The 1906 Hodges court confined the Thirteenth Amendment to literal slavery

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

• XREF: Directly relevant to defending Brown’s reparations argument: this narrow Thirteenth Amendment reading is the doctrinal obstacle the saturated-system argument must overcome. Connects to the case-for-reparations framing. — connects to: The 1906 court narrowed the Thirteenth Amendment to literal slavery only; The Thirteenth Amendment explicitly preserved slavery for convicted criminals — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project: A New American Origin…, 846; The Thirteenth Amendment’s exception clause enabled post-slavery convict leasing — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations: How Building a…, 273 (+6 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: The 1906 court narrowed the Thirteenth Amendment to literal slavery only; The Thirteenth Amendment explicitly preserved slavery for convicted criminals — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project: A New American Origin…, 846; The Thirteenth Amendment’s exception clause enabled post-slavery convict leasing — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations: How Building a…, 273 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• The 1906 court narrowed the Thirteenth Amendment to literal slavery only #expands (0.96)
• The Thirteenth Amendment’s drafters intended broad civil-rights power beyond chattel slavery #complicates (0.82) — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 857
• The Thirteenth Amendment freedom extends to equal property and market rights #complicates (0.80)
• Thirteenth Amendment freedom includes equal market power for black Americans #complicates (0.78) — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 580
• De facto slavery persisted past emancipation, legitimating Thirteenth Amendment remedy today #complicates (0.75)