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This online exhibition was first published in 2015 by Cornell University Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. It accompanied and featured content from a physical exhibition of rare materials displayed in Cornell University’s Carl A. Kroch Library from January 20 to September 30, 2015. Cornell University Library archived the original version of the online exhibition in 2024 to preserve its earlier design. This version maintains access to the original images and text within an updated website.
On January 31, 1865 the United States Congress passed the 13th Amendment, ending slavery in America. President Lincoln would not live to see the final ratification of the Amendment. He was assassinated on April 14 and a shocked nation mourned his death.
Cornell University Library marks the 150th anniversary of these historic events with an exhibition featuring Cornell’s manuscript of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution—one of only 14 copies signed by Lincoln—together with other rare documents and artifacts associated with Lincoln’s funeral.
As the House of Representatives debated over the 13th Amendment, another piece of legislation was being introduced in the New York State Senate by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, the bill that constituted the Charter for Cornell University, which was signed into law by Governor Reuben E. Fenton on April 27, 1865.
Lincoln’s Unfinished Work serves as a prelude to our 150 Ways to Say Cornell exhibition, which continues in the Hirshland Gallery.