The 1906 court narrowed the Thirteenth Amendment to literal slavery only

Evidence

Ruling on the case in 1906, the Court established that the Thirteenth Amendment applied only to slavery and involuntary servitude. Although the men were unable to work and were threatened with physical harm, that was not the same thing as being enslaved. In the Court’s words, “A freeman has a right to be protected in his person from an assault and battery. He is entitled to hold his property safe from trespass or appropriation; but no mere personal assault or trespass or appropriation operates to reduce the individual to a condition of slavery.” — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 401

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• XREF: The ‘badges and incidents’ contest between Harlan’s dissents and the majority is the direct legal lineage for modern reparations arguments about systemic (non-chattel) harm.