President Abraham Lincoln forged two of the most important documents in American history: the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment. Limited edition copies, complete with Lincoln’s signature were sold for over $4 million Wednesday.
Sotheby’s, an international auction house, announced the winning bids via Twitter.
Our ‘Two Centuries of American History’ totaled $6.2 million, led by two documents signed by President Lincoln pic.twitter.com/KD2QafcgiX
— Sotheby’s (@Sothebys) May 25, 2016
President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation Jan. 1, 1863, while in the midst of the Civil War. The document declares, “all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”
#AuctionUpdate Emancipation Proclamation, signed by President Lincoln, sells to a telephone bidder for $2,170,000 pic.twitter.com/C5ZmgMuevZ
— Sotheby’s (@Sothebys) May 25, 2016
The 13th Amendment was passed in Congress January 31, 1865 and ratified December 6th, formally abolishing slavery in the United States.
#AuctionUpdate One of three ‘Senate’ copies, the 13th Amendment signed by President Lincoln achieves $2.4 million pic.twitter.com/jlhi9yVqXd
— Sotheby’s (@Sothebys) May 25, 2016
According to the 13th Amendment, “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.”
So let it be written. So let it be done.
