Colorado wants to ditch slavery by changing state 13th amendment
The Denver Post is reporting on a campaign to remove the word “slavery” from Colorado’s constitution. Amendment T, scheduled for the November ballot in the state, would amend the state’s constitution:
In the constitution of the state of Colorado, amend section 26 of article II as follows:
Section 26. Slavery prohibited. There shall never be in this state either slavery or involuntary servitude. except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
The clause, which mirrors the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, is in reference to prison labor. Colorado’s constitution was drawn up in 1876, the year it became the 38th state. The move to amend the constitution comes as the Obama administration announced it would stop using private prisons to house federal prisoners.