second Session. The Bioren and Duane edition of 1815 was published by an Act of Congress. This publication, in five volumes, represents the first authorized edition of the Laws of the United States and the U.S. Constitution issued following the destruction of the Library of Congress and the other records of the government by the British army in 1814. The lawmakers then seated as the Thirteenth Congress authorized the spending for this special edition on February 16th, 1815. This was official recognition of the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment by the Congress of the United States of America.

All constructions of jurisprudence rely on the precise meaning of "ratify," i.e., "to approve or confirm, to give formal sanction to," which is precisely what a state or territory does when it publishes its laws and the U.S. Constitution together. These are the foundation documents of our Republic.

We must not forget how expensive it was to make and publish books in the early part of the 1800s, and with what reverence a well-printed book was treated. That so many books from this era have survived is a testament to the skill and dedication of our pioneer printers.

And today, we must never forget the skill and dedication with which our Founders forged the Constitution for the United States in the formation of the Republic of the united States of America to insure Liberty and Freedom and Justice for All!

The Evidence Can Not Be Denied
Truth will tip the scales and remove the blindfold from Justice.

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