The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution formally abolished slavery in the United States. It was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865. The next day, President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) and the members of Congress who voted for its passage signed this souvenir copy, one of at least fourteen such copies. The amend-ment was ratified by the states on December 6, 1865, eight months after the end of the Civil War. Gift of William G. Mennen, Jr., Class of 1936. Abraham Lincoln Collection, Manuscripts Division.
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On April 14, 1865, the actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth (1838–1865) killed President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) during a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The attack came only 5 days after General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Booth went into hiding, but was found and killed two weeks later by Union troops. Four of his co-conspirators, including David Herold (1842–1865) and Mary Surratt (1823–1865), mother of John (1844–1916), were convicted and hanged on July 7, 1865. Gift of J. Dennis Delafield, Class of 1957, and Penelope D. Johnson. Delafield Family Papers, Manuscripts Division. 
Mary Todd Lincoln wrote this letter on mourning stationery to her friend Elizabeth Blair Lee (1818–1906). In it, she grieved over her husband’s death but also looked forward to the nation’s future, sharing her thoughts on the presidential aspirations of Secretary of State William Henry Seward (1801–1872) and General Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885). Gift of P. Blair Lee and E. Brooke Lee. Blair and Lee Family Papers, Manuscripts Division.
After Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election in November 1860, seceding states seized federal forts within their own borders. In this confidential letter to politician Francis Preston Blair (1791–1876), Lincoln orders that federal forts lost before his inauguration in February 1861 must be retaken afterwards. In April 1861, his attempt to send supplies to Fort Sumter in South Carolina resulted in the first shots fired in the Civil War. Gift of P. Blair Lee and E. Brooke Lee. Blair and Lee Family Papers, Manuscripts Division.